Historically speaking, Lucerne owes its acquaintance with Pierre Boulez to his greatest friend and patron Paul Sacher, writes Lucerne Festival Director Michael Haefliger in an initial tribute. As a member of the program committee at the time, Sacher had already recommended Boulez as a conductor in the 1960s. He introduced the composer to Lucerne audiences in a talk concert in 1983, after Boulez had first performed here with the New York Philharmonic in two concerts in 1975.

Lucerne Festival, continued Haefliger, thanks Pierre Boulez "for his invaluable contribution to the further development of a festival in whose heart the commitment to tomorrow's generation of musicians and the music of our time plays and will play a decisive role".

Born in Montbrison in 1925, Pierre Boulez studied with Olivier Messiaen and René Leibowitz. With Douze Notations (1945) and two piano sonatas (1946/48), he made his first appearance as a composer; his worldwide reputation was cemented above all by the premiere of the chamber cantata Le Marteau sans Maître (1955) in Baden-Baden.

As a conductor, he was music director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1960-72) and the New York Philharmonic (1971-75). Subsequently, from 1976 to 1991, he was director of IRCAM, the research institute for contemporary music at the Centre Pompidou, which he founded, and of the Ensemble intercontemporain in Paris.

He founded the Lucerne Festival Academy in 2003. Pierre Boulez has been awarded the Siemens Music Prize, the "Praemium Imperiale", the Theodor W. Adorno Prize, the "Polar Music Prize", the "Kyoto Prize" and the Adenauer de Gaulle Prize.

According to the municipal council's message, running talent classes allows young people with a talent for sport and music to develop as positively and successfully as possible in a support-oriented environment at school and in the talent area. The classes in Chur complement the existing programs in Ilanz, St Moritz-Champfèr and Davos.

The demand for the additional music program is significantly lower than that for sports, the message continues. Last year, only a few young people attended the music section of the Scoula Sportiva St. Moritz-Champfèr or the talent school in Ilanz. In the Engadin there was one boy out of 22 young people, in Ilanz three girls out of 32 pupils.

In the current 2015/2016 school year, four pupils in St. Moritz-Champfèr, two in Ilanz and none in Davos (reopening of the talent school) have entered the music section. At present, eight of the 96 talented pupils in Graubünden are being supported in the area of music. In Chur, a larger proportion of five to eight musicians per year group is expected, not least due to the comprehensive range of courses offered by the music school.

In September 2015, work began on the city-wide cultural strategy and a participatory process was launched. The basic principles adopted by the city government create the political and content-related basis for the first Bern Cultural Forum, which will be held on January 18, 2016.

The workshop will present and discuss fields of action that can be derived from the basic principles and define corresponding objectives. The project management, supported by the group of experts and the project group, will use this to develop an action plan that will be presented for discussion at the second cultural forum in early summer 2016.

"Based on a broad concept of culture", writes the city, the municipal council is "committed to Bern as a city of culture, to the diversity of cultural players, to culture as a public interest and to partnership and dialog" with the four basic principles of the future cultural strategy.

More info: www.bern.ch/kulturstrategie
 

For the study, educational scientists Carlos dos Santos-Luiz, Lisete Mónico, Leandro S. Almeida and Daniela Coimbra examined the academic performance of a total of 110 pupils with and without music education. Other factors examined were socio-economic status, intelligence, motivation and previous school success. The groups were examined between the ages of 11 and 14 and three years later. 

This showed that those with musical training performed significantly better. This was particularly clear with regard to language lessons (Portuguese) and the natural sciences. The effect also remained stable when particular characteristics of socio-economic status, intelligence and motivation were taken into account.  

Original article: C dos Santos-Luiz, L S. M. Mónico, L S. Almeida et al, "Exploring the long-term associations between adolescents' music training and academic achievement", Musicae Scientiae, December 31, 2015, msx.sagepub.com

Following the internal revision of the fields of action, objectives and measures will be presented and negotiated at the "2nd Bern Cultural Forum" in early summer 2016. The final information event on the city-wide cultural strategy will be held in fall 2016 at the end of a further revision. This mission statement lays the foundations for the City of Bern's future cultural policy.

According to a press release issued by the city of Meiden, the following experts are members of the expert group: Monika Bandi, Rahel Bucher, Patrizia Crivelli, Dagmar Kopse, Myriam Prongué, Hans Rudolf Reust, Urs Rietmann, Christoph Ris, Fabian Schmid and Lejla Sukaj. Together, they cover topics such as cultural production (institutions and independent scene), cultural participation, inclusive culture, cultural mediation, cultural education and training, cultural heritage, creative industries, amateur culture, neighborhood culture and tourism.

According to the "Kurier" newspaper, Böhm succeeded Fritz Busch, who had been expelled by the Nazis, at the Semperoper in 1934 following Hitler's intercession. In 1938, shortly after the "Anschluss" of Austria, Böhm conducted at the Vienna Konzerthaus. He voluntarily greeted the audience with the Hitler salute and had the Horst Wessel Song played. In 1943, he became director of the State Opera at Hitler's request. After the war, the Allies imposed a performance ban on Böhm, which was only lifted in 1947.

Because of Böhm's "exceptional artistic merits", the festival directorate does not want to rename the Böhm Hall. The plaque that has now been agreed will refer to an Internet address "where Karl Böhm's personality is presented in German and English as what he was: a great artist, but a politically fatal misleader".

In 2015, the German government abandoned its stance of generally denying the dangers to the cultural sector posed by TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) and CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) and presented its own paper on the dangers in October, writes the German Cultural Council.

At the end of this year, the German Bundestag also passed a comprehensive, multi-year cultural investment program. For the coming year alone (2016), around 120 million euros in additional federal cultural funding is to be made available. A total of 740 million euros in additional cultural investment is planned for the coming years.

The Cultural Council also commented on the draft "Act to improve the enforcement of authors' and performers' claims to appropriate remuneration". It considers it self-evident that authors are entitled to appropriate remuneration for their services and rights. A lump-sum payment could also be appropriate.

According to its Managing Director Olaf Zimmermann, the German Cultural Council achieved a lot in terms of cultural policy in 2015. In the discussions about TTIP and CETA, the dangers for the cultural and media sector are now also being widely discussed in public and are no longer being ignored by the German government.

The previous service agreements have proven their worth, the canton writes in a press release. The renewed performance agreements are also contracts that have been in place for several years. They are valid from 2016 to 2020, with the Kultur im Kammgarn association and the Tap Tab Musikverein from 2016 to 2018.

The unchanged annual support contributions from the canton and city of Schaffhausen together amount to CHF 132,000 for the Schaffhausen Jazz Festival, CHF 150,000 for the Kultur im Kammgarn association, CHF 84,000 for the Schauwerk, CHF 73,000 for the Theater Sgaramusch, CHF 35,000 for the Sommertheater, CHF 33,000 for the jugendclub momoll Theater and CHF 30,000 for the Tap Tab Musikverein.

The canton's contribution to the Vebikus Kunsthalle Schaffhausen association is being increased to CHF 70,000 per year. Following the departure of the Hallen für Neue Kunst, it is important to strengthen the area of contemporary art in an already established environment, writes the canton. To this end, it is necessary for the Vebikus exhibition space to reposition itself as an art gallery and expand and raise the profile of its program.

The large-format and heavy choir book with its magnificent binding can only be opened with extreme caution and is one of the most precious treasures in the Bavarian State Library. It was therefore hardly accessible to the public. However, experts at the scanning center of the Munich Digitization Centre have now scanned and processed it over a period of several weeks using highly specialized photographic technology. The images can be accessed online and used for detailed research regardless of time and place.

The choir book was commissioned by Duke Albrecht V (1528-1579) in 1559 for the treasury of the Bavarian dynasty. It contains 26 motets for four to eight voices by the Dutch composer Cipriano de Rore (1516-1565). It is a magnificent codex with rich book illumination of unparalleled quality: in addition to detailed pictorial decoration at the beginning of each motet, the manuscript contains eight full-page miniatures by the painter Hans Mielich (1516-1573).

Before the digital copy could be produced, the work was extensively restored at the Institute for Conservation and Restoration at the Bavarian State Library over the course of a year. The miniatures in the choir book showed numerous areas of the paint layer that were at risk of loss. They were consolidated under the microscope at twenty times magnification using a special aqueous solution of isinglass.

The experience gained from the restoration and digitization of the book will now benefit the top items in the ducal collection, the choir books illuminated by Hans Mielich with penitential psalms by Orlando di Lasso. The two volumes will be restored and digitized over the next one and a half years.

The magnificent choir book of Albrecht V in the Digital Collections of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek:
http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/bsb00103729/image_1

Film about Albrecht V's magnificent choir book:
https://www.youtube.com/user/BayStaatsbibliothek

As part of the "Wired by Music" project, Franz Resch from Heidelberg University and Thomas Hillecke, representing SRH, want to support children and young people between the ages of 13 and 17 who are suffering from a depressive episode or chronic depression and are already undergoing medical or psychotherapeutic treatment. They will receive twelve free individual music therapy sessions in the outpatient clinic on the campus of SRH University Heidelberg.

Mindful listening to their "own" music and creating individual playlists for mobile devices, which the young people can use to help themselves in various situations, are part of the therapy, according to the press release. The young people approach their emotions musically and set them to music in joint improvisations. Piano, guitar and percussion instruments are available for this purpose. Musical role-playing games or therapeutic songwriting are also possible.
 

In the 2014/15 season, KTB gave 417 performances and 53 external guest performances (previous year's season: 389/36). The most significant increase in audience numbers was recorded by the music theater: 40,886 spectators were counted here (2013/14: 31,315). The drama department also reported audience growth. According to the press release, audience figures for the Bern Symphony Orchestra and dance remained stable in the reporting period compared to the previous year's season.

The accounts closed with an accounting surplus of around CHF 33,000. Income fell slightly compared to the previous season - from CHF 5.7 million in 2013/14 to around CHF 5.5 million in 2014/15 - a decline that is due in particular to the short duration of performances at the Stadttheater as a result of the renovation. Due to the renovation of the Stadttheater and the upcoming renovation of the Kultur Casino, KTB does not expect normal operations to resume until the 2019/2020 season at the earliest.

Photo: Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Great Hall of the Riding School, 2014/15 season, Claude Eichenberger (Judith), Pavel Shmulevich (Duke Bluebeard)

Erich Zumstein, who is currently principal of the Schwyz district schools, has worked as a teacher at various levels since 1982, including as a music teacher, and has been in charge of music and elementary school in the cantons of Lucerne and Schwyz for over twenty years.

Erich Zumstein completed comprehensive management training, is a qualified HR specialist and holds an MBA. He has held top management responsibility since 2005. Zumstein has worked as principal of the Schwyz district schools since 2011, where he is responsible for 230 employees and 1,800 pupils.

The current director of the MKZ, Cristina Hospenthal, will retire on August 31, 2016; Erich Zumstein will take up his position on August 1, 2016. Musikschule Konservatorium Zürich is the largest music school in Switzerland with over 22,000 students. Over 600 qualified music teachers work at MKZ. Seven music schools spread their lessons over almost one hundred school buildings within the city of Zurich.

As part of the total revision of the Economic Development Act and the creation of a law on the promotion of sport, questions regarding the reorganization and repositioning of cantonal cultural promotion are also to be examined. Possible focal points of cultural promotion (professional culture, amateur culture), the interfaces with economic promotion and the responsibilities and selection of the cantonal cultural promotion commission are to be clarified.

The current cultural promotion of the Canton of Graubünden is based on the Law on the Promotion of Culture of September 28, 1997 and the Ordinance to the Law on the Promotion of Culture of January 12, 1998. The Law on the Promotion of Culture and the Ordinance based on it have proven their worth in many areas to date as the basis for cantonal cultural promotion. It is now planned to explicitly include support for professional cultural activities in the objectives of the law. The draft also stipulates that the regions are obliged to provide a comprehensive range of singing and music schools.

The law is to come into force on January 1, 2018 at the latest. The government of the canton of Graubünden is now submitting a draft for consultation. The consultation will last until April 15, 2016 and the documents are available online at www.gr.ch.

The Artistic Commission of the Zurich Festival is awarding the prize, made possible by the Bär-Kaelin Fund, for the tenth time. Barbara Frey, member of the commission and director of the Schauspielhaus Zurich, characterizes the singer as a "great, sensitive artist" whose music is characterized by a "highly individual mixture of playfulness, concentrated power, wit and melancholy".

The prize recognizes "Sophie Hunger's outstanding achievements in the Zurich music scene and far beyond". The Zurich native, who now lives in Berlin, took her first steps into the music world from here. The Zurich music club Helsinki, one of the first clubs in Zurich to offer live bands every night, was particularly important.

The award ceremony will take place as part of the twentieth Zurich Festival, which will follow in the footsteps of the Dada myth from June 3 to 26, 2016, one hundred years after the Dada movement was founded. At the event at Schauspielhaus Zurich, Sophie Hunger will give a musical and multimedia retrospective of her musical career.

Nothing is impossible - thanks to the postgraduate courses at the Kalaidos University of Music. On 9 January 2016, from 1 pm to 4 pm, the university will be presenting some of its new courses: Music Journalism, Music - Psyche - Body, Composing for Children, Contemporary Improvisation, Music and Research, Conducting and Organizing, Indian Rhythmics, Music and Management.

All interested parties are cordially invited. Lecturers and the rector of the university, Frank-Thomas Mitschke, will be available to answer questions.

Address: Winterthur Conservatory, Tössertobelstrasse 1

www.kalaidos-music.ch