Thanks to a scholarship, Pony del Sol spent a year in 2007 at the Atelier Jean Tinguely, which is run by the City and Canton of Fribourg at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris. Since her return, she has given regular stage concerts. She released her first album in March 2013.

A total of 24 candidates applied for the scholarship, which was awarded for the first time. All genres of contemporary music were represented, from chanson to electro, rock, pop, jazz and reggae.

The expert jury was made up of Yvan Pochon (Office for Culture, president of the jury), René Aeberhard (Cantonal Commission for Cultural Affairs), Gilles Dupuis (Jazzkeller La Spirale), Davis Unternährer (Fri-Son) and Yann Zitouni (Western Switzerland Radio). After three rounds of deliberations, the jury's decision was unanimous.

According to the State Court of Auditors, it is incomprehensible that prospective musicians from Japan or China should be allowed to study in Germany free of charge to a considerable extent, SWR continues.

Young German musicians often have no chance against the competition from abroad. Music academies increasingly have to ask themselves whether their standards are still up to date, the broadcaster comments. It also needs to be discussed whether Baden-Württemberg can still afford five music academies.

The music magazine SWR2 Cluster will focus on the criticism of music academies from July 15 to 19, daily at 3:05 pm. The State Court of Audit itself will have its say, as will Science Minister Theresia Bauer and representatives of the music academies.

With this increase, the city is supporting what it considers to be the successful reorientation of the Zurich Festival, and it will enable more productions from medium-sized and smaller cultural institutions to be included in the Festival program, according to the official press release.

This would make the festival even more "a cultural festival for the city and region of Zurich and an attractive conclusion to Zurich's cultural year".

The city council is also asking the municipal council to extend the contributions to Theater Rigiblick for the years 2014 to 2017, which expire at the end of 2013. The annual support is to be increased by CHF 100,000 to a new total of CHF 490,000. Support for Miller's Studio is to be continued from 2014 to 2017 at the same annual level of CHF 154,640.

At the beginning of June, the Bundestag Committee for Culture and Media, with the votes of the governing coalition, deleted an important passage for the continued existence of the Artists' Social Security Fund from the government draft on the "Reorganization of the federal accident insurance funds, amendment of the Social Court Act and amendment of other laws".

The DTKV has therefore launched an e-petition to the German Bundestag to reinstate this point. It wants to legally oblige the German Pension Insurance to check whether companies that employ artists have complied with their tax obligations as part of their company audits - at least every four years.

Artists' social insurance (KSV) is part of the statutory social insurance system. It obliges freelance artists and publicists to take out statutory health, long-term care and pension insurance.

Half of the funding requirement is covered by contributions from the insured. The other half of the contribution is paid by taxpayers via a federal subsidy and the "exploiters" of artistic services in the form of an artists' social security contribution, which amounted to 3.9 % of all fees paid to a self-employed artist or publicist in 2012. The contribution rate rose to 4.1 % in 2013. Further and more substantial increases are to be expected in subsequent years.

However, the existence of the Künstlersozialkasse (KSK) is at risk, as fewer and fewer companies and institutions are fulfilling their obligation to pay contributions, writes the DTKV.
 

The cantonal government has chosen the Schwyz Cantonal Youth Wind Orchestra (SKJBO) under the direction of Urs Bamert as the musical ensemble. It will provide the musical backdrop for the aperitif and swearing-in ceremony at the Sacco di Roma.

Among the choirs, the Singkreis Brunnen has been chosen. It will make its main appearance during the mass in St. Peter's Basilica on the morning of the swearing-in ceremony. This is also the main reason why the choice fell on a church choir and not a yodeling, traditional costume or men's choir, the canton writes in the official press release.

With the swearing-in ceremony for the new recruits on May 6, the Swiss Guard commemorates the Sacco di Roma, the sack of Rome on May 6, 1527, during which the Swiss Guard defended Pope Clement VII.

Since 2008, the Swiss Guard has chosen a guest canton for these celebrations every year. In 2014, this will be the canton of Schwyz, which will travel to Rome with an official delegation - led by the cantonal government, which will take part in the Sacco die Roma in corpore.

According to a report in the Australian trade journal "Limelight", the ensemble will give its last concert at the Royal Concertgebouw on July 14. The orchestra, founded in 2005 and led by Jaap van Zweden at the time, is a victim of the desolate Dutch state finances.

The orchestra, which won the prestigious national Muziekgebouw Prize in 2008 for its interpretation of Richard Rijnvos' "NYConcerto", has made a name for itself above all with its commitment to contemporary music.

As early as 2010, there were attempts to cut public funding for the orchestra. This was prevented at the time.

The closures of state-funded orchestras in Holland and Greece are not the only ones in Europe. The Orquesta de Baleares in Mallorca, which is also no longer receiving public funding, is also being liquidated.

The winner of the competition is the South Korean baritone Dong-Hwan Lee. He prevailed in the final against twelve other finalists. The first prize is endowed with 7,000 euros and is regarded as an important door opener to the world's major opera houses.

Eve-Maud Hubeaux shares second place with the Russian baritone Roman Burdenko. Tenor Rheinaldt Moagi received the audience prize and the award from the international media jury.

Pre-selections for the Belvedere Competition, which was launched in 1982, are held in 50 cities around the world. The jury consists of artistic directors, opera and casting directors from major opera houses. Previous winners include Angelika Kirchschlager, Ildikó Raimondi, Peter Edelmann and Elina Garanca.

More info: www.belvedere-competition.com

"The Best of Demotape Clinic 2013" offers a unique insight into the work of up-and-coming Swiss pop music artists. The CD will be produced in an edition of 6000 copies and will be sent to decision-makers in the Swiss music scene. It will not go on sale.
 
For the 15th Demotape Clinic, newcomers from all over Switzerland submitted 777 demos in the categories pop, rock, urban and electronic. A jury listened to all the tracks and presented the best of them at the m4music festival in March 2013. Industry professionals commented on the demos publicly in front of the festival audience and gave the bands valuable tips. The "Demo of the Year" 2013 prize went to the Rhine Valley band Pedro Lehmann for the song Hurricane.
 
The most exciting demos, including the winners of the Suisa Foundation Awards, have been brought together for the eighth time on a CD compilation. The groups represented come from all over Switzerland: from Basel to Ascona, from Geneva to Altstätten. Migros Culture Percentage is sending the CD to the most important players in the Swiss music scene, such as music journalists, club owners, bookers, music and label managers, in order to draw their attention to up-and-coming artists.

The CD can be listened to and - while stocks last - ordered free of charge at www.demotapeclinic.ch

With regard to the distribution of stringed instruments, the competition authorities have concrete information that indicates the existence of agreements on minimum or fixed prices (so-called second-hand price fixing), writes the Federal Administration. In particular, guitars, basses and accessories of the brands Ibanez, Martin and Fulltone are affected.

According to this information, Musik Olar AG systematically exerted pressure on its resellers, primarily by directly influencing their pricing and discount policies.

There were also indications that the price fixing of the second hand had been achieved with the involvement of other market participants. The purpose of the investigation is to examine whether there are any unlawful competition agreements in the aforementioned sense.

The Aargau pianist Beata Wetli has published a small anthology of Aargau composers from the 19th and 20th centuries under the title Aargau hikes recorded. It is immediately audible how predestined the piano has been since the early Romantic period to create a poetic atmosphere, to parade, dream, narrate, fantasize and capture moods even for less spectacular soundscapes. Pictorial and poetic are the most fitting attributes of this recording, which, in addition to a great stylistic variety - from early Romantic tonal language to late Romantic-Impressionist suggestions to neo-classical sound structures, everything can be heard - also offers first recordings.
The focus is on the 22 short piano pieces From a hike (op.17) by Werner Wehrli. His masterly cycle is synonymous with the programmatic title of the CD. In addition, works by Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich, Ernst Widmer, Emil Frey, Walther Geier, Ernest Bloch, Busoni master student Robert Blum and, fortunately, the multi-talented Peter Mieg can also be heard. And it is also clear that some composers were not included, such as Carl Attenhofer, Hermann Suter and Heinrich Sutermeister.
This may be regrettable at first. But in view of the urgency of Wetli's impressionistic refinement of sound, which is also captured very favorably in terms of sound technology, one can hope that a follow-up edition is planned with other composers. It would be desirable. Aargau offers an inexhaustible source of piano music spanning 150 years. In any case, this recording whets the appetite for more.

Aargauer Wanderungen. Piano music by Aargau composers from 150 years. Beata Wetli, piano. Wiediscon WD 9451

The Swiss Research Foundation "Child and Cancer" systematically supports pediatric cancer research and makes financial contributions to projects selected by the medical expert committee that are close to the clinic.

The knowledge gained from the research projects should enable specialists to make more precise diagnoses and develop specific forms of therapy. In this way, "Child and Cancer" helps to further improve the chances of recovery for children suffering from cancer.

All proceeds from the Benfiz concert go to the foundation. The musicians, conductors and soloists donate their fees in full - the Tonhalle also waives the reimbursement of costs.

Beethoven's "Egmont" Overture and Triple Concerto as well as Piazzolla's "Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas" will be performed. Tickets for the benefit concert are now available in advance at the Tonhalle.

More info: www.tonhalle-orchester.ch

In just 190 pages, Thomas Richter manages to cover the topics of "Music and the brain", "Music and the history of mankind" and even "The future of the brain". Respect, you might say, especially as these are not only major problem areas, but also largely unexplored topics, even prophecies. Richter does not presume to be able to clarify everything he addresses. "Much remains open," he says at the end of the book. Right at the beginning, the former pianist and current consultant to pharmaceutical companies rightly admits: "Brain research will have to make a clear distinction between what it can say and what lies outside its area of responsibility, just as musicology (...) has a lot to say about Bach's fugue, but must remain silent when it comes to explaining its unique beauty." (S. 8)

The relativization of more or less scientific methods leads Richter to a feuilletonistic tangle of various strands of argumentation. Evolutionist theories eke out a refreshing existence, joined by more strictly orthodox medical discussions about how our brains work, subjective comments on our own music preferences or speculations about the frequency variations of our chamber tone. This is certainly entertaining; the author's skills are convincing in his depiction of the immense brain power involved in listening and making music. As the book progresses, however, the impression of a certain verbosity becomes apparent; too much seems to have been simply shaken out of the sleeve. And time and time again, Richter's subjectivisms lead him onto the slippery slope. He slips up completely when he repeatedly refers to "twelve-tone music" or "neo-tones". While Friedrich Blume once misused the "natural phenomenon" of music to deny electronic music its right to exist, Richter's approach is no different in principle. For him, it is the (natural) brain that is obviously not prepared to take the step from tonality to atonality, from the beautiful melody to the incoherent collection of notes in the Schoenberg style: "The brain resists the atonal, dissonant pieces of twelve-tone music, no matter how much it has influenced music theory and compositional practice in the 20th century." (S. 45)

In the long run, such regressive stereotypes not only come across as gossipy, but also annoying. Especially when the workings of the brain are, in one's own words, unexplained, especially when the omnipresent quota comes into play in an unspeakable (but suddenly unpleasantly contemporary) manner. The dismissal of Dortmund's general music director, who had to go because he was concerned about contemporary music and, as a consequence, because of "dramatically declining capacity utilization" (p. 45), serves as proof of the fact that music after Schönberg is not adapted to human receptivity. So may the classics once again be granted an infinite life! So far at least, concerts with Beethoven and Schubert have always been full.

Thomas Richter, Why you shouldn't listen to Wagner in the car. Music and the brain, 200 p., € 8.95, Reclam, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-15-020255-5

Princess And The Bear sounds like a fairy tale. And not so much like the Alps or Hamburg. But the duo have left a good piece of their hearts in the harbor of the northern German metropolis and released their first album Sleeping In The Bee House in a wooden hut on the Bürgenstock. This is also where the two of them spent the night during the recording - as the title suggests, in a converted beehive. It is quite possible that this is why the work seems so intimate. Like a ballad in a confined space.

The division of duties in Princess And The Bear is clear: Simone Schorro is the siren who sings and plays the glockenspiel, while guitarist Michael Tobler acts as a silent partner and cue man. Although the two joined forces six years ago, they are still Sleeping In The Bee House their first joint musical testimony. And what a testimony it is. The Lucerne native and the Zurich native create airy song creations of folk, jazzy pop and an all-encompassing melancholy that, despite their heavy content, also have a gentle momentum. Princess And The Bear keep a decidedly low tempo, basking in a well-tempered atmosphere and devoting themselves to fragility.

Schorro's vocals take center stage, circling, swaying and determined; her voice sounds like a message in a bottle on a high but calm sea. In keeping with this, an accordion groans like a bending plank on pieces such as "100 Years" or "I Still Miss You". The songs, as supple as they are gnarled, tell of butterflies, doors or anchors, are more dreamy than playful and full of distortions. The album speaks of longing. And strength. So much so that it is clear: Sleeping In The Bee House is an event.

Princess And The Bear: Sleeping In The Bee House
www.princessandthebear.ch

In just 190 pages, Thomas Richter manages to cover the topics of "Music and the brain", "Music and the history of mankind" and even "The future of the brain". Respect, you might say, especially as these are not only major problem areas, but also largely unexplored topics, even prophecies. Richter does not presume to be able to clarify everything he addresses. "Much remains open," he says at the end of the book. Right at the beginning, the former pianist and current consultant to pharmaceutical companies rightly admits: "Brain research will have to make a clear distinction between what it can say and what lies outside its area of responsibility, just as musicology (...) has a lot to say about Bach's fugue, but must remain silent when it comes to explaining its unique beauty." (S. 8)

The relativization of more or less scientific methods leads Richter to a feuilletonistic tangle of various strands of argumentation. Evolutionist theories eke out a refreshing existence, joined by more strictly orthodox medical discussions about how our brains work, subjective comments on our own music preferences or speculations about the frequency variations of our chamber tone. This is certainly entertaining; the author's skills are convincing in his depiction of the immense brain power involved in listening and making music. As the book progresses, however, the impression of a certain verbosity becomes apparent; too much seems to have been simply shaken out of the sleeve. And time and time again, Richter's subjectivisms lead him onto the slippery slope. He slips up completely when he repeatedly refers to "twelve-tone music" or "neo-tones". While Friedrich Blume once misused the "natural phenomenon" of music to deny electronic music its right to exist, Richter's approach is no different in principle. For him, it is the (natural) brain that is obviously not prepared to take the step from tonality to atonality, from the beautiful melody to the incoherent collection of notes in the Schoenberg style: "The brain resists the atonal, dissonant pieces of twelve-tone music, no matter how much it has influenced music theory and compositional practice in the 20th century." (S. 45)

In the long run, such regressive stereotypes not only come across as gossipy, but also annoying. Especially when the workings of the brain are, in one's own words, unexplained, especially when the omnipresent quota comes into play in an unspeakable (but suddenly unpleasantly contemporary) manner. The dismissal of Dortmund's general music director, who had to go because he was concerned about contemporary music and, as a consequence, because of "dramatically declining capacity utilization" (p. 45), serves as proof of the fact that music after Schönberg is not adapted to human receptivity. So may the classics once again be granted an infinite life! So far at least, concerts with Beethoven and Schubert have always been full.

Thomas Richter, Why you shouldn't listen to Wagner in the car. Music and the brain, 200 p., € 8.95, Reclam, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-15-020255-5

The Aargau pianist Beata Wetli has published a small anthology of Aargau composers from the 19th and 20th centuries under the title Aargau hikes recorded. It is immediately audible how predestined the piano has been since the early Romantic period to create a poetic atmosphere, to parade, dream, narrate, fantasize and capture moods even for less spectacular soundscapes. Pictorial and poetic are the most fitting attributes of this recording, which, in addition to a great stylistic variety - from early Romantic tonal language to late Romantic-Impressionist suggestions to neo-classical sound structures, everything can be heard - also offers first recordings.

The focus is on the 22 short piano pieces From a hike (op.17) by Werner Wehrli. His masterly cycle is synonymous with the programmatic title of the CD. In addition, works by Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich, Ernst Widmer, Emil Frey, Walther Geier, Ernest Bloch, Busoni master student Robert Blum and, fortunately, the multi-talented Peter Mieg can also be heard. And it is also clear that some composers were not included, such as Carl Attenhofer, Hermann Suter and Heinrich Sutermeister.

This may be regrettable at first. But in view of the urgency of Wetli's impressionistic refinement of sound, which is also captured very favorably in terms of sound technology, one can hope that a follow-up edition is planned with other composers. It would be desirable. Aargau offers an inexhaustible source of piano music spanning 150 years. In any case, this recording whets the appetite for more.