Do you sometimes rehearse away from home? Would you like to rehearse with other musicians during your vacation? Are you looking for inspiring rehearsal opportunities?

A company specializing in project development in the tourism and culture sector is trying to evaluate the demand and requirements for accommodation, premises and infrastructure for music weeks, rehearsal weekends, etc. in the professional and amateur music sector for a tourist region in Switzerland. The aim is to define precise requirements and develop new, future-oriented offers.

Help us and let us know what you think! We would be delighted if you would take part in the survey. You could even win a musical weekend.

Click here for the survey:
https://www.research.net/s/muz
 

According to the canton's press release, the Thurgau cantonal government is convinced that an appearance as a guest canton at the Artists' Fair is an ideal opportunity to shine a spotlight on the small arts scene in the canton. A three-member jury of experts headed by Martha Monstein, Head of the Cantonal Office of Culture, will decide which artists from Thurgau will be allowed to present themselves in Thun. The selection is intended to represent the current cultural activities in the field of cabaret in the canton of Thurgau.

The Swiss Artists' Exchange from April 14 to 17, 2016 offers artists the opportunity to present themselves with performances, an exhibition stand and artistic interventions on and off stage. The exchange is organized by the association "KünstlerInnen - Theater - VeranstalterInnen, Schweiz" (KTV). Over the course of three days, around 90 artists - or artist formations - from Switzerland and abroad present their current programs.

In addition to cantonal cultural policy, support for the university was also discussed at the meeting. Both governments state that the University of Basel is of inestimable value to the economic region. Even the considerable financial relief sought by the Canton of Basel-Landschaft should not jeopardize the further development of the joint university.

The government council of the Canton of Basel-Stadt will take a holistic and consolidated view of the situation of the university and the cultural institutions, the two governments write in a joint press release. The two governments have appointed delegations to explore points for negotiation. The primary focus will not be on the termination of the university contract. 

The Warner Group secured the rights in 1988 and has so far earned around two million dollars a year for the commercial use of the song. The song, written in 1893 by a musician and a nursery school teacher, two sisters from the US state of Kentucky, was first published in a book in 1924 and copyrighted in 1934 by another sister of the authors for the Clayton F. Summy Company.

Clayton F. Summy was sold in the 1930s and renamed Birch Tree Ltd. In 1998, Warner Chappell bought Birch Tree Ltd and obtained the original rights to "Happy Birthday to You".

In 2013, three documentary filmmakers took legal action against the Warner Group's claims and have now finally been vindicated. According to the collecting society Gema, "Happy Birthday to You" is only protected in Germany until the end of 2016.
 

How the austrian music information center mica - music austria today announced that "Voices for Refugees", a solidarity concert for a humane Europe, will take place in Vienna on October 3. It is being organized by the Volkshilfe Austria together with Nova Music and other organizations. There will be 15 bands to listen to, from Bilderbuch to Zucchero.

mica - music austria and Volkshilfe Österreich are now offering musicians who are not taking part in the concert the opportunity to make their voices heard. Until September 29, solo artists, ensembles and bands can send their "thoughts on those people who have had to leave their homeland, on European history and the future, on the self-image of a democratic republic" or on the events of the last few weeks in the form of a statement together with a photo or as a video message (download link) to:

steiner@musicaustria.at
Subject: Voices for Refugees

Statements from Switzerland are also welcome. This appeal by mica - music austria is also addressed to labels, publishers, managers, organizers, etc. with the request that they forward this appeal to their musicians.
 

Further information: http://voicesforrefugees.com

Marco Beltrani and Nadja Räss are rehearsing an exciting program with jutz.ch for the 10th European Youth Choir Festival Basel (EJCF) between 4 and 8 May, with a special focus on performance. Young singers or yodelers who are used to performing as soloists or in ambitious choirs are cordially invited to immerse themselves in the Swiss yodelling tradition as part of this project. Anyone between the ages of 16 and 24 who is interested is invited to audition in December. The program, which lasts around 40 minutes, will be rehearsed from January to April 2016.
The jutz.ch project choir will sing the entire program by heart. Small choreographies will be rehearsed during the rehearsals.
The costs for accommodation and meals during the rehearsal weekends and the festival in Basel are covered. Travel expenses are borne by the singers.

Participation in the EJCF, the renowned meeting of the best European youth choirs, is a unique opportunity for ambitious singers from the classical choir scene and the folk music scene.
Singing teachers are therefore asked to make their students aware of this offer. The deadline for registration is October 31, registration is handled online: www.ejcf.ch/projekt-jodelchor

Information about the project choir can be obtained by calling Marco Beltrani on 079 543 81 60 or the festival office on 061 401 21 00. Further information about the festival can be found here www.ejcf.ch
 

The Haberhaus Kulturclub in the old town of Schaffhausen is indispensable for cultural life in the Schaffhausen region, writes the canton in a press release. It provides various regional event organizers with a performance venue that meets their needs for a small stage.

The Haberhaus Stage Association is separate from the operation of the associated restaurant. The association makes the space available for broad and varied cultural use. The financial contribution from the canton amounts to CHF 25,000 per year. The annual contribution from the city of Schaffhausen is CHF 20,000. The service agreement with the Haberhaus Bühne association is valid from mid-2015 until the end of 2018.

Marena Whitcher, a young singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and performer, convinced the jury "with her courage to playfully push the boundaries of expression, to combine theatrical, visually convincing performativity with musically sophisticated forms, to engage in creative collaborations with other outstanding musicians and to accept failure".

The prix netzhdk for Arts, Design and Communication is aimed at graduates of Bachelor's and Master's degree programs at ZHdK. The nominees must have between three and five years of practical experience and have distinguished themselves through independent, outstanding achievements in their field.

This year, a total of 17 former students were nominated for the prize by the heads of the degree programs and specializations of the various ZHdK departments and invited to submit their dossiers. The jury consisted of Esther Eppstein (Art), Etienne Abelin (Music), Kristin Irion (Design), Anna Luif (Film) and Sally de Kunst (Performing Arts).

50 cellists competed in the violoncello category at the 22nd International Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach am Wörthersee, Austria. Christoph Croisé won first prize in the 3rd round. Second prize went to Yoosin Park (born 1990, South Korea) and third prize to Kacper Nowak (born 1987, Poland). The jury consisted of Alexandre Bouzlov, Catalin Ilea, Matthieu Lejeune, Kyung-Ok Park and Éva Simić-Németh.
Around 200 soloists and over 30 ensembles performed in the piano, chamber music, violin, viola and cello categories at the Brahms Competition from September 5 to 13. The competition is organized by the Johannes Brahms Society Pörtschach.

Born in 1993, Christoph Croisé has been performing internationally as a solo cellist since the age of 17. On November 7, he will be performing together with pianist Oxana Shevchenko at the Tonhalle Zurich to hear.
 

www.christophcroise.ch
www.brahmscompetition.org
 

In view of the fact that the USA has not acceded to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Cultural Diversity, the resolution calls for "normatively effective approaches to cultural, media and educational policy protection to be enshrined in all relevant chapters of the TTIP agreement".

It also points out that "the far-reaching effects that such an agreement could have on the cultural infrastructure and on the media, culture, science and education on offer in Germany" continue to require an informed and broad social and political debate and should not be subject exclusively to economic policy considerations.

Finally, it calls on German politicians to unequivocally "advocate legally effective protection mechanisms in the sense of a technology-neutral further development of regulation to safeguard diversity of information and opinion, media pluralism and linguistic and cultural diversity, and to advocate this in the coming rounds of negotiations".

The whole resolution: www.unesco.de/index.php?id=reshv75_ttip
 

An ENT doctor or a hearing aid acoustician appointed by him determines the individual tinnitus frequency of a patient. This indicates which areas of the auditory center of the brain are affected by the tinnitus. With the Tinnitracks app, the frequency can be filtered out of the patient's favorite music. According to the health insurance company, regular listening to the filtered music calms the overactive tinnitus nerve cells. This can reduce the intensity of the tinnitus.

The treatment method is useful if there is subjective, chronic stable-tonal tinnitus without fluctuation in pitch that lasts longer than three months in total. The phantom sound must be narrow-band enough so that a tinnitus frequency can be determined. The frequency must be below 8500 Hz.

Founded in 2012, Sonormed GmbH has developed Tinnitracks, an award-winning medical product for tinnitus treatment that, according to its own advertising, gives over three million tinnitus sufferers in Germany access to a new form of therapy. In June 2014, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology named Sonormed the most innovative company in the healthcare sector in the EU.

Every two years it takes over the Bern Music Festivalto bring together the wealth of local musical life - until now alternating with the interdisciplinary Biennale Bern. This year's fifth edition, entitled Big Bang From September 3 to 13, the festival offered an almost unbelievable series of events for all ages. It opened in the cathedral with the Genesis Suitea setting of texts from the First Book of Moses, premiered in 1945, in which prominent composers including Arnold Schönberg and Igor Stravinsky had participated. Alongside such traditional concerts were (dance) performances and sound installations; in Club Bonsoir, musicians from the computer and turntable scene presented their own remix of the festival's sound material; in the city, Zoro Babel and Andrea Lesjak let passers-by make music on their giant stone slab xylophone; and percussionist Fritz Hauser transformed Münsterplatz into a fascinating soundscape in his own choreography with around 120 small and large percussionists, string players and bell ringers. A series of scientific talks also explored topics relating to the "Big Bang".  

Photo: Philipp Zinniker

"Serpente Litophonie" in Bern Minster

The festival tradition began in 2007 with a major music festival to celebrate the 100th birthday of the composer and teacher Sándor Veress. Even then, the plan was to continue the format, says musicologist Hanspeter Renggli, but no longer to focus on a single personality. Renggli is head of the festival's program group and will remain president of the supporting association until the autumn. The program group, he explains, determines the festival motto. This is intended as a guard rail to prevent arbitrariness, but also to encourage the artists to make their own associations. For example, the term "Big Bang" can be associated with the findings of space physics as well as the biblical story of creation, the beginning of contemporary music in the work of Arnold Schönberg or the beginning of a love affair when you "fall in love". The program group examines all projects that are proposed for the festival. Cooperation between different institutions is particularly welcome. This is what makes the festival so special.  

One such co-production of five (!) very different formations was the concert Planck at the Dampfzentrale. Two baroque orchestras, Die Freitagsakademie and Les Passions de l'Amethat ensemble protonthat Piano duo huber/thomet (Susanne Huber and André Thomet) and the percussion quartet Ensemble This/Ensemble That (the festival's ensemble-in-residence) played a clever program in which baroque music alternated with new pieces by younger composers who were inspired in different ways by the festival motto. Proton had been working with Leonardo Idrobo Adrift which creates elements from a mass of sound and light that expand and contract. The sounds of the ensemble are complemented by electronic feeds, spoken texts and the projection of colorful images. On this evening, however, only an excerpt without electronics and projection could be heard, a transparent network of colorful sound lines; the actual premiere took place a few days later. Huber/thomet and the four percussionists interpreted Cosmic Swoosh by Michael Pelzl. With two prepared concert grand pianos, celesta and gongs, the composer contrasts a dark and a light sphere - with tonal imagination, but somewhat schematically. At the beginning and end of the evening, the five groupings merged in Planck of the Basler Martin Jaggi to the ensemble collective. Jaggi refers to the Planck space probe, which was able to record the cosmic background radiation, the "footprint" of the Big Bang, for the first time. American physicist John G. Cramer's attempt to convert Planck's data into sounds forms the background of the piece in the form of a tape recording. Jaggi integrates the different instruments, which are also tuned differently, into a differentiated whole and finds distinctive sound combinations, for example in the dialog between the (amplified) theorbo and the softly struck gongs. The music-making was excellent throughout. The phenomenal violinist Meret Lüthi from Les Passions de l'Ame in one of the most memorable performances. Rosary-sonatas by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber.  

Photo: Philipp Zinniker

The ensemble collective interprets Jaggi's "Planck"

The festival is currently facing important changes. In 2014, the city government decided to fund either the Biennale or the music festival in future and ultimately opted for the music festival. Since then, internal discussions about the future shape of the festival have been ongoing. It is clear that the city expects an opening to the outside world and more international appeal. However, it is equally clear that the event must not degenerate into a transit station for traveling stars. To this end, the artist-in-residence model is to be expanded, with more foreign artists - such as this year's percussion quartet - taking part in various events and thus helping to shape the program.  

www.musikfestivalbern.ch

Musicologists led by Rainer Kleinertz from Saarland University want to open up new avenues of research into the Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria and prepare a historical-critical complete edition of his works. Kleinertz is an expert in Spanish music history and, together with computer scientist Meinard Müller from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, has been leading a German Research Foundation (DFG) project on the computer-aided analysis of harmonic structures since 2014.

With his current workshop, the musicologist from Saarbrücken is bringing together computer scientists and musicologists from Spain and Germany with other specialists. The researchers are discussing which methods can be used to analyze the musical structures in Tomás Luis de Victoria's work.

Tomás Luis de Victoria (ca. 1548, Ávila - 1611, Madrid) is considered a central composer of the Spanish Siglo de oro. He worked in Rome for a long time, had close ties to Germany and finally returned to Madrid.

The workshop currently being held is entitled "Musicology and computer science in dialog: Problems of transmission and possibilities of analyzing works by Tomás Luis de Victoria (ca. 1548-1611)".

More info: www.uni-saarland.de/musikwissenschaft

The projects launched between 2013 and 2015 will be continued, according to a press release from the cantonal government. In addition, a museum strategy will strengthen the cantonal museums for future challenges and the expansion of outreach programs will improve access to culture in the canton of Thurgau: Gaps in offerings are to be closed and institutions supported in the development of outreach programs.

The cultural concept provides information on the criteria for the allocation of resources from the lottery fund. It shows how the funds from the state account and the lottery fund are used for cultural and charitable organizations.

The annual contributions from the state account will increase minimally due to the increasing share of the Canton of Thurgau in the Eastern Switzerland Cultural Burden Equalization Scheme from the previous CHF 1,866,100 to CHF 1,889,600 per year. The annually recurring contributions from the lottery fund will increase from CHF 2,548,500 to CHF 2,666,000, in particular due to the two newly set development goals.

In addition, the framework credit for one-off cultural projects will be increased from CHF 2.3 million to CHF 3 million based on past experience. Whether the framework credit is used up depends on the applications to the lottery fund and is still only a theoretical figure.

The concept can be downloaded at:
www.tg.ch/documents/Kulturkonzept_2016_2018.pdf

The choice was made after a selection process lasting almost two years with over 270 applications. Huppert will already conduct two concerts in the 2015/16 season: on December 8, 2015 and January 30, 2016.

Daniel Huppert initially studied cello and conducting as well as musicology and German studies in Saarbrücken and then continued his studies in Weimar at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. This was followed by postgraduate studies in concert performance.

In 2010, he won the 2nd German Operetta Prize for Young Conductors at Leipzig Opera. He won the MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig Conducting Competition and the International Lutoslawski Competition for Young Conductors in Poland in 2011.
Until the end of 2010, he was engaged as "Assistant du chef d'orchestre" at the Opéra national de Paris (Bastille).

Daniel Huppert was a fellow of the Conductors' Forum of the German Music Council. In the 2015/16 season, Daniel Huppert will conduct the new production of "The Tales of Hoffmann" at the Komische Oper Berlin, directed by Barry Kosky.