The young male choir from Basel was awarded five prizes at the International Choral Festival in Preveza (Greece), according to a press release. It won first prize and the gold medal in the ensemble category and also first prize and the gold medal in the free program category. In addition, the musicians from Basel were awarded the special prize for the best interpretation of contemporary music (Iker Gonzalez Cobeaga - Maitia).

With 94.25 out of 100 points, the Männerstimmen Basel were awarded the highest score of all participating choirs, as the Preveza International Choir Festival celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. In addition to the young singers from Basel, choirs from Denmark, Greece, Qatar and Poland took part. The eight-member jury was made up of personalities from the international choral scene.

Born in 1987, Sebastian Bohren was a student of Jens Lohmann, Robert Zimansky and Zakhar Bron before studying in Lucerne with Igor Karsko and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with Ingolf Turban. He was a member of the Stradivari Quartet from 2013 to 2020. Bohren won the Marguerite Meister Foundation Prize, the Curt Dienemann Music Prize in Lucerne and a scholarship from the Carl Hirschmann Foundation. In 2015, he was awarded a work year by the Aargau Board of Trustees.

The Swiss Violin Making School Foundation has been awarding the "Golden Bow" prize for over 20 years to "artists who contribute to the enrichment of our cultural life". The award ceremony traditionally takes place as part of the opening of the Meiringen Music Festival. Previous winners include Thomas Zehetmair, Tabea Zimmermann, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Kim Kashkashian, Isabelle van Keulen, Hansheinz Schneeberger, Thomas Demenga and Thomas Füri.

According to a press release, the ten young people aged between 15 and 20 performed twice in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein as part of the festival with more than 1000 participants. The SCL International Youth Music Festival for bands, choirs and orchestras takes place annually in Vienna's most important concert halls.

The selection team of the best string students from Thun was founded in 2016 by music teacher Georgios Balatsinos, a native of Thun, Greece. He composed one of the works with which the Camerata Junior was successful in Vienna. The Camerata plays without a conductor and is led from the violin on the first desk.

After evaluating more than forty works from all over the world, the jury (Mikel Urquiza, composer; David Azurza, composer, singer and choirmaster; Mikel Chamizo, composer and ISCM delegate) awarded the first prize ex aequo to the Italian composer Carlotta Ferrari and the Galician composer Luis Serrapio. In addition to the cash prize and the publication of the scores by the ISCM, both works will be performed at the end of October at the 53rd International Choir Competition in Tolosa will be premiered. They will later be performed as part of the XIII Musikagileak concert cycle for contemporary music by the award-winning KUP Taldea choir under the direction of Gabriel Baltés.

The jury also decided to award the piece The Sailor by the Portuguese composer Gerson Batista with a Special Mention, which also comes with a cash prize and the publication of the work by the ISCM. The special prize for the best work in the Basque language was not awarded.
 

Carlotta Ferrari (born 1975) is an Italian composer. She taught music composition at the Hebei Normal University in Shijiazhuang (China). She is currently Associate Professor of Music Composition at the Department of Music and Art of the European School of Economics in Florence (Italy). She studied at the conservatories of Milan and Florence and has developed a musical language that seeks to merge tradition and the present in a special way. The jury selected her work The Heart Asks Pleasure First based on a poem by Emily Dickinson for "the perfect harmony of her music with the intimacy of the text".

Luis Serrapio (born 1992) studied trumpet at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Vigo, at the Zurich University of the Arts in Switzerland and at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Germany. In the composition of his work Així com Cellwhich is based on the text of the same name by the Valencian poet Ausiás March, he was inspired by medieval vocal forms such as motets and madrigals. The jury praised "the individuality of his harmonic language and the distinct singability of his vocal music".

Gerson Batista (born 1988) is a Portuguese composer, playwright and poet from Aveiro. He studied music theory, organ and singing at the Calouste Gulbenkian Music Conservatory. Since then, he has published numerous books and works and created and directed various stage works. Batista is commissioned to compose all over the world and his works are widely performed internationally. The Sailor is, according to the author, "a metaphor for life and the passing of time in a globalized world". The jury emphasized the "original use of the voice and the effective creation of soundscapes".
 

The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2022. As part of the ISCM Collaborative Series, four ISCM sections, namely Latvia, Estonia, the Basque Country and Switzerland, have launched a choral composition competition in four categories to give new impetus to the contemporary choral scene, which has been severely affected by the pandemic. Musika Bulegoa and Musikagileak, the Basque partners of the ISCM, announced the composition competition for works for mixed amateur choirs last April.

Born in 1987, Sebastian Bohren was a student of Jens Lohmann, Robert Zimansky and Zakhar Bron before studying in Lucerne with Igor Karsko and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with Ingolf Turban. He was a member of the Stradivari Quartet from 2013 to 2020. Bohren won the Marguerite Meister Foundation Prize, the Curt Dienemann Music Prize in Lucerne and a scholarship from the Carl Hirschmann Foundation. In 2015, he was awarded a work year by the Aargau Board of Trustees.

The Swiss Violin Making School Foundation has been awarding the "Golden Bow" prize for over 20 years to "artists who contribute to the enrichment of our cultural life". The award ceremony traditionally takes place as part of the opening of the Meiringen Music Festival. Previous winners include Thomas Zehetmair, Tabea Zimmermann, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Kim Kashkashian, Isabelle van Keulen, Hansheinz Schneeberger, Thomas Demenga and Thomas Füri.

Youth Classics, the Swiss International Music Academy (Sima) is a private initiative to promote young musical talent. The artistic director is Philip A. Draganov. The Academy offers intensive, high-quality musical training during the summer vacation period to young musicians who aspire to study music in the near or distant future. From July 15 to 24, 2022, 95 talented musicians from 20 countries - 40 of them from Switzerland - will take part in the 12th Swiss International Music Academy, the Youth Classics master class, on the music island of Rheinau.

Selected lecturers from renowned music academies in Switzerland and abroad work with the participants during the Academy as part of the solo lessons. In addition to individual lessons, there are rehearsals with accompaniment and chamber music lessons as well as various workshops. Various special prizes are also awarded to selected participants, such as a solo violin from Stefan-Peter Greiner or a joint concert with world star Aleksey Igudesman.

Participants and lecturers from all over the world live in one place during the Academy on the Rheinau Music Island. This also encourages encounters with important music teachers and exchanges with like-minded people. The internationally renowned cellist and conductor Michael Sanderling (Principal Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra) will be a special guest at Sima 2022 and will give insights into his work as an artist as part of a workshop.

The participants give samples of their skills at various public concerts. At the final concert on July 24, 2022, some of this year's Sima graduates will perform in the large concert hall at Zurich University of the Arts.

According to a press release, the ten young people aged between 15 and 20 performed twice in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein as part of the festival with more than 1000 participants. The SCL International Youth Music Festival for bands, choirs and orchestras takes place annually in Vienna's most important concert halls.

The selection team of the best string students from Thun was founded in 2016 by music teacher Georgios Balatsinos, a native of Thun, Greece. He composed one of the works with which the Camerata Junior was successful in Vienna. The Camerata plays without a conductor and is led from the violin on the first desk.

Born in Chur in 1971, composer Siegfried Friedrich studied composition at the Vienna University of Music and completed a course in computer music and electronic media. He received his doctorate in musicology in Vienna in 2011 and has already won numerous awards, including the Eliette von Karajan Culture Prize.

Laura Decurtins completed preliminary studies at the Lucerne University of Music and subsequently studied musicology, history and Romansh. For her dissertation, she researched the vocal music of Romansh-speaking Switzerland. She also sings in various ensembles and is involved in cultural projects and institutions, including the Graubünden Romansh Literature Days.

Arcaine was founded in Chur in 2015 and is made up of five experienced musicians. Although the band belongs to the death metal genre, it impresses with its musical independence and precision. Among other things, the band has had the opportunity to support international stars such as Six feet under and folk metal giants Arkona.

Both the recognition and sponsorship prizes are endowed with CHF 4000 each. The actor Christian Sprecher and the camerawoman Orit Teply also receive recognition prizes. The third prize goes to the gallery owner Ginia Holdener.

Born in 1934 in Würenlingen, Aargau, Eugen Meier originally trained as a primary school teacher at the Wettingen Teachers' College. At the same time, he continued his musical education and obtained a diploma in organ teaching at the Zurich Music Academy in 1960, and later a diploma in solo singing as a tenor, a diploma in choral conducting and a diploma as a conductor at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

From 1962 to 1999, Eugen Meier was music director in Visp and put his extensive musical knowledge at the service of various associations. He conducted the Visp Male Choir, the St. Martinschor Visp, the Visp Orchestra Society, the "Visper Spatzen", the Upper Valais Symphony Orchestra, the Valais Chamber Choir and the "Vispe" Music Society. Eugen Meier gave numerous secular and sacred concerts with his ensembles.

He also continued the operetta and opera tradition that had existed in Visp since 1936, such as various open-air operettas at Gräfibiel and later in the newly opened "La Poste" culture and congress center. He was also co-founder of various Valais choirs and orchestras as well as the General Music School of Upper Valais (AMO), the Church Music School of Upper Valais and the Association of Organists and Choirmasters.

The Rünzi Prize, endowed with 20,000 francs, has been awarded since 1972 to personalities who, according to the foundation charter, have rendered outstanding services to Valais.

Following the invitation to tender in September last year, three St.Gallen municipalities showed interest in taking over the temporary theater. The government initially decided in favor of the municipality of Goldach. However, the voters of Goldach rejected the takeover at the ballot box in May 2022. The other interested party, the town of Buchs, withdrew its application after the vote in Goldach. Consequently, the government is now awarding the wooden building to the town of Altstätten. The voters of Altstätten will decide on the financing for the takeover of the temporary theater.

The Altstätt operating concept envisages multifunctional use of the temporary building. Cultural events such as theater, musicals, concerts and conferences are planned. At the same time, the building is to be rented out to clubs, private individuals and companies.

The Theater St.Gallen, which opened in 1968, is currently being renovated and extended. To ensure that the theater can continue to operate during the construction work, the canton has erected a temporary theater building on Unterer Brühl in front of the Tonhalle in the city of St.Gallen. The temporary building is 50 meters long and 26 meters wide and can accommodate around 500 visitors.

"Due to tensions within the department and for reasons of loyalty", Sutermeitster wants to calm the situation in this way and maintain relations between the department and its partners, writes the canton. During her tenure, she was particularly "very active in finding solutions to revive the cultural sector, which was particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as in maintaining relations with the federal government and at intercantonal level".

The position will be advertised in the coming weeks. Alain Dubois, Deputy Head of Service, will take over the position on an interim basis until a new head is appointed.

The coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on all areas of life. In addition to gastronomy, culture was the area that was very quickly affected by restrictions and performance bans as it was supposedly "not systemically relevant" and was only reopened with restrictions quite late.

The panel study "Cultural Education and Cultural Participation in Germany", which is being conducted at the Institute of Sociology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), shows just how significant the slump is. Compared to the reference year 2018, many cultural activities outside the home have come to an almost complete standstill and have not been compensated for by the expansion of private activities or the use of alternative media access.

However, there is a social difference: those with a particularly high affinity for culture, the frequent visitors in 2018, also made the most use of the media offerings, while occasional users withdrew culturally to a great extent during the pandemic.

Original article:
https://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/15790_DEU_HTML.php

Christine Bouvard Marty represented the VMS in political bodies, offices and partner organizations in the educational and cultural sector in Switzerland as well as in international association bodies of the music school industry with great commitment and a keen political sense, writes the VMS. With her "convincing and at the same time empathetic way of meeting people", she has succeeded in building many bridges that have advanced the VMS and music schools in Switzerland.

Philippe Krüttli studied at the universities and conservatories of Neuchâtel, La Chaux-de-Fonds and Bern. He was a music teacher at the French grammar school in Biel and taught music didactics at the University of Bern. In 1998, he completed further training in jazz, music didactics and choral conducting at the University of Québec in Montréal (UQUAM). He is director of the music school of the Bernese Jura.

According to a press release, Sonart (Music Professionals Switzerland) is launching a social and professional policy campaign with this position paper: the 7-point program is intended to serve as a guideline and covers various areas of professional and social conditions. Among other things, it deals with social security and career paths: Sonart is calling for better protection for self-employed people in the event of loss of earnings and an improvement in the conditions for starting a career.

Further demands concern the continuation of Covid-19 measures as well as regional and national cultural policy. Sonart is committed to strengthening cultural policy and opposes the reduction of cultural budgets at all levels.

The integration of the Smeca association into Sonart was also decided at the Sonart general meeting. Smeca is the association of film and media composers and has around one hundred members.

Link to the position paper:
https://www.sonart.swiss/files/Verband/Mitgliederversammlung/MV%202022/SONART-Positionspapier_Leben%20von%20der%20Musik%20nach%20der%20Pandemie_MV%202022_final.pdf

At his retirement home above Lake Constance, Hans Zender looks back on his life and gives an insight into his thinking: an educated and versatile artist who, as a conductor and composer, stimulated German musical life for half a century. His work coincided with the golden age of ARD radio, when contemporary music was given broad scope and corresponding production capacities. Zender made particular use of this during his thirteen years as chief conductor of the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra (1971-1984). He did this not so much for his own benefit as for that of fellow composers such as Helmut Lachenmann, who speaks at length in this film portrait and attests to Zender's superior art of orchestration among many other things. Zender's creative and post-creative activities stimulated each other. In Gustav Mahler's scores, for example, he knew how to make audible a modernity of sound that is usually drowned out by philharmonic opulence. Although composing was always central to Zender's self-image, for a long time it stood in the shadow of his activities as a conductor. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was only with his arrangement of a classic, Schubert's Winter journeya global success.

The film by Reiner E. Moritz illustrates Zender's work with many concert and rehearsal excerpts, which show a musician who is still a lively and inspiring performer, even at an advanced age. The central theme is formed by Zender's statements from an interview conducted over several days by Max Nyffeler in 2018 with the retiree, who was visibly in poor health. The film has thus become a swan song, not only to a historically unique phase of musical culture, but also to Hans Zender himself, who died on October 23, 2019.

Hans Zender - Thinking with your senses. A film by Reiner E. Moritz. Incl. Debussy's "La Mer", Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken, conducted by Hans Zender, 1975. Arthaus Music DVD, EAN 4058407094388