Everything had to be ready to the point when 120 children and young people from the schools in Windisch had to shout quietly in front of several hundred spectators. After babel.everywhere Brigitta Luisa Merki, the director of the Tanz & Kunst Königsfelden festival, realized her second educational project with the Neuenhof school near Baden in 2014; an ambitious one at that, as the younger pupils, i.e. primary school pupils in the 5th and 6th grades, and the school leavers, the 4th secondary and high school pupils, created this unique performance together.

After four months of work in individual, strenuous workshops led by professionals, the final week of rehearsals was dedicated to putting it all together and fine-tuning it, three days in the gym and finally in the unique ambience of the monastery church. Merki crosses boundaries with her projects by bringing together artists from different fields. This year's 90-minute performance was characterized by music (rapper Big Zis and percussionist Gilson de Assis), dance (Patrick Grigo), visual design (Jacqueline Weiss), animated film (Anka Schmid), video projection (Ursula Palla) and visual art (Roman Sonderegger). Merki was responsible for the overall dramaturgy.

Anger, joie de vivre, frustration
What the artists created together with the pupils amazed, delighted and touched in equal measure. It was amazing how the teachers involved grasped the young actors' very own world and drew out their feelings. The title roar softly stands for an inner anger that wants to break out loudly, but is only expressed quietly. Soul turmoil, joie de vivre or frustration were addressed and expressed with artistic means.

Rapper Big Zis compiled statements from the pupils and used them to create a new song: "Wänns da ine brüllt, ghörsch dusse fascht nüt ... brüll liislig vo ine gäg usse ... brüll liislig vo usse gäg ine." She sang this after a funny cartoon intro with two wooden puppets that suggested the feeling of being controlled by others. The entire storyline was based on such associative images, partly represented by video sequences, which cleverly divided up the performance, and partly by hip-hop and body percussion performances by the many actors.
The standard was high, requiring rhythmic confidence, concentration, interaction, acrobatics and dance. "In the beginning, it took a lot of persuasion to motivate the young people," said Merki in her opening speech. According to Merki, the younger ones were quick to get excited, but the school leavers sometimes had their heads in a completely different place: "Why should I do this, can I use it for life?" was a frequently asked question.

In the final rehearsals, such questions of meaning became superfluous, as the participants could feel the "drive" that gripped everyone. Many parents attested to Merki that their child had grown beyond themselves, gained self-confidence and showed new sides in dealing with others. No wonder, one thinks, after experiencing the entertaining, varied and touching evening.
 

Photo: Alex Spichale

The walk-in installation "Sound of Science" by Basel sound artist Fritz Hauser, created especially for the exhibition in the atrium, provides both quiet and louder sounds. He listened for noises in the university's laboratories and workplaces and combined them to create an ever-changing sound concert.

For "Transactions", scientists also work together with artists. This has resulted in artistic installations that arouse curiosity, provoke laughter or make you think. Together with works by internationally renowned artists such as Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens, Niklas Nitschke & Vadim Zakharov or Studio Camp, transactions between artistic and scientific ways of thinking and seeing have been created.

More info: www.manifesta11.uzh.ch

Türälihus 2012

The ars braemia association and the Valendas Music Days are organizing seven concerts in the area in and around Valendas from 5 to 10 July under the patronage of the Valendas association. In their flyer, the organizers explain the festival motto InteriorThe aim is to "remember its roots through the performance venues. On the other hand, the revival of some pieces that have been sung in the last 10 years is intended to deepen the memory through repetition." Interior is also the title of a work for violoncello solo from 1991 by Thüring Bräm. It will be performed by Jürg Eichenberger on July 8 in the Capluta sogn Benedetg built by Peter Zumthor.

"Music fades and is transient and must therefore be recreated again and again," the organizers continue. Not only old rooms such as the Türälihus in Valendas should sound again, but also new ones, for example the Trun sculpture Ogna by Mathias Spescha, after which Thüring Bräm named his horn quartet premiered last year.

www.arsbraemia.ch/aktuell

All photos: Adrian Michel / WikimediaCommons

Capluta sogn Benedetg by Peter Zumthor

According to the German Cultural Information Center (KIZ), Martin Ullrich, Chairman of the Rectors' Conference of German Music Universities (RKM), said after the three-day conference in Weimar that teachers could only be retained from the freelance sector through teaching assignments. However, the young professionals need secure career prospects.

Moreover, young people in their own country are increasingly at a disadvantage compared to foreign applicants for university positions. According to the KIZ report, there is no shortage of applications, but in many cases they are "unable to compete with the well-educated competition from abroad".

The profession of school musician must also become more attractive again, including with better starting conditions and better pay. It is true that state music colleges are of a high standard. However, music lessons are neglected at the schools before them. The RKM therefore suggests that university lecturers teach highly talented students in music schools.
 

According to the organizers, the Steinway Piano Competition was held in Switzerland for the first time on the initiative of Musik Hug Zürich, the world's oldest Steinway & Sons retail partner, to mark the 150-year partnership between the two companies.

A total of 57 children and young people from all over Switzerland applied. In preliminary competitions, 18 participants in three age groups between 8 and 17 qualified for the final round in Zurich.
17 young piano virtuosos competed on Saturday in front of the jury, which consisted of: Seung-Yeu Huh (pianist, Vice-Rector of the Zurich Conservatory of Music) Lorris Sevhonkian (pianist, Dean of the Piano Department at the Conservatoire Quest Vaud), Pascal Godart (pianist, professor at the Conservatoire Lausanne, Académie de Musique Tibor Varga, Sion, among others) and Daniel Rimensberger (pianist and music teacher, Product Manager Switzerland at Musik Hug, upright and grand pianos division).

15-year-old Alba Shkreli from Kloten won the main prize at the 1st Swiss Steinway Piano Competition. She will represent Switzerland at the international Steinway competition concert in Hamburg at the Laeiszhalle on September 11, 2016.

The prizewinners are

Category A (maximum age 10 years)
1st prize: Manoush Toth from Milken (Canton of Bern)
2nd prize: Piano duo Salome Pilgram and Ann-Kristin Langer from Winterthur.
3rd prize: Alexander Sahatci from Meilen.

Category B (maximum age 13 years)
1st prize: Mathieu Huang (12 years old) from Lausanne
2nd prize ex aequo: Zen Matsuzaki (born 2003) from Petit-Lancy (canton of Geneva) and Nicolas Salloum (born 2004) from Vésenaz (canton of Geneva)

Category C (maximum age 16 years)
1st prize ex aequo: Alba Shkreli (15 years old) and Eric Lu (born 2000) from Bern
2nd prize: Leonardo Parodi-Delfino.
 

In a statement, the Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich writes that the conditions are now in place to ensure that the Haus am See will be able to host first-class concerts and congresses for decades to come. All preparatory work for the interim seasons has been pushed ahead in such a way that nothing stands in the way of the concert hall being built on the Maag site on time.

The vote in Zurich was on the renovation and conversion of the Kongresshaus and Tonhalle (CHF 165 million), a contribution to the Tonhalle temporary building (maximum CHF 1.65 million) and a debt relief for the existing sponsors of the Kongresshaus (CHF 72.8 million) with expenditure totaling CHF 239.45 million.

The yes vote also approved a land transfer, an annual contribution to the Kongresshaus Foundation of a maximum of CHF 2.9 million and an increase in the annual contribution to the Tonhalle Society of CHF 2.5 million.

The Fundaziun Nairs foundation is offering artists residency grants for 2017/2018 at the Nairs Center for Contemporary Art in Scuol (Engadin) in the canton of Graubünden. The center will be open all year round from summer 2016. The artist residencies begin in mid-February and run until the end of November and are no longer limited to the summer. Duration of the residencies: 1to 9.5 months. The application deadline for the period July 2017 to November 2018 has been extended to July 31, 2016.

www.nairs.ch

According to the organizers, percussionists and those who would like to become one will receive lessons from nationally and internationally renowned professionals who will showcase their skills in evening live performances.

The camp is divided into the areas "School", "Youth&Fun", "Wind" and "Masterclass". Over the course of two days, more than 400 pupils from the Weinfelden/Märstetten upper school will be given a first insight into the world of percussion in the "School" section. Under the overall direction of Willi Forster, two instructors and a music teacher from the Weinfelden upper school will playfully try out all the percussion instruments in groups with the young people and work on a joint performance.

Tips and tricks from the pros
Whether you are 6 or 80 years old: the "Youth&Fun-Camp" offers input on all percussion instruments for everyone. Various topics are worked on in groups over two afternoons and performed in a final concert on Sunday afternoon with instructors Willi Kotoun, Beat Fraefel, Willi Forster and Daniel Locher.

In the "Wind Camp", drummers and percussionists who already play in a youth music or music association receive tips and tricks from the professionals. In addition to orchestral percussion, snare drum, mallets and timpani, the optimal organization of a percussion register and the division of notes are also covered. The two Swiss instructors Willi Forster (timpani) and Daniel Locher (snare drum/drum set) as well as the two Germans Marion Hafen (mallets) and Jochen Schorer (orchestral percussion) have been recruited.

In the "Masterclass", teachers, students, semi-professionals and advanced amateurs deepen their existing knowledge and skills in the areas of technique, sounds, grooves and the use of systems. In the workshops, the instructors provide a broad overview of the existing possibilities, the tried and tested and the new from the world of drums and percussion.
Samuel Forster, overall director of the International Drums & Percussion Camp Weinfelden, was able to attract well-known names from the drums and percussion scene for the "Masterclass": Robby Ameen (USA; Drums/Latin Jazz), Russ Miller (USA; Drums/American Idol), Wim de Vries (Netherlands; Drums/Drumbassadors), Richie Flores (Puerto Rico; Conga/Latin Percussion), Pete Lockett (Great Britain; Konnakol/Worldpercussion), Asal Malekzadeh (Iran; Daf/Iranian Daf Virtuos), Pawel Stepanov (Russia; Snare/Drums/Honorary member N.A.R.D) and Mike Mainieri (USA; Steps Ahead).

Henle Verlag writes in a press release dated May 25:
"Young pianists took part in the Henle Piano Competition 2016 on YouTube with great pleasure. They played one of the Lyrical pieces by Edvard Grieg. The winners were announced on the publisher's website. Their video contributions can be viewed there: www.henle.de/de/startseite/klavierwettbewerb-2016-die-preistraeger.html
All competition entries can be seen at: www.youtube.com/henleverlag

The Henle Piano Competition took place for the 5th time. For the first time, children aged 6 to 11 were invited to take part worldwide, after Germany and then Austria and Switzerland took part in previous years. As a result, the number of participants once again exceeded the very good results of previous years. A total of 190 girls and boys submitted entries (2015: 166). They came from 11 different countries, including 126 from Germany, 29 from the USA, 10 from Austria and 8 from Switzerland.

Wolf-Dieter Seiffert, Managing Director of the organizing G. Henle Verlag and member of the jury, commented: 'Despite the very demanding repertoire and the immense number of participants, the entries were all of a high to very high standard. We are grateful and full of respect for every child who took part. The jury had difficult decisions to make. The jury consisted of Michael Schäfer (Hochschule für Musik und Theater München), Wolf-Dieter Seiffert (G. Henle Verlag, Munich) and Claudius Tanski (Universität Mozarteum Salzburg).

The next Henle Piano Competition starts in January 2017."

Orchester Reto Parolari GmbH has announced that it submitted its budget for 2016 to the city of Winterthur last December, which includes the 23rd Festival of Light Music which should have taken place in Winterthur from October 21 to 23, 2016. The city of Winterthur only announced on May 19 that it would also support the project this year, but only with half of the previous amount.

The timing of this announcement was too late to approach other donors such as foundations, patrons or advertisers. Orchester Reto Parolari GmbH therefore had to decide to postpone the planned festival by a whole year. The concept Beromünster Radio Orchestra remains the same. The new date is scheduled for October 20-22, 2017.

In addition, the event, which was also canceled this year for financial reasons, is to be Operetta concert at Whitsun next year in collaboration with the Kalaidos School of Music on June 2 and 3, 2017.

www.retoparolari.ch/orchester.html
 

The Arosa Culture Association launched the "Arosa Music Course Weeks" 30 years ago to revitalize the summer tourist season. While only 50 people took advantage of the new offer in the first year, the Arosa Music Course Weeks have long since blossomed into probably the largest festival of its kind in Europe. By the end of May, more than 1,200 amateur musicians and students had already registered for the more than 100 one- to two-week courses. This exceeds the previous year's figures by over 10%. As registrations are still coming in, the record number of 1300 participants from 2013 is likely to be significantly exceeded.

Almost 250 teachers are employed for the lessons. In addition, there are at least 300 relatives of course participants, so that a total of well over 1800 guests come to Arosa for the music course weeks. The big advantage of the Arosa Music Course Weeks is that guests come to the high-altitude mountain village whatever the weather.

The program is aimed not only at professional musicians and students, but above all at amateurs. In addition to the various choir and orchestra weeks, Jöri Murk's panpipe seminar (around 100 registrations) and the folk music courses are particularly popular this year. For the alphorn course week alone, 50 people have registered. Registrations are still being accepted for courses that are not yet fully booked.
 

The orchestra has done outstanding work as an ambassador of the European idea for decades. Funding for 2017 is to come from the EU Commission's budget, writes the German Orchestra Association (DOV) in a press release. In May, the European Union Youth Orchestra announced that it would have to give up its activities at the end of September this year because the EU was ending its funding as part of the Creative Europe program.

Now it is important that the EU Parliament and Commission guarantee permanent funding, the press release quotes DOV Managing Director Gerald Mertens. Only without financial worries could the young musicians from all over Europe continue their work at an artistically excellent level. This would not be possible with project funding. The European Youth Orchestra needs sustainable institutional support.

The Aargau cellist's successes at international music competitions follow each other in quick succession: after winning an award at the Brahms Competition in September 2015, he repeated his success twice in May 2016: he won first prize at the International Manhattan Music Competition and a third prize at the International Concerto Competition Debut at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall.

Christoph Croisé also gave a recital at the NDR concert series Podium der Jungen in Hamburg on March 21. The concert will be broadcast by NDR on July 1.

The second prize of the Debut at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall International Conducting Competition went to Georgios Balatsinos, who is currently conducting the orchestra in Switzerland. Youth Orchestra Arabesque and Sinfonietta Mosaïque conducted. As one of the two best-placed conductors in his field, Balatsinos conducted the Berliner Symphoniker in the Berlin Philharmonie on June 1, performing works by Dvorak and Schumann.

www.christophcroise.ch
www.georgiosbalatsinos.com
 

Photo: www.georgiosbalatsinos.com

Stefanie Acquavella-Rauch studied musicology at Philipps-Universität Marburg and most recently worked as a senior academic advisor at the Musicology Department of Paderborn University and the Detmold University of Music, where she also completed her habilitation in February 2016. Her area of expertise, digital music editing, will have a permanent place in future teaching at JGU, the university writes, as part of a Master's degree course in "Digital Methodology in the Humanities and Cultural Studies", which starts in the 2016/17 winter semester.

One focus of Stefanie Acquavella-Rauch's work will be on the Gluck Complete Edition. The academy took on the long-term musicological project in 1979, whose task is to research and edit all the works of the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787).

Digitization opens up new possibilities for the edition of musical works, for example, extensive additional information can be made available beyond the printed music volumes via homepages, USB sticks or other storage media.

The initiative was launched in March by the BDP Stadt Luzern. The party accepts neither the location nor the costs for the planned music theater. Of the estimated 208 million francs, only 80 million would be covered by a fund. In addition, 31 million in operating costs would have to be expected, according to a BDP press release.

According to the BDP, the city of Lucerne has "no money for such a project and there is still no sign of any potential sponsors". It feared that the city would ultimately have to pay for the KKL, the old Stadttheater and, if realized, also for the Salle Modulable, which would be a "financial death blow" for the city and "an affront to everyone".

Apparently, the BD city party, which was only founded in January of this year, has not succeeded in convincing enough voters of this view of things.