Pauli has worked for the cantonal archaeology department of the Department of Education, Culture and Sport as head of the Vindonissa excavations since 2001 and as director of the Aargau Museum since 2008. He previously worked as an archaeological project manager at the Zurich Cantonal Archaeology Department.

Under Pauli's leadership, a "Legionary Trail" was created and a Vindonissa professorship was established at the University of Basel. Under his leadership, the Museum Aargau expanded from two to six locations. Visitor numbers increased significantly within five years - from 82,000 to 227,000.

Thomas Pauli will take up his new position on August 1, 2013. The position of Director of the Museum Aargau will be advertised publicly.
 

"Serendipity" means the unexpectedly coincidental, the fairytale-like, the idyllic, the unheard-of, explained festival directors Dolores Mark and Graziella Contratto at the presentation of the program to media representatives.

Ancient pilgrim songs, works by the lucky children Mozart and Mendelssohn, transcriptions "with sudden added value", the recital, a nomadic hike, Wagner in the salon, a concert of wishes and the prizewinners' concert in collaboration with the Concours Ernst Haefliger are just some of the offerings.

Young musicians such as pianist Benyamin Nuss, sopranos Julia Westendorp and Lena Kiepenheuer, clarinettist Nils Kohler, the Hermès Quartet and Laura Schmid, winner of the Prix Credit Suisse Jeunes Solistes 2013, will be performing in Davos.

"Werk für drei von neun Musen" is the title of the commissioned work that Trümpy wrote especially for the Davos Festival and the medieval singing ensemble Les Neuf Muses. He will also lead a workshop with the two up-and-coming composers Matthias Renaud (Switzerland) and Demetre Gamsakhurdia (Georgia), who will present their works composed especially for the Davos Festival.

More info: www.davosfestival.ch
 

The project is to be realized in around 38 concert cycles over 19 concert seasons. Concerts will take place in the Martinskirche Basel and the Tonhalle Zurich.

The Italian baroque specialist Giovanni Antonini is the artistic director of this major musical project. He will produce around two thirds of all the symphonies with the kammerorchesterbasel, which Müller supervises, and one third with his own orchestra, the giardino armonico. Christoph Müller is also the artistic director of the Menuhin Festival Gstaad.

The foundation is still in contact with various CD labels to clarify the details of the respective releases. Funding for the entire project has been secured by two Basel patrons.

Ulrich Tadday and Katrin Bock have succeeded in completely reconstructing the score of the first performance from 1871 on the basis of the historical copies of the choral and orchestral parts and in comparison with the known, later version of the large-scale work, writes the University of Bremen.

Well over 300 deviations, major and minor changes, characterize the composition: in contrast to the well-known later version, the Bremen version of the triumphal song is not in D major, but in C major.

It has fewer wind instruments, and the large choral parts are much more fluent in rhythm and articulation. Overall, the musical movement is much more delicate, less striking and martial.

The composition differs so much from the known, later version that it is justified to call it an independent work, the university continued: the "Bremen version of the Triumphlied" will be included in the Johannes Brahms Complete Edition and published as a study edition by Henle-Verlag.

Cheung prevailed against twelve competitors in two rounds. The scholarship was awarded for the first time in the form of a public competition. The competition was looking for pianists who are able to react spontaneously to unprepared tasks as all-round musicians with a wide variety of styles, imagination and improvisational skills.

In two rounds, which took place on May 25, the candidates had to accompany silent films, be musically inspired by images or vary jazz standards and pop songs.

Mischa Cheung was born in 1984 to Swiss-Chinese parents and began playing the piano at the age of three. He obtained his concert diploma with distinction in Konstantin Scherbakov's master class at the Zurich University of the Arts in 2009 and graduated two years later with a Master of Arts in Specialized Music Performance.

The Nico Kaufmann Foundation, which is administered by the Department of the President of the City of Zurich, awards an annual scholarship to musicians who have not yet reached the age of 35 in the year of the competition and are resident in Switzerland. This year's jury consisted of the Director of the Music Department at Zurich University of the Arts, Michael Eidenbenz, pianist André Desponds and pianist Vera Kappeler.
 

The Migros series is raising its profile more and more and its success seems to be proving it right. As explained at the media conference to present the season, the concerts were 93% full in the season that has now ended.

Swiss creativity will be reflected in the coming season not only by inviting important performers - the sopranos Marysol Schalit and Rachel Harnisch, the cellist Sol Gabetta, the oboist Matthias Arter - but also by more determined collaboration with Swiss composers.

Dieter Ammann's "Boost" and "Core" will be given second and third performances. "Core" will be performed by the Mariinsky Orchestra. According to Mischa Damev, the director of the concert series, its conductor Valery Gergiev is so taken with the piece that he wants to include it in the program in St. Petersburg beforehand.

The other invited orchestras are the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, soloists include Rachel Harnisch), the Budapest Festival Orchestra (Iván Fischer, soloists Maria João Pires and Marysol Schalit) and the Basel Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Mario Venzago, soloists Sol Gabetta and Matthias Arter).

Extra concerts will be given by the Beijing Symphony Orchestra in Bern - with the bamboo flute virtuoso Tang Junqiao -, the Camerata Bern and the Polish Chamber Orchestra in Geneva.

The Montreal Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Kent Nagano (soloist Marc-André Hamelin), the Mariinsky Orchestra by Valery Gergiev (soloist Denis Matsuev) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra by Sakari Oramo (principal soloist Leonidas Kavakos).

The whole program: www.migros-kulturprozent-classics.ch

During his first participation in the most famous choir competition in Europe reached the Swiss Youth Choir (SJC) took second place, while the University Choir of Houston (USA) and the Saarbrücken Chamber Choir came first. As the SJC writes, the interpretation of the varied program not only impressed the jury: the audience even voted the choir into first place. The Swiss Youth Choir was conducted by Andreas Felber (LU) and Dominique Tille (VD), who won a special prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work (Ilja Panzer: Sometimes I wish). In addition, Carl Rütti's And again my deep life rushes louder premiered. The Saarbrücken Chamber Choir was awarded the special prize of the Carl Orff Foundation Diessen am Ammersee for its interpretation of this work.

The 10 participating choirs from Germany (2), Serbia, USA (2), Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Finland, France and Switzerland gave a total of 13 concerts in the region. The 360 singers thrilled over 5000 listeners and over 100 invited guests from all over the choral world. 150 works were sung during the competition, which was recorded and broadcast by six radio stations.

The Swiss Youth Choir was co-founded in 1994 by its permanent artistic director Hansruedi Kämpfen, music director of the city of Brig, and has over 50 singers from 15 cantons. Auditions for the following year take place every November. The members are between 16 and 26 years old and rehearse a longer concert program over two weekends and a rehearsal week at Easter. Next concerts:

Bern, Nydeggkirche, Saturday June 8, 8 p.m.
Glarus, City Church, Sunday June 9, 5 p.m.

Musicologist Ulrike Kienzle conducted research for a commemorative publication as part of the Foundation's 175th anniversary celebrations. The quartet with which Bruch applied for a scholarship as a 14-year-old was found in his application documents.

Kienzle also discovered a Kyrie among letters and testimonials in the composer's handwriting in application documents from 1851 belonging to the Liechtenstein composer Josef Rheinberger.

Founded in Frankfurt am Main in 1838, the Mozart Foundation is dedicated to supporting young composers. In its historical beginnings, the scholarship holders included Max Bruch, Engelbert Humperdinck, Ludwig Thuille and Ernst Toch. Support is provided in the form of monthly scholarships, occasionally also through performances of works by the scholarship holders.

In the preliminary round of the first duo competition at the Basel University of Music, three ensembles were selected from 15 instrumental duos with piano for the final. They each played a half-hour concert program with works by Robert Schumann, Bohuslav Martinů, Thomas Demenga, Benjamin Britten, Witold Lutosławski and Claude Debussy.

The jury consisted of Katharina Gohl Moser, Philippe Racine, Thomas Füri and Bruno Canino. The prizes donated by the August Pickhardt Foundation Riehen were awarded in this order:

1st prize 10,000 francs: Astrig Siranossian, violoncello and Andriy Dragan, piano
2nd prize 7500 francs: Joonas Pitkänen, violoncello and Fiore Favaro, piano
3rd prize 5000 francs: Mirka Šćepanović, violin and Elena Petrova, piano
 

In September 2012, the Zurich Cantonal Council approved a project loan of CHF 28.5 million by a large majority for the renovation work and structural measures to convert the former psychiatric clinic.

The "Schweizer Musikinsel Rheinau" foundation rents the premises at an annual rent of CHF 330,000. It also covers the extensive start-up costs and the operating deficits to be expected even with high capacity utilization.

The foundation is endowed with CHF 20 million, contributed by the current National Councillor and former Federal Councillor Christoph Blocher.

The music island has 16 rehearsal rooms - from a music hall for a large orchestra to small, well-insulated rooms for soloists - and a hotel. It comprises 63 rooms with a total of 129 beds as well as a historic dining room with a modern preparation kitchen and a lounge.

According to the foundation, the Musikinsel is already well booked for the second half of 2014. Reservations can be made by calling 044 254 53 69 or via e-mail accepted.

Guided tours will be offered from July. You can register for these via www.musikinsel.ch

On September 27, 2013, the Leopold Children's Media Prize - "Good Music for Children" will be awarded for the ninth time at the WDR broadcasting center in Cologne. 130 music productions on CD, CD-ROM and DVD were submitted. The 17 particularly successful recordings that have now been nominated can already advertise with the title "Recommended by the Association of German Music Schools" and are therefore on the Association of German Music Schools' (VdM) list of recommended audio media.

The target group itself, this year's children's jury from the Humboldt-Gymnasium in Cologne, will award the special "Poldi" prize to their favorite from the competition at the award ceremony.

The nominations for the Leopold 2013 are as follows:

• Aktive Musik Verlagsgesellschaft mbH/Igel Records: George Frideric Handel - The Messiah (from 8 years)
• Aktive Musik Verlagsgesellschaft mbH/Igel Records: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Don Giovanni (from 8 years)
• AMA Verlag GmbH: Planet of Dragons - A musical space adventure (from 5 years)
• AraM Publisher: The wren and the silver flute (from 6 years)
• The blind fish: Muhsik (from 5 to 10 years)
• Edition SEE-IGEL: Puss in boots (from 5 years)
• Edition SEE-IGEL: sky wide (from 7 years)
• GLM Music GmbH: Quadro Nuevo - Beautiful children's songs (from 3 to 12 years)
• headroom Verlag: The great word factory (from 4 years)
• headroom Verlag: A Christmas story - Christmas Carol (from 6 years)
• Helbling Verlag GmbH: Mozart's Magic Flute (from 8 to 12 years)
• Jumbo Neue Medien & Verlag GmbH: I am two and already in (from 2 years)
• Monarda Publishing House Ltd: Jazz dreams in Cleveland - A musical journey through the magical world of the saxophone (from 12 years)
• murmel records - Ulrike & Bernd Meyerholz GbR: MilchBarJazz - for connoisseurs young and old (from 4 to 9 years)
• Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG: The elephant fart (from 5 years)
• Tonstudio Krauthausen GmbH: This song (from 10 to 15 years)
• Tyxart: Sax & Moritz (from 9 years)

The annotated list of prizewinners and recommendations can be ordered from the VdM (Plittersdorfer Straße 93, 53173 Bonn, e-mail: vdm@musikschulen.de) from October 2013.

www.medienpreis-leopold.de

With the award of the Schwyz Culture Recognition Prize, endowed with 10,000 Swiss francs, the Culture Commission and Government Council have honored the musician P. Theo Flury, OSB, who has provided important impulses in Schwyz culture for many years with his artistic work and great commitment, writes the Canton of Schwyz. He has made a name for himself far beyond the canton of Schwyz as a monastery organist in Einsiedeln and as a lecturer and performer on the organ.

Heidy Weber-Wiget, in turn, has become an integral part of cultural life in Schwyz, the canton added. With "incredible energy, tenacity and expertise", she has initiated and successfully organized countless cultural events in various fields over the decades - on her own responsibility, on a voluntary basis and always remaining in the background.

Marcel Oetiker. Photo: "March-Anzeiger" Schranz

By awarding the cantonal sponsorship prize of CHF 5,000, the Culture Commission is recognizing the creativity and exceptional potential of the accordion player Marcel Oetiker. The award is intended to support his artistic career and the further development of his proven skills.

After studying at the Lucerne School of Music, Oetiker completed his Bachelor's degree at the Bern University of the Arts in 2010. He was the first musician ever to achieve this title with the Schwyzerörgeli. In 2012, he also completed his Master's degree at the Bern University of the Arts.

The organizing patrons' association Schweizer Klaviertrio has chosen the Seeburgpark Kreuzlingen as a new, additional venue for this year's festival, where the two opening concerts will take place outdoors. In case of bad weather, the vaulted cellar of the Seemuseum will be available in the immediate vicinity.

A concert is planned at Arenenberg Castle on September 12 and four more concerts will take place from September 13 to 15 on the MS Sonnenkönigin from the ports of Kreuzlingen, Constance, Rorschach and Bregenz.

A commented student concert and a concert for young musicians are planned to promote young talent. The artistic director for the fifth edition is once again Martin Lucas Staub from Thurgau, the pianist of the Swiss Piano Trio.

The costs for the festival amount to 250,000 francs. The organizers are expecting income of around 87,000 francs from admissions and advertisements. The remaining deficit is to be covered by contributions from the public sector, foundations and sponsors.

The new name stands for the "unbroken motivation of all those responsible to make the cultural beacon of Aargau shine even brighter", the orchestra writes in an official statement.

The professional orchestra of around 60 musicians has two subscription series of its own with symphonic programming. It also makes regular guest appearances at the Tonhalle Zurich and is the house orchestra for the "Hallwyl Castle Opera", which takes place every three years.

The orchestra is supported by the Canton of Aargau, which in 2010 awarded it an "outstanding status in the cultural landscape of Aargau". British conductor Douglas Bostock has been the orchestra's principal conductor since 2001.

The official name change, which also involves a logo change (see illustration), will take place at the end of the current season on June 30, 2013. The orchestra can be reached from May 29 under the URL www.argoviaphil.ch.

In view of a long, fulfilled musical life, which he shared for many decades with his wife, the pianist Geneviève Joy, who died in 2009, he left behind a concentrated oeuvre of orchestral works, song compositions, ballet and chamber music, the publisher continued.

Born into a family of artists, Dutilleux experienced the multifaceted musical life of interwar Paris. As a student at the conservatory, he was in close contact with colleagues such as André Jolivet, Darius Milhaud and Francis Poulenc, but he did not become a member of the Groupe des Six or Jeune France.

In 1942, he temporarily became choirmaster of the Paris Opera. When the war ended, external conditions improved and Dutilleux switched to French radio. He later taught composition at the École Normale de Musique and at the Conservatoire. Two symphonies (1951 and 1959) brought the hoped-for international recognition as a composer.

Dutilleux was fascinated by the delicate polyphony of the Franco-Flemish masters; Bach chorales stayed with him throughout his life and the late works of Beethoven were a refuge for him. He described his own individual approach to harmony as free-tonal continuity, which harmonizes the classical theory of chords with modality, polytonality and atonality.