The Zurich University of the Arts has announced that Jakub Przybycien has been accepted as a scholarship holder of the German Music Council's Conducting Forum. He is studying orchestral conducting with Johannes Schlaefli.

In addition, Yiheng Li won 2nd prize in category E (18 to 36 years) at the Franz Liszt Center International Piano Competition. She is studying for a Master's degree in Performance Concerto with Eckart Heiligers.
 

The Pre-College Music CH label of the Swiss Association of Music Schools (VMS) and the Swiss Conference of Music Universities (KMHS) is a quality label for nationally recognized providers of pre-college courses.

The criteria for the certificate were: Vision, mission statement and educational programme; students' potential for higher education; defined gifted and talented profile and learning environment; cooperation and organization; financial transparency; quality assurance; key figures for the institution and quantitative criteria.

The PreCollege at Bern University of the Arts offers "tailor-made preparation for music studies and an in-depth insight into the world of an innovative art academy". It is offered in the fields of classical music, sound arts and music and movement (rhythmics).

Born in New York in 1977, Gottfried became a master student at the Berlin University of the Arts in 2009, where he studied composition with Walter Zimmermann, according to the ZHdK press release. In 2015, he received his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied composition with Franck Bedrossian and interactive computer music with David Wessel, Edmund Campion and Adrian Freed at the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT).

Gottfried's works have been performed at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, MaerzMusik, SPOR, the Bludenzer Tage zeitgemässer Musik, MATA, the Klangwerkstatt, among others. Since 2018 he has been working at the Hamburg University of Music and Theater as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in the Multimedia Composition department and since 2021 at the Hybrid Music Lab of the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music Dresden.
 

Strong, prolonged applause erupts before a single note is played. A shy smile flits across the faces of the young musicians as they take to the stage in Freiburg's Konzerthaus. Blue and yellow flags are stuck in the scrolls of the double basses. The Ukrainian flag can also be seen in the stalls. Just a few weeks ago, the orchestra members were still living under bombardment in Kiev. Most of them fled to Poland - some have remained in the Ukrainian capital. Normally, no man between the ages of 18 and 60 is allowed to leave the country attacked by Russia. The government made an exception for the members of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra because they fulfill an important role as cultural ambassadors. The Ukrainian spelling of the capital in the orchestra's name is significant for them. This also emphasizes their own culture, which Russian President Vladimir Putin denies the country. With one exception, the program includes works by Ukrainian composers. Music to strengthen cultural identity. And as consolation in the most difficult of times.

The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra has been around for 40 years. The state orchestra plays for national holidays, but has also realized major opera productions and is involved in music education. After the escape, the orchestra was able to rehearse for two weeks in Warsaw for the tour of Germany planned at short notice, which took them to seven major cities in seven days. The evening organized by the Albert Concerts for the benefit of the orchestra is the only one in Baden-Württemberg. "I thought the first rehearsal would be chaotic because the musicians hadn't been able to practise for a long time. But I sensed a special intensity in their playing right from the start," says conductor Luigi Gaggero in a personal conversation after the concert. "We receive terrible news from Ukraine every day. Friends and relatives are dying. We talk about it in the orchestra. Music helps a lot to express these emotions and give each other support." This existential significance of music has been somewhat lost in the classical music business. As a conductor, he wants to create space for listening: "The emotionality comes from the orchestra!" The Italian deliberately does not use a baton, but leads his orchestra with his hands. He doesn't want to demand anything, but rather invite people to make music.

The concert evening begins with the Symphony No. 1 in C major by Maksym Berezovsky (1745-1777), who was born near Sumy in northern Ukraine. This is tender, bright, charming music in the style of Mozart - the two composers even had the same teacher in Bologna. Gaggero conducts with a smile. Aleksey Semenenko, who comes from Odessa and has been a violin professor in Essen since 2021, plays Ernest Chausson's Poem and refines the somewhat kitschy Melody by Myroslaw Skoryk. Semenenko himself was in Ukraine when the war broke out - and had great difficulty being allowed to leave for Germany. Now he is worried about his parents and brother in Germany, who still live in Odessa. In his touching encore, he lets Johann Sebastian Bach's Adagio from the first solo sonata in G minor flow into the Serenade by the still-living Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. And shows the close connection between the composers in the narrative tone and chord breaks.

Borys Lyatoshynskyi's 3rd Symphony, composed in 1950, is about the brutality of the masses and the value of the individual. The composer originally wrote "Peace will conquer war" above the last movement, but had to remove the title after Stalin's criticism. The original version performed also ends bombastically, but with the musical material of peace. No victory for violence, then, which repeatedly gains dominance in the brass and the martial percussion. There is also room for lyrical solos in the cor anglais and flute. Huge applause for the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra - tears flowed during the encore performance of the Ukrainian national anthem, which was sung by some Ukrainian refugees in the audience.

The male musicians only had a special permit until the end of their tour at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg on May 1. Now it has been extended. The orchestra will stay in Füssen for a few days and work on a new program, reports the conductor happily. The mission of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra continues.

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Verena Lutz, born on February 6, 1941 in Zurich, died on April 9, 2022 in Horstmar, Germany, her relatives have announced. She was the main organist at the Bruder Klaus church in Zurich for 48 years.

Her concert tours have taken her from America to the Far East.
In 2014, she founded the Arte Musica Foundation, which aims to promote organ compositions by Swiss composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, among other things.
Between 1959 and 2012, she made numerous recordings, which will soon be released as a CD collection with a booklet on her biography.

In March, well over 1000 young musicians took part in the Entrada competitions in various Swiss regions. The "Entradas" are the first round of the Classica competition. Whoever wins first prize here is seeded for the final. This year, 330 finalists competed in the final, which was held at the Zurich Conservatory Music School. On Sunday, May 1, 216 prizes were finally awarded and the prizewinners' concert testified to the high standard and versatility of young musicians in Switzerland.

For some years now, the prizewinners have no longer received cash prizes, but instead receive a wide range of support in so-called "follow-ups" (master classes, concerts, scholarships). The professional organization of the SJMW is financially supported by patrons, sponsors and the public sector.

In addition to Classica, the SJMW organizes other competitions: Composition, Jazz&Pop and Freespace.
 

When we sit in our comfortable TV armchairs today, self-righteously outraged by nations that use the death penalty to get rid of wrongdoers, we all too easily forget that we did exactly the same thing until recently. We were almost unbeatable in terms of cruelty. In terms of cultural history, it was only a few moments ago that the executioner Baltz Mengis, on behalf of the Lucerne authorities, tortured confessions of guilt in every conceivable way and punished them with death. The possibilities for serious clarification of offenses were still very modest. And the high lords didn't want to go to any great lengths because of the guilt or innocence of a couple of naughty wives or curly fellows. But in order to maintain law and order (or power and benefices?), they needed executions that attracted a lot of publicity. Baltz Mengis was also responsible for this and paid a high price himself. The executioner was condemned to a life outside of society.

The buildings in which these horrors took place still stand in the old town, just as they did three hundred years ago. The squares where the accused were publicly tortured and humiliated are still the same places we stroll through today with an ice cream in our hands. And the power and wealth that were brutally defended back then have also been more or less seamlessly transferred to the present day. They are part of our prosperity today. The "theatrical sound walk through the bowels of the 17th century" offers a kind of respectful remembrance of the countless people tortured and executed in Lucerne.

It begins in the Historical Museum, where a trial is about to begin to determine the guilt or innocence of Baltz Mengis, the city's last executioner. When he is questioned about his work, it goes right through you, even without torture. But the questions lead onto an emotional slippery slope: is he a despicable butcher or a pitiable victim of the unscrupulous authorities?

A melancholy melody accompanies us across the Spreuer Bridge, over which the accused entered and left the city every day. The same pictures hang in the gables as back then, showing what is good and right and who is worth how much. Thinking about this, we disappear into the alleyways and follow the executioner to his places of work. The mysterious sounds lure us further and further around the corners of houses, up dark staircases and into backyards. Deeper and deeper into the bowels of the old town, history and our own conscience. The impressive spectacle and the deeply moving music bring the world of that time back to life. And an increasingly oppressive feeling spreads as we realize what happened on these cobblestones.

Finally, we go to St. Peter's Chapel in memory of the many men and women who have walked this path before us in unimaginable horror. Music, drama and video projection merge into an impressive work of art. Anna Murphy captivates us with her hurdy-gurdy and her magical voice and Thomas K. J. Meyer reaches straight into our guts with a saxophone that is bigger than he is. John Wolf Brennan composed this oratorio and weaves everything together with various keyboard instruments to create a haunting world of sound.

Franziska Senn, Reto Baumgartner and Finn Krummenacher embody their characters very tangibly and vividly, mastering role changes on the fly to astonishing effect. With minimal means, they transform themselves from accuser to defendant or from executioner to surgeon. Unfortunately, Susanne Hofer's magnificent video production cannot fully unfold its power, as it is somewhat impaired by the architecture of St. Peter's Chapel. Nevertheless, it contributes a great deal to the impressive experience. Ueli Blum and Dunja Bulinsky are responsible for the idea, concept and text, Buschi Luginbühl for the direction and Mariana Coviello for the choreography. A large team of creative helpers supported them in the realization.

Saxophonist Fabio da Silva completed his Master's degree in Music Pedagogy Classical Music with a Master's degree in Specialized Music Performance Classical Music and is now planning to complete the CAS "Special Needs in Music Teaching" at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB). He is committed to cooperation between music schools and special needs schools and aims to launch inclusive projects. With this and his passion for education, he won over this year's jury.

Every three years, the Kiwanis Club Bern awards a study prize for music. The aim is to encourage students on the HKB Master of Arts in Music Pedagogy course (classical or jazz) to focus on a pedagogical career.

Gabriel Pernet is currently in the sixth semester of his bachelor's degree in classical music. He is studying clarinet - currently with Ernesto Molinari, soon with Olivier Vivares. He will receive the Friedl Wald Scholarship in the amount of CHF 14,000. The Friedl Wald Foundation was established in 1982 with the aim of supporting Swiss actors, singers and musicians under the age of 27 who are in need of and worthy of support.

In Heinz Holliger's multifaceted work, music and poetry intersect, the jury explained its decision. He has dealt with works by Paul Celan, Georg Trakl, Nelly Sachs, Samuel Beckett, Robert Walser and Friedrich Hölderlin, among others. The prize is financed by the Strecker Foundation in Mainz and is endowed with 15,000 euros.

The Robert Schumann Prize for Poetry and Music is awarded every two years "to personalities for an outstanding work in the field of music, poetry and music education". Previous winners have been Pierre Boulez, Wolfgang Rihm, Aribert Reimann, Jörg Widmann and Olga Neuwirth.

The "Homage to Robert Schumann" on the title page is not a tribute to his music, which could be forgotten, but to the successor audience in concert halls and chamber music rooms today. In fourteen texts - divided into twelve chapters for the months as well as the prelude and coda - the composer, music lecturer and piano accompanist Daniel Fueter bundles his arguments to awaken interest in music among young people born into the digital world with a rethought music education; not only for the so-called "classical", but for everything sounding that calls for more in-depth study. These are mostly speeches that he addressed to a diverse but always music-loving audience between 2008 and 2019.

In ever new attempts he sets himself, from Schumann's Musical house and life rulesn He takes as his starting point the current state of music education, individual and group lessons, improvisation, university reform, living together in general and the shaping of individuality in particular. He often spices up calls closely linked to his own experience as a lecturer in song accompaniment with surprising cross-comparisons to economic thinking and encourages teachers to continue to consider the joy of and with music as a profession and vocation: "It is a privilege to share the enthusiasm for music between four - or even six - eyes, to offer experiences and to maintain contact with younger people, especially in old age." However, with a view to the history of the 20th century, he also reminds us that the cultural elite is not immune to barbarism and warns that education without art and culture only leads to educated people, not educated people. He succeeds time and again in short-circuiting Schumann's medicine chest by also propagating its "rules of life" as valid rules of conduct for living together in today's arguably much more complex world.

Daniel Fueter: Musical medicine chest. Variations on Music and Education - A Homage to Robert Schumann, 258 p., Fr. 34.00, rüffer & rub, Zurich 2021, ISBN 978-3-906304-82-3

The list of people to whom various tracks are dedicated on this album, which so joyfully crosses all kinds of shores, already indicates how wide-ranging Day & Taxi's interests and connections are. They range from Jack Bruce, once bassist in the rock trio Cream, which redefined the terms "loud" and "hard", to Fluxus artist Robert Filliou, filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard and Zurich painter Corinne Güdemann, to New York experimental impresario Kip Hanrahan. Day & Taxi was formed around three decades ago by the two saxophonists Christoph Gallio and Urs Blöchlinger. Since then, intensive creative periods with various trio formations have alternated with longer periods of silence. After Devotion (2019) is Run, the Darkness Will Come! the second album in Gallio's line-up with Silvan Jeger (double bass, shrutibox, voice) and Gerry Hemingway (drums, percussion). While the 37-year-old multi-instrumentalist Jeger is also involved in ambient and pop music and is a member of the Reto Suhner Quartet in addition to the group Uassyn, the discography of Hemingway (born in 1955) includes almost 200 works with Anthony Braxton (whose quartet he was a member of for eleven years), Marilyn Crispell, Don Byron and John Cale, for example.

The program begins with the title track, whose loosely swinging bass riff is cleverly dissected in a first solo. Hard on its heels follows Gallio's first flight of fancy, inexorably driven forward by virtuoso drumming, which comes up with a fresh detail with practically every bar, without ever forgetting the crisp beat. The piece provides the pattern for the longer compositions in that the musicians always and everywhere draw from the full, but never get stuck in the cerebral with all their virtuosity. The pieces are based on Gallio's compositions, which, however, leave plenty of room for improvisation. The spectrum of moods is impressive. From the playful R. F. it goes beyond the almost rock highlight Ego Killer to the meditative, 57 seconds long Infinite Sadness and the brooding, brooding sound of a mysterious "drone" underneath Too Much Nothing. The album's rich diversity is all the more astonishing given that it was created in just two days in June 2021 in the Baden studio of Gallio's record label Percaso.

Interspersed between the pieces, almost like commas and dots, are succinct short poems by authors such as Thorsten Krämer and Steve Delachinsky. The writer of these lines can do less with that. However, this does not detract from the enjoyment of the fireworks of the exchange between three gifted artists.

Antoine Gilliéron - Questioning the fundamental dimension of time in music through the prism of a joint interview with three young students from the Hautes Écoles of Music in the country, this article intends with humility to lay down some milestones in answering this question... and to pose some others!

Adèle Chavanne, you are a student at the ZHdK in the first year of a Master's degree in music theory, how is your study time invested (instrumental practice, network, chamber music, theoretical courses, transversal skills, etc.)? )? And with what percentage approximately?

As I am not studying an instrument in the true sense of the word, my timetable is different from other music students' timetables. I have individual lessons in music theory and courses that have to do with theory, such as instrumentation, analysis or solfège, as well as a lot of piano practice. I am very interested in the 100 or so optional subjects on offer, but I have decided not to take too many electives as I am very busy with music outside of my studies. In my free time, I also take singing lessons, for example, as this interests me a lot.

Do you think you have enough time to acquire general and advanced skills during your musical studies that could be useful to you outside of music?

Every student divides the time they spend studying and the time they invest in their studies differently. In my opinion, the optimal workload also depends on what goals I set myself. For me, it is crucial that I benefit from doing other things alongside my studies - such as voluntary work - that strengthen my skills outside of everyday student life. With its theoretical components and opportunities for further training, the degree program has laid a good foundation for these practical experiences. As a result, I felt confident to take on practical tasks. The experiences, not only in a musical sense, that I was able to gain through this have strengthened me a lot and I was able to apply and consolidate skills. This knowledge is particularly important to me personally, as I do not want to commit myself exclusively to a student environment and I am also convinced that I have gained certain skills as a result that my studies alone could not have taught me in this way.

Isa-Sophie Zünd, you are a student at the MAB in your third year of a Bachelor's degree in classical piano, do you think you have enough time (both in terms of years of study and within these studies, in the year, the month, the week and the day) to develop yourself as an artist?

Three years is already pretty short, a year longer would be helpful. I actually have enough time during my studies if I organize my day, but sometimes it's difficult to find a room to practice in.

What would be your ideal course of study?

I am very happy at my university, I just wish I had one more year.

How do you view the range of music education at tertiary level in Switzerland and the country's HEMs, as well as their potential complementarity?

Switzerland offers interesting study opportunities at a high level as well as a good environment in the form of foundations and concerts.

Aurélien Perdreau, you are a student at the HKB in the second year of the Master of Contemporary Art Practice, do you think, and why, that social time is different from the time it takes to be a musician?

Yes, in part. The organization of society and the extension of the family is based on "regular" working hours, with free time at the end of the day and days off at the weekend. Or musicians often have répétitions or concerts at the weekend and on weekday soirées, which creates a disproportionate work schedule. In the long term, this can pose problems of socialization within the artistic milieu. But I think it is also necessary to modify this state of affairs for two reasons. After all, many other professions also have different working hours, which means that social time is not as uniform as one might think. Furthermore, the musician's profession generally allows us to have more control over working hours and the way in which we manage our time during the day and the week compared to other professions. Paradoxically, this makes it easier to adapt to social constraints.

In your opinion, what is the ideal tempo for professional studies in music?

I would say that during the Bachelor, you have to learn the basic skills, get the most complete toolbox possible, push the technical aspects as much as possible, and play the repertoire. Master's level, developing your personality, your music, your interpretation, affirming what you are, and confronting others, exchanging, sharing, playing, experimenting, building a network and... having time.

Why Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959) has not yet made it into the wider consciousness despite his importance for the music of the 20th century may be due to the circumstances that shaped his biography: Born in a small East Bohemian town, he moved to Switzerland at the end of his life after instructive years in Paris and emigration to the USA.

His musical language is also difficult to grasp stylistically, although Martinů is one of the most productive composers of his generation: His oeuvre encompasses all genres and is characterized by a musical language that incorporates and unites elements of the music of his Bohemian homeland and early jazz, tonal harmony and linear polyphony in equal measure. However, the expressive, more and more constructively determined scores of the New Viennese School remained foreign to him, as did the academically influenced Romantic tradition, as it was still taught at the Prague Conservatory at the beginning of his training.

Although Martinů was bound to tradition with his instrumentations, his oeuvre also repeatedly contains works with unusual combinations, which unfortunately still seem impractical in musical practice. This also applies to two of the three serenades from 1932, which are chronologically close together.

In No. 1 (H 217) for clarinet, horn, three violins and viola, for example, Martinů dispenses with a supporting bass instrument. By emphasizing the treble range, however, the three-part, cantabile Larghetto in particular creates fascinatingly dazzling sound effects. No. 3 (H 218) for oboe, clarinet, four violins and violoncello, which has just been published by Bärenreiter Prague, has a parodistic undertone - not only in the opening march, but also in the following variation movement. Here, the songlike theme is first illuminated in a delicious imitation of Brahmsian tonal language, then rather playfully with drone fifths and brief 6/8 motifs, and finally in a hectic flow of movement. These are rewarding and entertaining discoveries for experimental ensembles (playing time approx. 7 minutes each).

Bohuslav Martinů: Serenade No. 3 H 218, edited by Jitka Zichová; parts: BA 11542, € 13.95; pocket score: TP 442, € 10.95; Bärenreiter, Prague

id.: Serenade No. 1 H 217, edited by Jitka Zichová; parts: BA 11541, € 12.95; TP 441, € 10.95