The Theatergenossenschaft Basel, which supports Theater Basel, had applied for an increase of CHF 1.4 million from the previous annual subsidy of CHF 4.5 million to CHF 5.9 million from the 2015/16 season.

The cantonal government states that "additional funds for the additional needs of the Theater Basel in the artistic area are not a priority in terms of financial policy". In connection with a deepening of the partnership with the canton of Basel-Stadt, the Basel-Landschaft cantonal government also sees "the priorities in the areas of education, health and infrastructure".
 

In July, the Lucerne Cantonal Council approved a planning report on the promotion of culture, and the Culture Promotion Act must now be amended accordingly. This concerns the expansion of cantonally funded cultural institutions and the planned measure of selective production funding.

The prerequisite for the latter is the realization of regional development funds in various regions of the Canton of Lucerne, in cooperation with the regional development agencies and the municipalities.

Under the selective production funding scheme, professional artists can apply with a project in response to a call for proposals. If a project meets the specified criteria, the canton can contribute financially to its realization.

The law must be amended to include the Lucerne Festival and the Swiss Museum of Transport in the special-purpose association. 

Around 50 musicians from so-called third countries are expected to have to leave Switzerland by the end of the year (see Message). According to the law, musicians living in the city of Basel and the canton of Baselland must have a permanent position of at least 75 percent, writes Suisseculture.

However, this does not correspond to the real labor market in artistic professions. Permanent positions are also the exception in other artistic fields. Most theater professionals, dancers, authors and visual artists work on a freelance basis. However, they are important sources of inspiration for society.

According to Suisseculture, the quota system for foreign workers in the cultural sector shows "unworldly and absurd features": music schools, for example, are sometimes not allowed to employ top-class musicians because they cannot prove that there is "no comparable artist" in Switzerland.

"During his time in office, Ullrich "made a significant contribution to the promotion and strengthening of cultural creation in the Basel area and to the cultural policy development of the Basel region with great commitment", writes the canton.

The cultural.bl department of the Education, Culture and Sport Directorate of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft supports professional art and culture in the Basel region. It conveys and promotes culture in all its diversity, with a particular focus on the promotion of contemporary art.

The management position of the cultural.bl department will be publicly advertised and should be filled in good time.
 

The new contrabass clarinet is intended to overcome the instrument's lack of tonal and technical quality under a "radically new premise": by replacing the traditional mechanics with sensory-dynamic keys and motorized keys, there is no longer any need to compromise on the placement of the tone holes, writes the HKB. Sound and intonation would be significantly improved and new interfaces for composers and performers, and even for media art, would be created. Ernesto Molinari's project is headed by Roman Brotbeck.

The HKB has also been invited to take part in the EU project "Experimentation versus Interpretation: Exploring New Paths in Music Performance in the Twenty-First Century" of the European Research Council & Orpheus Institute, Ghent. SNSF professor Kai Köpp will act as a permanent expert and contribute to the project with a study of historical recordings from the Schönberg circle.

A new SNSF project, successfully submitted by Thomas Gartmann, head of research at the HKB, explores how Beethoven's piano works were received in the long 19th century: two closely interlinked dissertations examine from both ends how interpretative practices changed and developed after Beethoven's death and thus to a large extent still shape our image of Beethoven today.

Leonardo Miucci takes Ignaz Moscheles' diary entries, letters and piano schools as his starting point and compares the two major Beethoven editions that he produced in the 1830s for the English market and twenty years later for the German market. Manuel Bärtsch evaluates recordings with Welte-Mignon rolls and early acoustic recordings and contextualizes them both historically and aesthetically. Both studies focus on articulation, dynamics, agogics, pedalization, (transposition of) performance markings, tempo and metronome markings.

Dóra Kiss completed her doctorate at the University of Geneva with the thesis "La saisie du mouvement, De l'écriture et de la lecture des sources de la belle danse". She was originally a dancer, choreographer and dance teacher.

She has been involved in various productions throughout Europe and has taught at various universities such as the Bern University of the Arts (HKB). She is currently working on a project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) on the relationship between dance and music.

A total of eight recent doctoral graduates from Basel, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Zurich and New York applied. According to the SMG, it was not easy for the selection committee, consisting of members of the SMG Board, to choose from the submitted dissertations, all of which were of high quality.

The prize is named after the Moscow-born Swiss musicologist and organist Jacques Handschin (1886-1955). It is awarded every two years to young academics. The award ceremony for Dóra Kiss will take place on November 7 at the University of Fribourg.

Switzerland would like to propose eight candidatures to Unesco that are also meaningful as a group. The selection includes both familiar and unexpected elements. It was drawn up by a group of experts consisting of nine members from all over Switzerland. The first candidature is planned for 2015.

Switzerland ratified the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008. As a first step, a federal inventory of intangible cultural heritage was drawn up. This "List of Living Traditions in Switzerland" was published in 2012 and includes 167 traditions. On the basis of this inventory, Switzerland can now submit candidatures for the UNESCO lists of intangible cultural heritage.

Detailed information can be found at:
www.bak.admin.ch/kulturerbe

Caption:
Churfirstenchörli, Alt St.Johann - Unterwasser (SG) at the Klangfestival Naturstimmen 2014 © Dolores Rupa / KlangWelt Toggenburg

 

Nine expectant people gathered at Zurich Airport on the evening of October 10 to fly to Krakow with editor-in-chief and tour guide Katrin Spelinova. However, we had to save our curiosity about the city in the south of Poland until the next morning and were content to move into our rooms in the very comfortable and modern Andel's Hotel after our late arrival.

On a foggy Saturday morning, our perfectly German-speaking and very competent Polish tour guide picked us up for our first sightseeing tour. She first took us to the old town, just a few minutes' walk away, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978. We passed the Barbican, a defensive bulwark from the 15th century, and the Florian Gate, the only remaining gate in Krakow's city walls and the start of the so-called Royal Route, which led Polish kings through the city center to Wawel Castle for many centuries. But first things first!

The first part of this royal road and probably the most famous street in the city is Florianska. Today it is a lively pedestrian zone with numerous restaurants, stores and bureaux de change. Stately town houses line it and bear witness to a long history.

We soon reached the main market, the actual center of Krakow in the heart of the old town. With its impressive dimensions of 200 by 200 meters, it is one of the largest medieval market squares in Europe. It was laid out in this form as early as 1257.

Flower stalls under bright yellow parasols, jugglers, hackney carriages with elaborately decorated horse-drawn carriages waiting for customers, the ubiquitous small blue vending carts with tempting obwarzanki (a ring-shaped yeast pastry), flocks of pigeons and many cheerful locals and tourists enliven the square and create a cheerful, almost Mediterranean atmosphere against a medieval backdrop. Two of Krakow's landmarks can be found on the main market square: the red and yellow Renaissance building of the Tuchhallen and St. Mary's Church with its two towers of different heights. Typical souvenirs such as amber jewelry, wood carvings, ceramics and animal skins are sold in many small wooden stalls in the Cloth Halls. However, we had to postpone our shopping trip until later, as our tour continued along the Royal Route through Grodzka Street towards Wawel.

The castle and cathedral are located on a small hill directly on the banks of the Vistula.

Over the course of its eventful history, the castle has been repeatedly rebuilt and renovated. Today, the former royal residence is home to several museums and is a magnet for all visitors to Krakow. We passed through a magnificent arcaded courtyard into the royal chambers with their frescoes, wooden ceilings and valuable tapestries from the 16th century, which fortunately have survived all wars and fires. We were particularly impressed by the painting Lady with the erminewhich Leonardo da Vinci painted in 1489 as one of only four portraits of women. When we left the castle at midday, we were surprised by bright sunshine, the fog had finally lifted. Before our well-deserved lunch break, however, we still had a visit to the Wawel Cathedral on the agenda. It is considered one of the most important places of worship in Poland. Polish kings were crowned here and many of them rest in huge sarcophagi in the central nave and in the crypt. A narrow spiral staircase leads to the Sigismund Tower with the 12-ton Sigismund bell.

Our first destination in the afternoon was the aforementioned Gothic St. Mary's Church, built between the 13th and 15th centuries. The interior owes its special atmosphere to the countless stars on the blue-painted ceiling and the colorful stained glass windows. The main attraction, however, is the late Gothic high altar by Nuremberg sculptor Veit Stoss. The largest figures, modeled on citizens of Krakow, are 2.7 meters high and look extremely lifelike. It is hard to believe that they are carved from lime wood.

We continued on to the university district. The Collegium Maius is the oldest building of the venerable Jagiellonian University. It was founded in 1364 and is the second oldest university in Central Europe after Prague. To this day, Krakow has remained an important university city and the many students and young people are an unmistakable feature of the cityscape.

Back on the market square, a concert by a string quartet awaited us in the tiny Adalbert Church, which is a real oasis of calm in the midst of the hustle and bustle. The program was a colourful mix, ranging from Mozart, Handel and Vivaldi to Gershwin and film melodies. Afterwards, we had dinner together in the Jarema restaurant, where we were treated to Polish specialties and folk music and exchanged our impressions of this very interesting, but also exhausting first day.

Our bus was ready at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning to take us to the salt mine in Wieliczka, south-east of Krakow, which has also been awarded Unesco status. Salt was mined here from the Middle Ages until the mine ceased operations in 1993. The caves and tunnels extend over 300 km. On a two-kilometer tour through this unique world, we learned a lot about the often dangerous work of the miners and salt extraction. Salt lakes, sculptures, halls and the largest underground church in the world, all made of salt, left us amazed.

We spent the afternoon in Kazimierz, which used to be an independent town and is now part of Krakow. The Jews in Krakow once enjoyed great freedom and extraordinary rights. When they were later persecuted, they moved to neighboring Kazimierz. However, the Nazis destroyed the flourishing Jewish culture and only 4,000 of the 60,000 Jews survived the war. Today, the district is a popular place to go out, with its many restaurants and a completely different atmosphere to the rest of the city. Colorful but small houses built next to each other line Breite Strasse, the former market square.

There are three important synagogues here, including the Remuh Synagogue with its old cemetery. Visiting this synagogue, which is still in active use today, was probably a special experience for most of our group. The visit to the weathered gravestones with their mysterious signs and inscriptions in the old cemetery also left a deep impression. A tour through the narrow streets and past other synagogues and important sites finally led us to Plac Nowy, the lively market square with numerous cafés and bars.

In the evening, a very special experience awaited us in the Ariel restaurant. Even the winding rooms with countless pictures on the walls created a special atmosphere. We were served a tasting menu of Jewish-Polish delicacies at a long table. A highlight of the whole trip was the performance by the klezmer ensemble Sholem. Maciej Inglot on accordion and Tomasz Michalik on double bass as well as the singer and violinist Ewelina Tomanek entertained us with melodies from the rich Jewish folk music tradition. Their music was so fabulous and captivating that we were almost unable to keep our seats. It was a unique and successful end to the day.

The last stop on the program on Monday morning was a visit to the music academy. A graduate showed us around the premises and told us a lot of interesting facts about music education and training, which is extremely important in Poland. The children are encouraged from an early age and trained to a high standard. As at the concert on Saturday, we noticed that the boundaries between serious and popular music are much more fluid in Poland than here. In principle, everyone plays everything, although jazz is also of great importance and very popular throughout the country. We were given a musical taster in the organ hall and at the end of the tour the 25-year-old pianist Jerzy Owczarz interpreted compositions by his compatriots Karol Szymanowski and Fryderyk Chopin.

The last few hours were just enough for a short farewell tour, either to spend the last zlotys in the Galeria Krakowska shopping center with its 270 stores or to stroll through the market again. We were soon driven to the airport and arrived back in Zurich two and a half hours late, but safe and sound.

Our short detour to Krakow was a trip full of highlights in a beautiful city steeped in history, which almost all of us visited for the first, but perhaps not the last time. I would like to pay special tribute not only to Katrin Spelinova for her prudent and competent tour guide, but also to all the other passengers, who were always in a good mood and interested. It was great fun traveling with you!

The official has been under criminal investigation for a year on suspicion of abuse of authority, the regional journal continues. He is accused of issuing permits, particularly for cross-border commuters, without any legal basis.

The Basel Office for Economy and Labor is examining a hardship regulation for the affected musicians with the Federal Office for Migration. This would apply to 20 of the 55 musicians affected.

Original message:
www.srf.ch/news/regional/basel-baselland/auslaendische-musiker-in-basel-nicht-mehr-willkommen

The conference was well attended with 90 participants - mainly full-time and part-time church musicians, music teachers and theologians - and offered a considerable number of speakers with around 40 experts. The program included a well-thought-out, well-coordinated range of panels, lectures, forums, workshops and concerts. The events were geared towards the needs of church music practice.

In the first of a total of three lectures, Bernhard Leube addressed the following topics under the title Music as a time announcement the experience of the church of all times in worship through the presence of biblical texts and music from different centuries. He concluded that contemporary music in the church, regardless of style, must refer to all times of the church. Jochen Arnold made a plea in his lecture on Popular music in church services for a "multilingual liturgy" whose central characteristic of church music is its stylistic breadth and openness to popular music. Particularly helpful was a "quality check", which used nine questions to compile criteria for the suitability of popular music for church services. Steffen Kaupp based his remarks on the church's Popular music as Babylonian captivity or bridge to foreign worlds on membership surveys commissioned by the Württemberg regional church. His recommendations to church musicians to reflect on their own musical socialization and milieu roots, to reduce fear of contact and incomprehension towards the musically unfamiliar and to develop a musical "desire for others" were convincing.

22 workshops covered a wide range of musical topics. The instructors included internationally renowned performers such as Patrick Bebelaar (jazz piano), Michel Godard (brass improvisation), Roger Treece (circlesing/improvisation) and Morten Kjær (choir). Small groups allowed for a relaxed learning atmosphere in which the participants' joy in getting to know each other and learning, playfully trying things out and experimenting together was clearly noticeable.

Three evening concerts brought together established soloists and ensembles from various popular music genres. Johannes Falk & Band, Glasperlenspiel, the Jazzchor Freiburg & Roger Treece, the LAKI-PopChor with Hans-Martin Sauter and Hans-Joachim Eissler's band, the jazz trio Michel Godard, Patrick Bebelaar and Frank Kroll as well as Brass Connection with Matthias Schnabel were also well received by the Tübingen audience and offered inspiring moments.

The liturgical highlight was the closing service with Bishop Frank July in Tübingen's Stiftskirche, which included popular music as an example. At the end The way of Love (after 1 Cor 13), a composition commissioned for the conference by Morten Kjær and Malene Rigtrup, was premiered.

Music professors, church and secular popular musicians, theologians and representatives of regional church institutions discussed in four excellent panels. The first panel proclaimed that the time of "trench warfare" between classical music and popular music was over and that the focus was now on concrete practical questions. In the panel on questions of text quality, it was pointed out that there have been too few good texts suitable for popular music on certain theological themes (lament, doubt, fear, mourning) and occasions (church year, Kyrie). There was agreement in the discussion round on popular music education in the church that further development of university education is urgently needed, but no agreement could be reached for the time being on the specific form of study. The question "Specialists or all-rounders?" tended to be answered with "both". The fourth panel dealt with the future of popular church music and the future role of the church musician with a popular music focus. It was hoped that the results of the conference would be taken into account by church decision-making bodies with regard to the training and employment of church musicians.
 

The violinist Mark O Connor presents evidence on his blog that Sukzuki was not a pupil of the Berlin pedagogue Karl Klingler, as he himself states, but was rejected at the audition in Berlin. He also claims that he never obtained a doctorate, which he used. And his contacts with Albert Einstein were limited to having received an autograph from him as a seller of Suzuki violins.

Moreover, although Pablo Casals and his wife had indeed visited a Suzuki violin class in Japan, they had been "horrified" by what was presented there.

O Connor's blog post: markoconnorblog.blogspot.de/2014/10/suzukis-biggest-lie.html?m=1

Switzerland was represented for the first time at the meeting of ASEM culture ministers, of which it has been a member since 2012. In the margins, Alain Berset held talks with the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Jet Bussemaker. The possibilities for cooperation between the creative industries and sectors such as health, energy and tourism were discussed.

The Head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs also met the Chinese Vice Minister of Culture Ding Wei for the second time, where they discussed Pro Helvetia's branch office in Shanghai and the cultural property agreement signed in Beijing in August 2013.

Contacts were also established with Latvia, which will take over the presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2015. Finally, Federal Councillor Alain Berset discussed language issues with the Flemish Minister of Culture, Media and Youth, Sven Gatz.

In 2011, the cultural and creative industries in Switzerland employed over 260,000 people in around 70,000 companies. This corresponds to 10 percent of companies and 5.1 percent of jobs. The promotion of creativity and innovation is one of the main axes on which the Federal Council intends to focus the Confederation's cultural policy in the coming years.

The planned measures include intensifying the tried-and-tested cooperation between cultural promotion, industry and business promotion, promoting innovation in the fields of design and interactive digital media as well as targeted location promotion in the area of film production in Switzerland.

Founded in Bangkok in 1996, the ASEM dialog forum currently has around 50 members. The European group consists of 27 EU member states, Switzerland, Norway and the European Commission. The Asian group comprises 20 countries, namely the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan, Russia, India, Australia and New Zealand as well as the ASEAN Secretariat. The ASEM member countries currently account for 62.5 percent of the world's population and 57 percent of the world's gross domestic product.

Projects by Martin Baumgartner (www.lunchbox.li20,000 Swiss francs) and Rahel Steiner (www.landcoveredwithbriar.com30,000 francs).

According to a press release, the jury was confronted with twelve submissions (consisting of scores, recordings, sketches and project descriptions) from a wide variety of styles and mentalities and therefore decided to define the term "composition" broadly: in the sense of inventing/fixing music.

An important criterion for the awarding of the two contributions was the high profile of the work submitted to date and the standard (in terms of size, complexity, innovation) of the proposed projects.

The alternative rock trio, consisting of singer and bassist Rahel Steiner, drummer Andrej Marffy and guitarist Simon Rupp, has created a world of its own in the seven years of its existence. The jury was also completely convinced by the artistic power of the sketches submitted for the new album and would like to support the project for a second album.

The composer and turntablist Martin Baumgartner is at home in many sound worlds and working methods. The sketches for his sprawling, elaborate composition "PAN" gave hope for an hour of unpredictable music full of the craziest twists and turns.

The jury consisted of Simone Keller (pianist, Zurich), Moritz Müllenbach (cellist and composer, Zurich), Felix Profos (composer and lecturer, Berlin) and Thomas K. J. Mejer as representative of the Competition Committee (in an advisory capacity).

Born in 1988, jazz musician and pianist Jonas Seetoh (Situ Jiawei) is under contract with JZ Music China. You can find out more about him at www.jonasseetoh.co.uk. Wang Wenwei, born in 1972, also lives and works in Shanghai.

In addition to musicians, numerous visual artists, dancers, media artists, theater artists and authors travel to Switzerland or from Switzerland to residencies in Egypt, India, China and South Africa, where Pro Helvetia maintains liaison offices.

More information and complete list of residences: www.prohelvetia.ch/Residenze.871.0.html?&L=0

Since 2005, pupils at elementary school and upper secondary level in the canton of Aargau have been able to experience cultural and artistic content as part of the program. The focus is on encounters with artists as well as an examination of the past, present and future.

In 2013, around 89,000 pupils took part in the "Kultur macht Schule" program - the canton of Aargau is well established in dealing with cultural and artistic content as part of individual education.

The publication "Wechselwirkungen. Cultural mediation and its effects" provides space for the controversial debate on the effects of cultural mediation.

19 international authors from research and practice take a reflective stance towards the discourse on impact, describe their experiences of working as cultural mediators, discuss the pitfalls of research and explore new perspectives on what impact can be.

More info:
www.ag.ch/de/weiteres/aktuelles/medienportal/medienmitteilung/medienmitteilungen/mediendetails_38265.jsp