The cultural prize, endowed with 30,000 francs, was not awarded last year due to the canton's cost-cutting measures; in 2014 it will be awarded for the eleventh time, again with the previous prize money.

It has only ever been awarded once to a music institution, in 2007 to the Langnau Jazz Night. In 2009, it went to the Brienz Violin Making School. The other previous winners are the Literarische Gesellschaft, Biel, Radio RaBe, Bern, the Fotobüro Bern, the Theatertreffen AUAWIRLEBEN, Bern, the Architekturforum Biel, the Berner Tanztage, the Burgdorfer Krimitage and the Kunsthaus Langenthal.

The Atelier de gravure in Moutier has made a name for itself as a workshop for the techniques of intaglio printing, lithography, relief printing and, for some years now, heliogravure, which is known far beyond the region for its outstanding printing techniques.

The Canton of Bern Cultural Mediation Prize, endowed with CHF 10,000, is being awarded for the ninth time. The award to Christian Jaquet is the first time a cultural mediator from the field of design has been honored.

Born in 1935, Christian Jaquet has had a significant influence on the cultural and design scene in the canton of Bern in many different ways over the decades. In 1967, he founded the Hablützel and Jaquet studio in Bern. In 1998, he was appointed project manager for the establishment of the new Bern University of the Arts and head of the "visual communication" course; he was particularly influential in the field of signage.

Previous recipients of the Cultural Mediation Award include Roman Brotbeck, former Head of the Music Department at Bern University of the Arts, and literature and music organizer Hans Ruprecht.

The cooperation, which was sealed by the rectors Rüdiger Nolte (music) and Ulrich Druwe (education), aims to "significantly increase the music education and artistic skills of teachers in Baden-Württemberg", particularly in the elementary school sector. At the same time, it opens up new career prospects for Freiburg music and teaching students, writes the Freiburg University of Music.

A degree course in music education in the elementary and primary sector is aimed at Freiburg music students studying elementary music education, who can now combine their studies with elements of primary school teacher training at the Freiburg University of Education, thus opening up access to the teaching profession.
The Bachelor's and Master's degree course in Secondary Level 1 Teacher Training, sub-course in Music is being developed by the University of Education in cooperation with the Freiburg University of Music.

The University of Music and the University of Teacher Education will cooperate more closely in the new Bachelor's and Master's degree courses for secondary school teachers, sub-course in music.

The aim of the cooperation is to provide future music teachers of all school types - from music schools to grammar schools - with "musical teaching and learning at the highest level". In addition, students from both universities would be systematically integrated into the educational research contexts at the University of Teacher Education.

The music is not just an accompanying element in the Swiss-Canadian co-production, but an integral part of the plot, writes the Suisa Foundation. The character of Shana is strongly shaped by the music. The jury describes Lerch's music as "very inspired, passionate and masterfully composed". It presented Lerch with the prize of 15,000 Swiss francs at the 67th Locarno International Film Festival.

Roman Lerch was born in Solothurn in 1987. After several years of band experience, the pianist decided to pursue professional training, which he completed at the universities of the arts in Bern and Zurich, focusing on film and theater composition, among other things. His teachers included Peter Scherer and Niki Reiser.

The aim of the conference is to highlight interfaces between music psychology and its application in the engineering sciences. Keynotes by Karlheinz Brandenburg (Fraunhofer IDMT, Ilmenau) and Meinard Müller (International Audio Laboratories, Erlangen) will highlight existing points of contact between the disciplines and provide impetus for new ideas and discussions. Music journalist and composer Michael Rüsenberg (Cologne) will also give a keynote speech.

The conference is also dedicated to Music Information Retrieval (MIR), sound perception, sound evaluation, music and sound synthesis and music effects. In addition, contributions are expected that demonstrate the benefits of technologies from the natural and engineering sciences for music psychology.

Info:
Applied Music Psychology, 30th Annual Conference of the DGM 2014, September 12 - 14, 2014, Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS Erlangen (Tennenlohe), www.music-psychology.de

The contents of over 100 estate boxes - comparable to around 20 moving boxes - are now being sifted through and prepared for entry into the estates database. The estate includes numerous music prints with handwritten notes, including many songs and extensive correspondence with musicians, concert agencies, companies and admirers. There are also manuscripts of his lectures, essays and books, as well as contracts, photos and many records and CDs.

A special piece of the estate is a concert grand piano that the singer bought at the beginning of his career in the 1950s. The gold-colored metal frame inside bears the signatures of many fellow artists, including Jörg Demus, Leonard Bernstein, Daniel Barenboim, Arnold Schönberg, Wilhelm Kempf, Aribert Reimann and others.

During his lifetime, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925-2012) had stipulated that his estate should remain in his hometown of Berlin, where he experienced many of the highlights of his career, and that it should be made available for research. He had held a professorship at the Berlin University of the Arts since 1983.

According to the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the law will stop the increase in the artists' social security contribution rate. More intensive audits of employers by the German Pension Insurance and the Artists' Social Insurance Fund will ensure that the levy is fair. The law thus makes "an important contribution to making the artists' social security system fit for the future".

Around 180,000 self-employed artists and publicists in Germany are currently covered by statutory health, long-term care and pension insurance through the artists' social insurance scheme. Like employees, self-employed artists and publicists pay half of their social security contributions. The other half of the contributions is financed by a federal subsidy (20 percent) and the artists' social security contribution from companies (30 percent) that exploit artistic and journalistic services.

The artists' social security contribution is levied as a contribution. The levy rate is set annually for the following calendar year and is currently 5.2%. The basis for assessment is all remuneration paid to self-employed artists and publicists in a calendar year.
 

Born in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande in Gironde in 1931, Jacques Merlet studied organ and piano at the Paris Conservatoire, where he was also a student of Olivier Messiaen. After graduating, he decided to pursue a career as a radio editor. He first worked for the radio station France Culture and later for France Musique.

Merlet was regarded as a tireless promoter of the early music scene, and he ensured that personalities such as Jean-Claude Malgoire, William Christie, Jordi Savall and Philippe Herreweghe were given a radiofone platform in France during their pioneering period. In 2003, he was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French state.

Merlet suffered his first stroke in 2000 and has now succumbed to the consequences of pneumonia.

Sergei Prokofieff was born in Moscow in 1954. He acquired his knowledge of German by studying Rudolf Steiner's writings, which were banned in the Soviet Union. His first book Rudolf Steiner and the foundation of the new mysteries was published in Germany in 1982, while the Soviet Union was still in power. In 1991 he co-founded the Anthroposophical Society in Russia, and in 2001 the Anthroposophical Society appointed him to the board in Dornach, Switzerland.

Prokofieff was regarded as a militant orthodox representative of anthroposophy, who took a narrow view of the term. He took Steiner critics such as Helmut Zander to task, according to the news agency NNA he took the view that "they were deliberately working to destroy the anthroposophical movement".

His negative attitude towards anthroposophical content on the Internet also earned him the reputation of an orthodox anthroposophist.
 

In the cello category, the competition will be contested by Swiss musicians Chiara Enderle (Migros Culture Percentage soloist 2014), Sayaka Selina Studer (multiple Migros Culture Percentage study prize winner) and Laura van der Heijden from the UK with a Swiss mother (BBC Young Musician of the Year 2012). 

A total of 312 applicants were accepted by the preliminary jury for the 63rd edition. This year's categories are piano, cello, percussion and wind quintet. The applications came from 50 countries and five continents. 312 of the instrumentalists have been invited to take part in Munich. South Korea tops the list of countries applying in 2014, followed by Germany, Japan, Russia, France, Spain, the USA, China and Poland.

The competition starts on Monday, September 1 in Munich. A total of more than 165,000 euros in prize money is available this year, consisting of the main prizes from ARD and the special prizes awarded by foundations and institutions.  

According to the Bachhaus statement, some experts even consider it to have been created during Bach's lifetime. In any case, it is one of the three or four oldest depictions of Bach on a painting that still exist today, according to Bach House director Jörg Hansen.

It is clear that the portrait, which will be on display at the Bachhaus Eisenach from August 1, is a picture of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): just like the portrait painted by Elias Gottlob Haussmann in Leipzig's Old Town Hall in 1746, the sitter is holding a sheet of music in his hand - here the musical notes "B-A-C-H" are written on it in bass clef. The picture served as a model for numerous Bach copperplate engravings, such as the one on the title page of the first edition of the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung from 1798.

The oil painting on wood was formerly in the possession of the Königliches Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin, which had acquired it from the music teacher Rössel in Berlin in 1860. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was sold again to a private owner. It was not until 1985 that Bach research became aware of this painting. Following a visit to the "Echt Bach" exhibition, which the Bachhaus presented in Berlin Cathedral this spring, the owner decided to give it to the Eisenach museum on permanent loan.

It will now become part of the exhibition on Bach iconography, to which the Bach pastel from Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's presumed possessions was already added in May, and which is being redesigned and expanded again to mark the occasion.

At various stations in public spaces, Bithell uses interactive sound sculptures to record people's dreams, wishes and desires. They form the basis for a composition, which in turn is performed in a series of performances.

"The Place of Whispers" is part of the SOUNDZZ.Z.ZZZ...Z competition organized by the Lucerne Museum of Art and the Lucerne Festival. Following the call for artists sent out at the end of 2013, around 60 applications were received by January 2014. After assessment by a jury of experts, Bithell (*1976) was chosen as the winner. His project impressed the jury "with its unique blend of music, performance and intervention in public space".

Inspired by the theme of "psyche", Bithell's artistic interest for the project with the poetic title lies in the relationship between conscious and unconscious sounds, perceptions and experiences. David Bithell is developing five interactive sound sculptures and a website in order to collect wishes that are otherwise often kept secret.

In the city of Lucerne, Bithell wanders from place to place with his sculptures. At the same time, you can discover his secrets on the website www.placeofwhispers.com reveal. Bithell uses the material collected over several weeks for five performances. The whispers of the people who take part in the project, who whisper into the sculptures and tell their dreams, are composed into a new soundscape.

David Bithell relies on the support of a whispering choir to perform his compositions. Interested parties can register at info@kunstmuseumluzern.ch register for this.

More info: www.placeofwhispers.com

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently under negotiation aims to dismantle customs and regulatory barriers between the USA and the EU in order to stimulate the economies of both partners. Areas of life outside the economy could also be subject to the principles of free global trade.

However, the Goethe-Institut members are convinced that there are other important forms of publicity besides the market. Culture is a public good that deserves and needs public support. The value of artistic productions does not depend on the laws of the free market. The General Assembly of the Goethe-Institut is therefore of the opinion that culture, education and media must be consistently excluded from the TTIP negotiating mandate.

The negotiations between the European Commission and the USA on TTIP are currently being conducted in secret behind closed doors. This is not conducive to strengthening a shared responsibility for Europe. Rather, it gives rise to the suspicion that the independence of culture is at risk. So far, despite public criticism, this suspicion has not been dispelled by the Commission.

The General Assembly of the Goethe-Institut expects the new EU Commission to make its conduct of the negotiations and their current status transparent, to involve the member states and to keep the public fully informed. The Goethe-Institut will maintain close contact with the TTIP Advisory Council set up at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

According to a statement from the university, the Z Club is a discourse, performance and music festival at the ZHdK that is dedicated to the topics of money, space and post-industrialization night after night for a whole week.

The Z Club opens when the sun goes down in Venice: every night from 9 pm, a program unfolds that offers a cross-section of the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) for seven evenings.

On 29 July, a concert performance will highlight the nexus of heavy metal, death metal and post-industrialization. July 30 and 31, on the other hand, are entirely dedicated to new music and its relationship to industry: conceived and technically realized by the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology, a broad spectrum of works between analogue tape music and generative art, between audiovisual art and performance will be heard, in which various aspects of 'materiality' are thematized.

Based on the canonical work La Fabbrica Illuminata by the Venetian composer Luigi Nono interpreted by soprano Sarah Maria Sun, a path will be taken up to the present day. Works by Iannis Xenakis, Horacio Vaggione, Billy Roisz and current works by ICST members and students will be performed, culminating in a live audiovisual performance with Michael Egger, Thomas Peter and special guest Jorge Sánchez-Chiong.
 

According to the canton's latest school statistics, 71,526 children and young people attend elementary school in Aargau. They have a total of 826 instrumental teachers at their disposal, who share 112 full-time equivalents. This means that, on average, one teacher has a 14% workload. In contrast, the 234 speech therapy and dyslexia specialists have an average 50% workload (116 full-time equivalents).

A breakdown by gender reveals a relatively balanced picture: 454 male instrumental teachers compared to 372 female instrumental teachers. However, the men occupy significantly more full-time equivalents (72) than the women (40). This means that, on average, they have a higher workload.

General elementary school teachers (6705 in 2013) occupy 4470 full-time equivalents, i.e. an average 66% workload. The gender ratio is clearly skewed in favor of women: 1796 male teachers compared to 4909 female teachers.

According to the German Stage Association, Germany has 83 publicly financed opera houses, 130 orchestras, 200 privately run theaters and 70 opera festivals. Austria has 67 theaters and Switzerland 30, while France and the UK have just a dozen publicly financed opera houses.

According to statistics from Operbase, 7230 opera performances were staged in Germany last year, a third of the entire world production. The USA counted 1730 performances, Russia 1441, France 1288. Austria is in sixth place with 1252 performances, Switzerland in ninth place with 795.

If the number of performances is measured in relation to the size of the population, Switzerland is in second place with 102.1 performances per million inhabitants. The figure is only higher in Austria (149.8). Germany is in fourth place with 88.14 and Estonia in third place with 95.5.