Compared to the previous year, this represents a slight increase of 2 percent. The number of first-semester students reached its highest level in the last ten years at around 5,500. Around 40 percent of the students were enrolled on artistic courses and one third on artistic and educational courses, with one in four enrolled on musicology courses.

With around 8800 students, artistic training in the field of instrumental/orchestral music is the most popular area of study. Jazz and popular music courses have seen the greatest growth, with student numbers more than doubling in the last ten years. Teaching at general education schools, on the other hand, continues to stagnate, and musicology has also seen a 17 percent drop over the same period.

At 56 percent, the proportion of women remains almost unchanged compared to the previous year, as does the proportion of foreign students, which is a quarter of the national average and in some degree programs (instrumental/orchestral music, composition) even more than half of the students.

With around 5700 graduates, more students successfully completed their studies in 2011 than in the previous ten years. More than 2100 orchestral and instrumental musicians alone left the universities, followed by around 1200 prospective teachers at general education schools, which, however, only recorded a slight increase of 3% compared to other fields of study over the last ten years.

In other areas, the growth rates were much higher: the number of graduates in jazz and popular music, as well as in musicology, has more than tripled or doubled in the last decade. In contrast, an above-average number of instrumental and vocal teachers and sound engineers have entered the professional market.

The MIZ's calculations are based on data from the Federal Statistical Office, which compiles the reports from conservatoires and universities, teacher training colleges, church music colleges and universities of applied sciences in its annual student statistics. For the first time, the MIZ has included students with music as their 2nd and 3rd subject in addition to their 1st subject.

Born in Uster in 1985, pianist Chris Conz is an established name on the Swiss blues and boogie scene. In 2011, the Chris Conz Trio won the small Prix Walo as the best young Swiss band. Alongside Conz, the trio includes drummer Martin Meyer and bassist Nuno Alexandre.

The Swiss Jazz Award is presented annually to the Swiss jazz band that has been most popular with the Radio Swiss Jazz audience over the past twelve months and received the most votes in the subsequent poll on the station's website.

More info: www.swissjazzaward.ch

The city of Biel will not be concluding a new contract with the Kulturtäter association. The Extraordinary General Meeting on June 12, 2013 decided to dissolve the association.

The situation in the areas of cultural perpetrators in cabaret, Chanson française and Semaine littéraire française will be reviewed by fall 2013. Due to the city's current financial situation, there may be less funding available for this from 2014 than before. All contracts will be revised in 2016 due to the total revision of the Cantonal Cultural Promotion Act.

The subsidies for the Théâtre de la Grenouille and the Photoforum are the responsibility of Parliament. If the City Council does not approve the loans for the two institutions, the situation would have to be reassessed as a whole for reasons of equal treatment. 

For the first time, Pro Helvetia is providing comprehensive support to 13 Swiss jazz and pop formations, writes the Arts Council. It not only supports the creation of new recordings - from rehearsing a repertoire to studio recording and mastering - but also their promotion abroad with Swiss labels.

A total of 112,000 Swiss francs will be provided:

- Wintsch/Weber/Wolfarth (Hat Hut)
- Sylvie Courvoisier - Mark Feldman Quartet (Intakt)
- Hans Hassler (Intakt)
- Samuel Blaser (No Business Rec / Songlines)
- XL-Target featuring Joe Bowie (Unit)
- Rusconi (Qilin Rec)
- Marc Perrenoud Trio (Challenge Rec)
- Christoph Stiefel Inner Language Trio (Basho Rec)
- Peter Kernel (On the Camper)
- Mama Rosin (Moi J'connais Records)
- Reza Dinally (Limmat Records)
- Tim & Puma Mimi (Petit Indie /Peski)
- Anna Aaron (Two Gentlemen)

In a press release, the CGT criticizes the fact that culture now only accounts for 0.68 percent of the state budget, the lowest figure in the last thirty years. The 2013 culture budget has been cut by one billion euros.

Federal cultural expenditure in Switzerland amounts to around 0.4 percent, which is even lower than that of the French state. However, the comparison is flawed because in this country culture is the responsibility of the cantons and these and the municipalities bear a large part of the burden.

The Avignon Theater Festival takes place between July 5 and 26.
 

Although a complete edition of Wagner's letters in chronological order has always been considered indispensable, its realization only began in 1967 under the patronage of the Richard Wagner Family Archive (later the Richard Wagner Foundation). Werner Breig's fundamental new conception of Richard Wagner's complete letters began in November 1999 with the publication of Volume 11. The carefully annotated volumes are illustrated with facsimiles and little-known photographs. The first publication of several letters further enhances the content of the edition. The commentary is based on many previously unpublished documents.
So far, the letters up to 1867 (volumes 1-19) have been published. Most recently, volume 22: Letters of the year 1870, edited by Martin Dürrer, with the letters on the premiere of the ValkyrieThe first letters on the Franco-Prussian War, with the first letters on festival plans in Bayreuth and 50 first publications. Volume 21: Letters from 1869 is currently in preparation and is expected to be published in summer 2013. The volume is edited by Andreas Mielke and contains letters on the premiere of Rheingold and to the Paris Rienzi-staging, to the extended new version of the script Judaism in music and 44 first publications. This is followed by volume 20 of the Wagner letter editions.

Image: Print of the letter from Richard Wagner to Anton Pusinelli dated March 21, 1864, taken from Volume 16: Letters of the Year 1864, p. 67. 
 

Richard Wagner: Complete Letters, Complete Edition in 34 Volumes and Supplements, Breitkopf & Härtel

Leopold Huber has made a name for himself as an author of books, radio plays and screenplays, but in particular as a director and producer in the fields of drama, musical theater and film, both in Thurgau and in the German-speaking world, writes the canton of Thurgau.

Leopold Huber was born in Upper Austria in 1955. He has worked as a freelance author, film and theater director since 1981. In 1990, he was a member of the founding ensemble of the See-Burgtheater Kreuzlingen (as dramaturge). He has co-directed the theater with Astrid Keller since 1993/94. He most recently directed "Die schwarze Spinne" by Jeremias Gotthelf (2010), "Der Zerrissene" by Johann Nestroy (2011), "The Black Rider" by Tom Waits (2012) and currently "Die Dreigroschenoper" by Bertolt Brecht (2013).

The Thurgau Culture Prize will be presented on Tuesday, August 13, 2013, at a public ceremony on the lake stage in Kreuzlingen by Cantonal Councillor Monika Knill, Head of the Department of Education and Culture.

Born in Freiburg, Barwisch studied economics, horn and international cultural management in Freiburg and Basel.

After gaining professional experience in various orchestras, including the Long Island Philharmonic Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic, he joined the orchestra management of the Munich Chamber Orchestra in 2004.

He has been Head of Concert Planning at the Munich Chamber Orchestra since 2006 and Deputy Managing Director since 2011.

Barwisch's predecessor, Reymond, is to transform the Lugano Festival into a year-round operation by 2015 - to coincide with the opening of the new Lugano-LAC hall. Concerts with international guest orchestras are planned, as well as recitals, chamber music and opera performances.

Pro Helvetia supports each orchestra participating in "Œuvres Suisses" with CHF 50,000 per year for the entire duration of the project. This gives the professional orchestras more leeway to plan tours abroad and implement projects for young talent and education.

All premieres will be recorded by Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana (RSI), Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) and Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF). In addition to broadcasts on the radio programs, it is planned to release a CD box with all the works once the project is complete.

Participating in the project are: Bern Symphony Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Sinfonie Orchester Biel, Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Zürcher Kammerorchester.

On May 13, 1953, the first deed of foundation of the Boswil House of Artists signed. This marked the beginning of the history of a "legendary Swiss cultural institution", as the beautifully designed, richly illustrated and informative anniversary brochure puts it. From 1960 to 1991, the buildings on the church hill in Boswil were a home for older artists. At the same time, a cultural workshop developed that created new things with courses, conferences and encounters, "without rashly asking for success." (Günter Grass). From 1991 to 2005, Boswil became a place of culture with concerts in the old church as well as further education courses and events that focused on theater, literature and the visual arts. Since 2005, the Künstlerhaus has concentrated exclusively on music.

In the congratulatory speeches, the past and present of the diverse history of the Künstlerhaus were honored, including the founders and all those who were and are active for the Künstlerhaus. Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard expressed her conviction that the Künstlerhaus will have a rich future, while Cantonal Councillor Alex Hürzeler highlighted the Künstlerhaus as a good example of how change can bring very positive results.

The short musical intermezzi documented the broad spectrum of the Künstlerhaus program. Andreas Fleck, violoncello (artistic director of the Boswiler Sommer music festival), Hugo Bollschweier, viola (conductor of the Aargau Youth Symphony Orchestra, among others), Kaspar von Grüningen, double bass (orchestra manager at the Künstlerhaus), piano duo Yvo Haag and Adrienne Soos, Yuko Tsuboi, violin and the Duo Calva performed in various formations.

Image:
Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard and Government Councillor Alex Hürzeler
Photo: Werner Rolli
 

The Swiss Youth Music Festival takes place every five years and is a highlight of the Swiss Youth Music Association's program of activities. jugendmusik.ch. As a member of the Swiss Wind Music Association and as a supporting member of jugend+musik, jugendmusik.ch is an important link between youth music-making in general and wind music.
On the weekend of June 15th and 16th, 112 youth bands with over 5000 children and young people performed in Zug in the categories of parade music, indoor show, taboure, percussion, brass band and harmony. Fifteen Swiss champions were crowned, who were honored by the President of the Swiss Confederation, Ueli Maurer, in the final on Sunday afternoon in Zug's Bossard Arena.
The aim of the entertainment program was to bring generations together. Under the direction of Mario Venuti, the Kadettenmusik, Stadtmusik and Harmoniemusik of the city of Zug jointly performed Mathias Rüegg's The story of the piccolo and the hundred tubes on.

Swiss champions in the respective categories:

Parade Music Small: BML Talents (Bürgermusik Luzern)
Parade music medium: Liberty Brass Band Junior
Parade Music Large: Boys' Music of the City of St. Gallen
Parade music evolutions: Youth Music Kreuzlingen

Indoor show: Tambouren Knabenmusik der Stadt St. Gallen
Tambours S1J: Boys' music of the city of St. Gallen
Tambours S2J: Windband Biberist
Tambours S3J: Youth music Ringgenberg-Goldswil
Percussion: Stadtjugendmusik Zürich

Brass Band Intermediate: Future Band
Brass Band highest level: BML Talents (Lucerne)

Harmony lower level: Jugendmusik Frauenfeld
Harmony intermediate level: Jugendmusik Sursee
Harmonie Oberstufe: Youth Wind Orchestra of the City of Lucerne
Harmony highest level: Jugendmusik Kreuzlingen

www.jugendmusikfest.ch
 

Appenzell-born Ottilia Dörig-Heim was elected to the Appenzell school board in 2000 and served as president of the Appenzell school community from 2006 to 2012. Since 2012, she has represented Innerrhoden on the Board of Trustees of the Roth-Haus curative education school in Teufen. She has also worked as a biology assistant at the St. Antonius secondary school in Appenzell for seventeen years. Ottilia Dörig-Heim is married and the mother of two grown-up daughters.

The Cultural Office coordinates the promotion and preservation of culture in the Canton of Appenzell I.Rh. It is also responsible for the specialist departments for monument preservation and archaeology, as well as managing the secretariat of the Innerrhoden Art Foundation and the Innerrhoder Schriften publishing commission.

Networking with those responsible for culture in other cantons and neighboring countries is an important part of the job. The position comprises a workload of 40 percent.

With its decision to contribute to the planned music projects, the cantonal government is reaffirming the orchestra's position as an "institution of at least cantonal importance".

The government thus honors the program developed under the aegis of the new managing director Christian Weidmann, which aims to make the orchestra "the orchestra of all Aargau" in the medium term through new concert forms and at the same time promote the cultural canton outside the canton, writes the canton.

In addition to the five classical concert cycles in various locations in Aargau, the Tonhalle guest performances, the conducting master class, the schoolhouse concerts and the school workshops, significantly more music education events are planned for the 2013/14 season: a children's opera in Baden, a lounge concert in the Schachenhalle and performances in unusual locations (such as the Meyerschen Stollen in Aarau).

The Italian conductor Nello Santi has close ties to the city of Zurich, where he has lived for decades, and to the Zurich Opera House. His Verdi and Puccini conductors in particular set standards, writes the city in its tribute to the prizewinner.

From 1958 to 1969, Santi was music director of the Zurich Opera House, where he still conducts regularly today. Since Volkmar Andreae (conductor of the Tonhalle Orchestra until 1949), there has been no other conductor who has shaped Zurich over such a long period and with such charisma, the city added.

Born in Cologne in 1927, Henry F. Levy has been involved in promoting young artists in Zurich for over thirty years. In London, he became acquainted with organizations that rented out affordable spaces to young artists.

He imported this concept to Zurich: since 1983, the "BINZ39" foundation he set up has provided studios and exhibition spaces in Zurich's industrial buildings.

Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco was President of the Portuguese Society of Musicology for many years (1992-2006), as well as Vice-President of the International Council for Traditional Music (UNESCO) from 1997-2001 and again since 2009.

Her academic research and the focus of her numerous publications are primarily on the musical traditions of Portugal and the Middle East. She is currently leading research projects on Portuguese jazz and Celtic influences on the music of Galicia and northern Portugal. Her most recent publications include the four-volume Enciclopédia da Música em Portugal no Século XX (2010), Music and Conflict (2010) and Traditional Arts in Southern Arabia: Music and Society Sohar, Sultante of Oman (2009).

Since 2007, the Glarean Prize has been awarded every two years to scholars who have distinguished themselves through an outstanding oeuvre in the field of European music historiography and whose research activities take appropriate account of issues relating to the publication and distribution of music.

The Glarean Prize is financed by funds donated by the Basler
music historian Marta Walter (1896-1961) bequeathed to the SMG in her will. Previous winners of the Glarean Prize are Karol Berger (Stanford), Martin Staehelin (Göttingen) and Reinhard Strohm (Oxford).

The legacy also made it possible to create the Jacques Handschin Prize, also endowed with CHF 10,000, which aims to promote young researchers. Previous winners are Giovanni Zanovello (Bloomington) and Bruno Forment (Brussels). This prize for young researchers will be awarded next year.

Presentation of this year's Glarean Prize:
Thursday, December 5, 2013 in Bern, 6.15 p.m.
Main building of the University of Bern (cupola room no. 501), Hochschulstr. 4, 3012 Bern