Echo Jazz for HKB lecturer Dejan Terzic

The drummer and HKB lecturer Dejan Terzic has been awarded the German Music Prize Echo Jazz 2014 as instrumentalist of the year national drums/percussion.

Photo: Ulla C. Binder

Born in Serbia, Terzic moved to Germany with his parents at the age of three. In 2002, he became a member of Ticino native Franco Ambrosetti's group, with whom he performed in Switzerland and Italy. In the same year, he became part of the Nils Wogram Nostalgia Trio. In 2004 he was awarded the Munich Culture Prize.

In 2008, he wrote the music for the documentary film "Tunnel's End" by director Monica Lleo, which was recorded by the Babelsberg Film Orchestra Berlin. Since 2008, he has also been a lecturer in jazz percussion at the Swiss Jazzschool of the Bern University of the Arts (HKB).

 

New general manager for Theater Winterthur

At the beginning of June 2014, René Munz will succeed Marc Baumann as General Manager and Commercial Director of Theater Winterthur. Until then, program manager and deputy director Thomas Guglielmetti will take over the interim overall management of the theater.

Photo: Roland zh, wikimedia commons

René Munz, 59, from Thurgau, was a theater maker, producer and editor for Swiss television as well as head of the cultural office of the canton of Thurgau. He completed his basic training at the former acting academy in Zurich and various internships and assistant director positions at Theater Basel, the international theater festival B80 in Basel, Theater Konstanz and independent theater groups.

Munz was the founder and director of a small theater in Thurgau and has staged several theater productions with independent groups and amateur ensembles. From 2002, he headed the newly created Cultural Office of the Canton of Thurgau and was thus responsible for the diverse area of cantonal cultural promotion, lottery fund administration and five cantonal museums. In 2013, he became deputy head of the Canton of Zurich's Department of Culture.
 

Call for entries for the Zug Year of Work 2014

The Zug cantonal government is awarding a sum of CHF 50,000 to an artist from Zug. The application deadline for the music category is May 20.

© Zug Tourism/swiss-image.ch

According to the call for applications, anyone wishing to apply for the Werkjahr must be at least 30 years old, have lived in the canton of Zug for three years or have lived there for ten years at an earlier stage. An outstanding artistic achievement or a convincing project is required. Previous work must have both a regional and national impact.

Applications for the music category must be submitted to the Office for Culture by May 20. The submitted documentation will be publicly exhibited in the Zug Chollerhalle from July 3 to 6. An audition will take place on July 8 at the Zug Music School. The jury's decision in September will be based on the documentation and the audition. Finally, the prizes will be awarded on October 2 in the Chollerhalle Zug.

Registration forms and conditions of participation can be found on the Internet at www.zug.ch/kultur or from the Directorate for Education and Culture, Office for Culture, Baarerstrasse 19, 6300 Zug, phone 041/728 31 46, tanja.vogel@zg.ch can be obtained.
 

Grand Austrian State Prize for Furrer

The composer Beat Furrer, born in Schaffhausen in 1954, has been awarded the Grand Austrian State Prize. The award ceremony is expected to take place in Vienna in November.

Photo: Dimitri Papageorgiou

In its statement, the Arts Senate justified its recommendation with Furrer's "unmistakable style, which is characterized by the human voice and the interrelationship of sound, language and visuals, based on sophisticated texts". Furrer is one of the most respected composers internationally today and his works are recognized by renowned concert institutions, festivals and opera houses.

Beat Furrer moved to Vienna in 1975, where he studied composition and conducting. In 1985 he founded Klangforum Wien, which he directed until 1992 and with which he has been associated as a conductor ever since. Furrer has been Professor of Composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz since 1991.

His music theater works in particular (including The blind, Narcissus, desire or FAMA, Desert Book) have gained recognition. He is currently working on projects for the opera houses in Hamburg and Berlin.
 

The Swiss Music Guide has been around for 15 years. The 14th edition contains 4000 Swiss music addresses.

SMPV

In addition, the Swiss Music Guide sees itself as a showcase for various associations in Swiss musical life, which are presented in detail.

The website www.swissmusicguide.ch supplements this industry guide with additional information such as photos and videos of the artists. Entry in the Swiss Music Guide is - and remains - free of charge!

Readers of the Schweizer Musikzeitung receive the Swiss Music Guide at a special price of CHF 25 instead of CHF 35 via www.musikzeitung.ch/de/swissmusicguide
 

Switzerland wants to negotiate cultural program with EU

The Federal Council has adopted a negotiating mandate for Switzerland's participation in the EU Culture Program 2014-2020. Participation is now more open than ever following Switzerland's decision to cancel the free movement of persons with Croatia.

Photo: michaeljayberlin - Fotolia.com

The Culture program is the umbrella for the cultural activities of the European Union. 38 European countries participate in the current program, making it the most important instrument for promoting culture at European level.

The program supports the cross-border mobility of creative artists and promotes the dissemination of artistic works. It has a budget of 453 million euros for the period 2014 to 2020. It has been part of the new framework program since January 2014 Creative Europewhich also includes the film promotion program Media heard. To Media the Federal Council adopted a negotiating mandate back in September 2013.

By definitively adopting the mandate, the Federal Council will enable negotiations to begin quickly in this area as soon as the culture and media dossiers are unblocked by the EU. Following the cancellation of the free movement of persons with Croatia - a consequence of the adoption of the mass immigration initiative - the EU has put cooperation with Switzerland on student exchanges and research on hold. Cultural exchanges are also suffering as a result of the change in relations between Switzerland and the EU.

A cultural strategy for Chur

The city of Chur plans to develop a cultural strategy by the end of 2016 under the leadership of the cultural department together with the cultural commission, cultural professionals, cultural institutions, experts and the population.

Sculpture by Robert Indermaur in Chur. Photo: Walter Schmid

The first step is a wide-ranging questionnaire to assess the current situation of Chur's cultural scene. Based on the results, various working groups will develop sector-specific concerns in a second phase.

The results of these working groups will be discussed publicly and then submitted for consultation. The plan is to submit the cultural strategy to the city council and municipal council for approval at the end of 2016.

The deadline for entries is the end of June 2014 and all interested parties can take part in the survey. The questionnaire can be here can be downloaded.

Double bass clarinet and Beethoven reception under the magnifying glass

The study "Contrabass Clarinet Extended" aims to improve the quality of the instrument, while the study "From Performance to Interpretation" deals with the reception of Beethoven's piano works in the 19th century.

Thomas Siepmann / pixelio.de

The Commission for Technology and Innovation has launched an interdisciplinary project entitled Contrabass clarinet extended approved. With Segelke+Partners GMBH as a practical partner, Bern University of the Arts and the Department of Technology at Bern University of Applied Sciences are developing a new double bass clarinet into a prototype ready for series production. The project is based on a development project financed by the Bern University of Applied Sciences Contrabass Clarinet Unlimited (2013-14).
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 setting of the tone holes. Sound and intonation are significantly improved and new interfaces are created for composers and performers, and even for media art. The project, initiated by Ernesto Molinari, is the responsibility of Roman Brotbeck and managed by Christoph Schnyder.

The new SNSF project explores how the "long 19th century" received Beethoven's piano works From lecture to interpretationwhich was successfully submitted by Thomas Gartmann: From both ends, two closely interlinked dissertations examine how interpretative practices changed and developed after Beethoven's death and thus to a significant 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. The focus of both studies, which were compiled as part of the Graduate School of the Arts and accompanied by Michael Lehner in terms of music theory, is on articulation, dynamics, agogics, pedalization, (implementation of) performance markings, tempo and metronome markings.

The BUA was also invited to participate 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 participate with a study of historical recordings from the Schönberg circle.

Finally, Tobias Pfleger, a research assistant at the HKB, wrote his dissertation at the Karlsruhe University of Music on the subject of Purified Romanticism? The symphonies of Robert Schumann in the interpretations of historically informed performance practice with the distinction "summa cum laude".
 

Bitter pill for Olten music students

The fees of Olten Music School will be increased in two steps of 25 percent each over the next two school years. The increase is a measure taken by the city council as part of the relief package to restructure the city's finances.

Olten Music School in the Villa Sonnhalde. Photo: zvg

The basis for the measure is the specifications of the current tariff regulations: according to a statement from the city, these stipulate that the parental contributions should cover 15 to 20 percent of the wage costs; today it is only around 12 percent. In addition, the tariffs for non-residents are too low in comparison to the rest of the canton and intercanton, as well as in comparison to Olten's pupils.

Individual lessons for children and young people in Olten will increase in two stages from the current CHF 450 (30 minutes) and CHF 600 (40 minutes) to CHF 560 (2014/15) and CHF 675 (2015/16) for the 30-minute lesson and CHF 750 (2014/15) and CHF 900 (2015/16) for the 40-minute lesson.

The rates for partner lessons and group lessons (min. 5 participants) will also be increased accordingly. Whereas previously there was a reduction of CHF 50 in the parental contribution for children and young people from Olten for additional ensemble lessons, an administration fee of CHF 50 will now be charged for the music school's year-round ensemble courses, and CHF 100 for those from outside Olten.

Non-local students - currently around 50 in number - can attend individual lessons at the Olten Music School at twice the rate of locals, provided they are also involved in a music school ensemble. Otherwise, from the 2014/15 school year, they will pay CHF 1,900 for a 30-minute lesson (previously CHF 700) and CHF 2,500 for a 40-minute lesson (previously CHF 900) or, from the 2015/16 school year, the full cost rate of CHF 3,000 for a 30-minute lesson and CHF 4,000 for a 40-minute lesson.

Assuming the number of pupils remains constant, the two increases should result in additional revenue of around CHF 145,000 per year.

Oppermann becomes chief dramaturge in Pforzheim

Peter Oppermann, who began his stage career at Theater Luzern, will become head dramaturge and artistic deputy to artistic director Thomas Münstermann at Theater Pforzheim from the 2015/2016 season.

Photo: Marco Piecuch, Trier

The 44-year-old Oppermann began his career in Switzerland and joined the Städtische Bühnen Osnabrück. He was subsequently engaged as a member of the theater management of the Nordharzer Städtebundtheater Halberstadt and the Landesbühne Hannover. Since 2004, he has been chief dramaturge and deputy to the artistic director Gerhard Weber at the Theater der Stadt Trier.

His adaptations of novels for the stage were successfully premiered there; he also directed the contemporary authors' festival Maximierung Mensch several times, which met with national acclaim. Under the title "Total théatre", he has collaborated with various theaters in the greater German-French-Luxembourg region, and he has continued to set the tone by establishing numerous unusual venues in the city.

Best Edition 2014

Once again this year, the German Music Publishers Association (DMV) has honored particularly successful publications with the "Best Edition" award. It thus sets an example for publishing commitment and publishing diversity.

Image: artspace - Fotolia.de,SMPV

Music publishers in Germany are countering the growing competition from publications on the Internet, which often show little publishing commitment, with high quality, emphasized Winfried Jacobs, Chairman of the DMV's E-Music Committee, at the award ceremony. The growing number of educational literature that includes new forms of music-making, such as beatboxing, is also particularly pleasing.

The jury, consisting of five representatives from the fields of design, musicology, sheet music trade and music journalism, had to choose from 72 submissions. All submitted works were judged according to the following criteria:

  1. Graphic and editorial overall impression, whereby an editorial claim must also be fulfilled
  2. Special publishing achievement or idea
  3. Correctness and graphic quality of the music (engraving, typography, electronic notation, calligraphy)
  4. Cover design, title page, page layout
  5. Printing, paper, binding

German music retailers stock more than 300,000 editions of sheet music from publishers, with around 5,000 new releases every year.

Award-winning publications 2014

Manfred Schmitz, Piano - The first way to play by chord symbols, Volume I
AMA Publishing House, Brühl

National Council committee stands by empty carrier remuneration

Without citing any sources, the umbrella organization Suisseculture writes on its website that the Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation of the National Council (WAK-N) has rejected a parliamentary initiative to abolish the blank media fee without replacement by 21 votes to 0 (4 abstentions).

Photo: VRD - Fotolia.com

Instead of the initiative, the committee unanimously adopted a committee motion. This is intended to instruct the Federal Council to submit alternatives to the current levy on blank data carriers to Parliament. This is to take account of the fact that "electronic means are currently available on the market that can easily circumvent this legal obligation".

Suisseculture suspects that the initiative will soon be definitively rejected by the plenary session of the National Council at the request of the WAK. However, the discussion is not yet off the table due to the Commission's motion. However, by demanding that alternatives should not result in any restrictions on remuneration, the National Council's WAK has "clearly rejected the abolition of blank media remuneration without replacement".

St.Gallen Cultural Foundation honors Roth

The St.Gallen Cultural Foundation has awarded the Hemberg conductor and composer Ruedi Roth a sponsorship prize. Recognition prizes go to the musician and writer Jörg Germann and the visual artist David Bürkler.

Performance of the mass "Seelenklang" at the yodeling festival in Wattwil 2013. photo: zvg

Fifty-year-old Ruedi Roth has been a gentle innovator for years as a composer of yodelling songs and is firmly anchored in folk music as an organizer, writes the canton of St. Gallen. He has made a significant contribution to reviving the Bödele dance, which is reminiscent of flamenco.

As the successor to his teacher Willi Valotti, he has been conducting the Wattwil Yodelling Club since 2000. The highlight of Ruedi Roth's career as a composer to date was the 2013 Northeast Switzerland Yodelling Festival in Wattwil. He wrote a mass for this major festival. The prize is endowed with CHF 10,000.

The St. Gallen artist David Bürkler has been awarded the St. Gallen Cultural Foundation's recognition prize "for his extraordinarily precise and substantial work".

Jörg Germann, born in St. Gallen in 1931, holds a doctorate in music and taught German at the cantonal school in Sargans for many years. Last December, he was honored with Serenata of a clown presented his third novel, published by Verlag Johannes Petri in Basel. The two recognition prizes are endowed with CHF 15,000 each.

Younghi Pagh-Paan Collection in Basel

The Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel has acquired the music manuscripts of the composer Younghi Pagh-Paan. The collection of sketches, drafts and fair copies is constantly being added to and is now available for research in the Foundation's archive at Münsterplatz in Basel.

Photo: Si-Chan Park

Younghi Pagh-Paan was born in South Korea in 1945 and came to Freiburg im Breisgau on a scholarship in 1974, where she studied with Klaus Huber, Brian Ferneyhough and Edith Picht-Axenfeld. From 1994 to 2011, she was Professor of Composition at the University of the Arts in Bremen.

Pagh-Paan achieved her breakthrough as a composer with the orchestral work Sori, which was premiered at the Donaueschingen Music Festival in 1980. Since then, her works have been performed at international festivals and she has received commissions from renowned institutions.

Younghi Pagh-Paan's work is characterized by socio-political commitment and the reflection of both Eastern and Western philosophies. The uncompromisingly progressive composer also integrates the tradition and thinking of her East Asian homeland on a musical level.
 

Loud(r) experiments

The world of sound, its creation, distribution and perception are the focus of the new special exhibition "Worlds of Sound", which opens on April 16, 2014 at the Swiss Science Center Technorama in Winterthur.

Excerpt from the poster for the exhibition,Photo:zvg,SMPV

Over 40 new exhibits, amazing sound spaces, sound sculptures and numerous freehand experiments make the phenomena of sound not only audible. Acoustic vibrations in the air, metal, glass, wood and plastic can also be observed with the eyes and felt as vibrations with the whole body. New sound spaces and unusual sound installations are available.

Image
Klankkaatser

For example, there is the Klankkaatser or sound reverberation chamber by Dutchman Hans van Koolwijk. The ten-metre-high egg-shaped room is astonishing: music seems to emerge from nowhere directly in the heads of the listeners, and anyone who climbs a little way up the ladder inside hears their own voice as full and powerful as never before with a reverberation of over ten seconds!

An audio bar does not serve drinks, but sounds. Here you can listen to music over your own bones, make glasses vibrate, turn the bar furniture into instruments and make fire dance to the rhythm of the music. And because music is often also a social interaction, the bartender invites guests to a spontaneous jam session. Other unusual musical instruments include percussion and pump organs, cogwheel and perforated sirens or a giant xylophone ball track, all of which playfully open up completely different possibilities for sound production.

Even if you don't know anything about bells and whistles, this is the right place for you. You can't go wrong when experimenting in the sound worlds! Each exhibit comes with instructions for experimenting and further information.

The exhibition will run at least until summer 2015: Tue-Sun 10-17 h
Technorama website

get_footer();