Choir project in Thorberg prison canceled

A spring festival with a gospel choir involving prisoners at the Thorberg prison in Bern has been canceled at short notice. Those responsible are of the opinion that further media attention could only harm the institution.

Photo: Yesuitus2001, wikimedia commons

According to a report in the newspaper The Confederation should have performed with the Emmental Gospel Choir as part of the non-public festival. The whole thing would have been led by Regula Knuchel, choir director and pastor in Rüegsau,

Now the Bernese Office for Deprivation of Liberty and Supervision has put a stop to this. The Thorberg institution is currently being criticized for various reasons.

The director of the facility was recently dismissed and another department head is alleged to have allowed prisoners to work for his own company. The person concerned - presumably a friend of the dismissed director - has since resigned from his position.

New building project of the Lucerne School of Music determined

It has now been decided which project will be chosen for the new Lucerne School of Music building. It is that of Enzmann Fischer & Büro Konstrukt, Zurich/Lucerne. The building is currently scheduled to be occupied in summer 2018.

The various locations of the Department of Music today. Graphic: HSLU

According to jury president Marie-Theres Caratsch, the project "impressed with its sensitive and coherent approach to the location, the task and the requirements of running a music academy".

The competition process for the new Lucerne School of Music building was launched in April 2013 with an open call for pre-qualification. Eight planning teams were selected for the competition from the applications. Seven teams submitted a proposal.

Over the last three months, the jury, which was made up of representatives of the investor, the user, specialist judges and experts, carried out an adjustment stage with the two best projects in order to sharpen the quality of the projects.

The building is currently scheduled to be occupied in summer 2018. The
The project will cost around 70 million Swiss francs and will be realized on the basis of a private
investor model.

Competence Network Music Education Switzerland +

The newly formed umbrella organization Kulturvermittlung Schweiz was the first of
In cooperation with the netzwerk junge ohren, the competence network Musikvermittlung Schweiz + has been launched in cooperation with various specialist networks. An expansion with international French-speaking partners is also planned from 2015.

Photo: Pavel Losevsky - Fotolia.com

In the network, experts from various music genres and types of mediation work on the
Development of national tools, events and calls for proposals. The first output published in 2015 will be an overview of the Swiss scene, supplemented with practical examples of the various mediation genres and recommendations for handling the different terms.

In 2017, the international young ears award will be presented in Switzerland for the first time. On Friday, July 4, 2014, an extended conference will be held in Lucerne to which all institutions and personalities relevant to music education in Switzerland will be invited and at which the first results of the working group will be discussed and presented to the media.

Kulturvermittlung Schweiz (KVS) is the national Swiss network for cultural mediation and unites over 30 organizations with several thousand sub-members, including art and pedagogical universities, cultural institutions, associations and sector-specific networks.

More info: www.kultur-vermittlung.ch

Glättli becomes President of Swiss Music Export

The Green National Councillor is to become President of the organization Swiss Music Export (SME), which promotes Swiss rock and pop acts abroad. He takes over from SP National Councillor Evi Allemann, who chaired SME for five years.

Photo: Juliette Chretien, wikimedia commons

Founded in 2003, the Swiss Music Export organization supports Swiss musicians in distribution abroad with networking and financial grants. It is supported by Pro Helvetia, the Phonoproduzierende Foundation, the SUISA Foundation, the Fondation CMA, the Migros Culture Percentage and the Swiss Performers Foundation.

Born in 1972, Balthasar Glättli studied philosophy and German and was a member of the Zurich city legislature from 1998 to 2011. From 2004 to 2008, he was co-president of the Zurich Green Party. For seven years, he also led the organization Solidarité sans Frontières, which focuses on migration policy. Since November last year, he has been President of the Green parliamentary group in the Swiss parliament.
 

Implementation of the music curriculum in the canton of Schwyz

The Schwyz cantonal councillors Mathias Bachmann, Adrian Oberlin, Heinz Theiler and Andreas Marty wanted to know from the cantonal government how it intends to implement the federal constitutional article on music education, which was also adopted by the Schwyz electorate. The executive has now responded.

Tower of Schwyz town hall. Photo: Roland Zumbühl, picswiss

According to the current timetable, at least one music lesson should be included in each school year, writes the cantonal government. The option of scheduling a second music lesson per week at primary school level is being abandoned in favor of math and German, particularly in the upper classes.

In summer 2013, the training profile at the University of Teacher Education was broadened again with ten subjects. As a result, all prospective primary school teachers will once again be trained in music (music, rhythmic instrumental lessons and solo singing). The broader training facilitates interdisciplinary teaching. This supports the cantonal intention to continue to have the subject of music taught by primary school teachers at primary level.

The future direction of music as a subject is currently being determined in the Swiss-German Curriculum 21 development project, the cantonal government added. The possible decision by the Education Council on the cantonal introduction and implementation of the new curriculum is planned for summer 2015.

The entire response of the Government Council:
www.sz.ch/documents/P_Lehrplan_Musik_Volksschule.pdf

Camenisch in Bern Head of the BA Classics program

The Swiss saxophonist Raphael Camenisch is to become the new Head of the Bachelor's degree in Classical Music at Bern University of the Arts (HKB).

Photo: pam! Space for other music

According to the HKB press release, Andreas Stahl intends to devote more time to teaching composition and leading the theory department and, as a musician, to composing again; Camenisch will take over the role from the fall semester of 2014.

Born in 1975, Raphael Camenisch received important inspiration from Ivan Roth (Basel), Jean-Michel Goury (Paris) and Kyle Horch (London) following his saxophone studies in the classes of Marcus Weiss and Georges Koerper.

In 2006/07, he completed his studies in cultural studies at the University of Lucerne. Camenisch has taught saxophone, chamber music, sight-reading and transposition at various Swiss universities and has also given master classes in Buenos Aires, Tatui (Brazil), Boston (USA) and Katowice (Poland).
 

Swiss at the BMW Welt Jazz Award Final

The jury has selected the Swiss sextet Hildegard Lernt Fliegen and the Dutch trio Tin Men and the Telephone as finalists for the sixth BMW Welt Jazz Award. They will compete against each other on May 3.

Hildegard learns to fly. Photo: Reto Andreoli

In addition to the award, the winning ensemble receives prize money of 10,000 euros; second place is endowed with 5,000 euros. The Audience Award is also presented. A total of six international jazz ensembles have performed at the free Sunday matinees since January 2014.

The Swiss ensemble Hildegard Lernt Fliegen - vocalist Andreas Schaerer, wind players Andreas Tschopp, Benedikt Reising and Matthias Wenger, bassist Marco Müller and drummer Christoph Steiner - not only impressed with their special Swiss humor. The musicians combined complex improvisations and musical fragments to create harmonious compositions, according to the explanatory statement.

The Dutch trio. Pianist Tony Roe, bassist Lucas Dols and drummer Bobby Petrov, play everything from classical and jazz to hip-hop and Balkan beats to everyday sounds and animal voices - the musicians' compositions transcend the boundaries of jazz.

The jury for the award is made up of Oliver Hochkeppel (music and culture journalist at Süddeutsche Zeitung), Roland Spiegel (music editor specializing in jazz at Bayerischer Rundfunk, BR-KLASSIK), Andreas Kolb (editor-in-chief of JazzZeitung and neue musikzeitung), Heike Lies (musicologist, music and music theater department, at the City of Munich's Department of Culture) and Christiane Böhnke-Geisse (artistic director of Jazzclub Unterfahrt, Munich).

Obwalden and Nidwalden award work grants

The cantons of Obwalden and Nidwalden have announced grants for artists and cultural practitioners for the first time in 2014: The start is being made with two contributions within the music category. The winners have now been announced.

Sarah Bowman and Rene Coal Burrell. Photo: Jesco Tscholitsch

From the twelve applications received, the expert jury - consisting of Pirmin Bossart (music journalist Lucerne), Hanspeter Pfammatter (musician Lucerne), Moana Labbate (choirmaster Hildisrieden), Joseph Gnos (Delegate of the Cultural Promotion Commission Obwalden) and Emil Wallimann (Cultural Commission Nidwalden) - awarded CHF 20,000 to Jul Dillier and CHF 10,000 to Famous October (Rene Coal Burrell and Sarah Bowmann). The prizes will be awarded in the fall.

Born in 1990, Jul Dillier studies jazz piano with a minor in percussion at the Basel Music Academy. He received the work grant for the project "Frères de son" - Treffpunkt Obwalden - Bobo Dionlasso, developed together with bassist Pascal Eugster: a band of Burkinabe and Swiss musicians that will go on tour in spring 2015.

Rene Coal Burrell and Sarah Bowman founded the acoustic duo Famous October in 2012. A studio residency in New York brought Burrell and the US-born singer together. The work contribution is intended to set the course for establishing the singer-songwriter duo and introducing them to a wide audience.

 

 

 

Kai Wessel becomes vocal coach at the HKB

The German countertenor Kai Wessel is to become a vocal lecturer at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB). According to the official announcement from the music academy, he will teach in particular the interpretation of contemporary vocal and music theater repertoire and will be involved in projects in the "création musicale" cluster.

Kai Wessel in the Handel trilogy of the SchlossAkkord Music Festival 2012. photo: Thilo Nass

Kai Wessel already teaches singing and historical performance practice for singers at the Cologne University of Music and Dance and has taught at the Vienna Private University in recent years.

Born in Hamburg, he studied music theory, composition and singing at the Lübeck University of Music. At the same time, he studied baroque performance practice at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with René Jacobs, whose assistant he was for arrangements of several operas.

The HKB focuses on three strategic clusters in music: "19th century research", "artistic music education" and "création musicale". The tradition of training instrumental and vocal virtuosity will also be taken into account.
as well as the constantly changing demands of cultural society.
reality, according to the school's self-characterization.

Schorn becomes musical director of the ZJO

Steffen Schorn is to become the new musical director of the Zurich Jazz Orchestra (ZJO), while Daniel Schenker, the previous interim director, will remain with the ZJO as co-director.

Steffen Schorn. Photo: Jürgen Baeke

The 46-year-old German Schorn lives in Cologne. He specializes in low woodwind instruments and was a member of the NDR Big Band before founding his own septet, with which he has performed all over the world.

Schorn has been awarded numerous international prizes and has toured the world as an instrumentalist, composer and arranger with renowned ensembles. He has also been Professor of Composition and Head of the Jazz Department at the Nuremberg University of Music since 2001.

According to the ZJO's official announcement, the band's musicians chose Steffen Schorn because "the chemistry, the energy and, above all, the music were a perfect match".

Metrailler President of the Valais Culture Platform

The Valais Culture Platform has a new president in the person of Gaëlle Metrailler. She succeeds Jacques Cordonier, Head of the Valais Department of Culture, who has held this position since the platform was founded.

Flyer Platform Culture Valais

Cordonier is the new Managing Director of Plattform Kultur Wallis. The newly elected President of the Plattform Kultur Wallis association is a cultural delegate for the city of Sion.

The Valais Culture Platform was created on the initiative of the Canton of Valais and the Association of Valais Towns. It develops structures to inform cultural professionals and promote artistic and cultural productions, coordinates the cultural offerings in Valais, advises artists and cultural professionals on logistics and project development and promotes Valais cultural activities within and outside the canton.

The Kultur Wallis platform offers musicians of contemporary music the opportunity to perform under the title InfoPoint current music free personal consultation hours. The next one will take place on April 17, 2014 in the conference room of the media library in Brig.

Swiss jazz archive goes to Germany

The important jazz collection of Kurt Müller from St. Gallen is going to Germany: the archive of the Eisenach Lippmann + Rau Foundation is taking over his unique collection, which also contains documents from Benny Goodman, including his clarinet.

Benny Goodman ca. 1946. photo: Gottlieb Jazz Photos, Library of Congress (20.789), flickr commons

Müller was one of the swing and jazz fans on the Swiss scene in the 1940s and 1950s. He was a close friend of the American jazz musician Benny Goodman for a long time. After his death, Müller received numerous personal documents and objects belonging to the musician.

Kurt Müller, who died a few weeks ago at the age of 92, had decreed that his collection should be placed in the Lippmann + Rau Foundation archive and thus close to the Bachhaus. The reason: one of the most popular Goodman recordings is called "Bach goes to town!".

The symbolic handover on March 21 will be performed by Kurt Müller Jr. on behalf of the Müller Family Foundation. Bandleader Pepe Lienhard, who is a member of the board of the family foundation, will also take part. The Swiss Honorary Consul Guy Montavon, Eva Demski and Siegfried Schmidt-Joos (as well as the members of the Lippmann + Rau + Foundation Board of Trustees) will also be present at the Bachhaus.
 

First Summer School of Musicology

The Department of Musicology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Literature, Mainz, are inviting students to a summer school in August. The topic will be complete musical editions.

Main portal of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Photo: Thomas Hartmann,SMPV

Contributors to the Gluck and Hindemith Complete Editions and to Opera - Spectrum of European music theater in individual editions will each lead a larger block of courses. Practical work will teach the application of philological knowledge and techniques.

Another block, which is supported by the Mainz research focus on dramatic music, explores the extent to which philology also has to deal with phenomena of performance and the concrete performance situation.

The one-week event will take place from August 11 to 16 on the Mainz campus and in the rooms of the Mainz Academy and will be confirmed and evaluated according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). It is aimed at musicology students in Germany and abroad.
 

Second Heidelberg Music Conference

Switzerland is prominently represented at the second Heidelberg Music Conference, which deals with "Innovation as part of a holistic strategy for cultural institutions" under the title "Creating something new instead of copy & paste".

Photo: heidelberg music conference 2013

Participants include the directors of major festivals and concert halls from Germany, Austria and Switzerland - including Martin Engström (Verbier Festival), Michael Häfliger (Lucerne Festival) and Ilona Schmiel (Tonhalle Zurich) - as well as other experts. Each panel will be introduced by a keynote speech from music journalists from national German daily newspapers, including NZZ critic Peter Hagmann.

The market research company GIM is also conducting an explorative trend study on the topic of "Innovation in the cultural sector", the initial evaluations of which will be presented during the conference.

Blogger Ulrike Schmid will be following the entire conference live on Twitter (#hdmc), and all panels will also be documented on video and published online a few days later at www.heidelberger-fruehling.de to be seen.

Canton and city of Lucerne with a joint cultural strategy

The canton and city of Lucerne are coordinating their cultural strategies. The large cultural institutions are to be financed jointly. The focus is also on prospects for professional and independent theater, festival funding and non-institutional cultural funding.

View of the city of Lucerne from the KKL. Photo: Paolo, wikimedia commons

The canton and city of Lucerne are continuing to develop the special-purpose association of major cultural institutions, according to the official press release issued today. In addition to the Lucerne Theater, the Art Museum and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra (LSO), the Swiss Museum of Transport, the Lucerne Festival and the Museum Rosengart will now be financed via the special-purpose association.

Due to the funding ratio of 70% canton and 30% city that applies within the special-purpose association, the city has around one million francs per year at its disposal for the implementation of other measures as part of the Culture Agenda 2020.
In addition, the canton and city of Lucerne contribute to the maintenance of the KKL Luzern for the
next 15 years. The canton pays CHF 0.5 million a year for maintenance, while the city continues to pay CHF 4.1 million, which will be adjusted for inflation from 2019.

The canton and city will each make a one-off payment of CHF 2.5 million for the long-term maintenance of the building's value. In addition, the KKL will receive financial support for the roof renovation in the form of guarantees from the city (CHF 4.5 million) and the canton (CHF 9 million).

The canton of Lucerne wants to create better production conditions for cultural professionals and event organizers and ensure an internationally competitive offering in certain areas. It promotes the independent scene more strongly and guarantees the further development of large cultural institutions.

The city, in turn, ensures a broad, diverse cultural production that attracts amateurs and
professionals are given equal consideration. The FUKA fund, which is financed by the ticket tax, is primarily responsible for individual support.

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