The number of symphony concerts as part of the orchestra's regular activities has risen from 5902 to a peak of 6158 concerts. This represents an increase of over 4 percent. There was a surprisingly significant increase in international business: 646 concerts were performed on tours abroad. This is an increase of 20 percent within two years.

The statistics do not include visitors to numerous classical open-air events, large and small music festivals, church concerts and popular classical cross-over concerts by commercial providers.

One positive aspect is the continuous increase in children's, youth and school concerts, the number of which has risen massively in seven years from 1498 (2005/2006 season) to 2066 (2011/2012 season).

However, due to the unresolved wage dispute and a smouldering legal dispute between the DOV and the German Stage Association before the Federal Labor Court, there has no longer been a valid collective wage agreement for around 100 orchestras since January 1, 2010.

Due to sharp increases in public sector pay in recent years, orchestras in local authorities would then lag behind the public sector by 8.88 percent from August 1, 2013, writes the DOV.

Born in Biel in 1937, Lehmann studied at the conservatories in Biel, Zurich and Basel and attended master classes with Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He also studied musicology with Kurt von Fischer at the University of Zurich.

Between 1961 and 1972, Lehmann was a teacher at the Music Academy of the City of Basel, from 1969 to 1990 he was a lecturer in New Music and Music Theory at the University of Zurich, and in 1990 also at the University of Bern.

From 1976 to 1998, Lehmann also served as Director of the Zurich Conservatory and Music Academy.

In 1973 he received the Conrad Ferdinand Meyer Foundation Music Prize, in 1988 the Composer Prize of the Swiss Musicians' Association, in 1990 the Art Prize of the City of Zollikon and in 1993 the Art Prize of the City of Zurich.

Up-and-coming bands, musicians and singer-songwriters from the pop, rock, hip-hop/rap, alternative and indie genres will be given the chance to perform at You, the leading trade fair for youth culture, which takes place in Berlin from May 31 to June 2. Label- and publisher-free artists from Germany, Austria and Switzerland can apply online now at:

http://backstagepro.regioactive.de/YOU2013

Photo: you 2012

The application deadline for the 2014 studio residencies in Berlin, London or Paris ends in mid-February. The Aargau Board of Trustees is now also awarding project-related travel grants. Applications for these calls for applications in the music categories of jazz, classical or rock/pop will now only be accepted digitally.
 

With the 2013 music grants, for which the application deadline is also February 15, the Aargau Board of Trustees wants to enable Aargau musicians to work freely for a certain period of time. The support is not tied to the realization of a specific project.
 

In addition, the Aargau Board of Trustees offers program, concert, CD production, composition, printing costs, further education and tour grants. Applications can be submitted until mid-January, August and October or the end of April. The exact deadlines and requirements can be found on the Board of Trustees' website:

www.ag.ch/kuratorium

Photo: Daniel Desborough © Canton Aargau

Born in Bern in 1981, Sara Rutz studied at the Swiss Jazz School at Bern University of the Arts, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music in 2008. In 2010, she completed her studies with a Master of Arts in Music Pedagogy with distinction.

The prizewinner teaches in her studio in Bern and since August 2009 at the Solothurn music school. She also works as a singer, studio musician, choir director and songwriter.

The Kiwanis Prize is awarded every three years to graduates of the Master of Arts in Music Pedagogy program who excel both artistically and pedagogically and is awarded by means of a competition.
 

The music of the Q-tet is groovy, lyrical and bluesy, says Urs C. Eigenmann. Together with the eastern Swiss musicians Erwin Pfeifer (guitar), Pino Buoro (electric bass) and Micheal Neff (trumpet) as well as Zurich drummer Nicole Aravena, the pianist plays almost exclusively his own pieces in the new band's first concert at the Lebewohl-Fabrik in Zurich. Further concerts are in preparation.

www.u-c-eigenmann.ch

With a few exceptions, musicology, especially in German-speaking countries, has so far hardly taken up this topic, explains Thorsten Hindrichs from the Institute of Musicology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU).

The research project he has initiated is intended to help close this research gap. It will explore the question of how music and youth cultures relate to each other and develop approaches to explain the enormously complex and reciprocal relationship between music and youth cultures.

As a pool for future research in this field, the project will deal with various topics: Conferences are planned on the social history of jazz and German-language metal research, and sub-projects are to be set up on metal and theatricality, the youth music scene in the Rhine-Main region and so-called gray-zone music.

More info: www.facebook.com/ForschungsprojektMusikUndJugendkulturen

Image: © contrastwerkstatt - Fotolia.com

Carole Trousseau-Ballif is a trained opera singer and physicist. She studied at the Cologne University of Music and at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne. She then worked for several years as a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers/IBM in Düsseldorf and as Head of Operational Risk Management at PostFinance in Berne.

Ms. Trousseau-Ballif currently works at the Federal Statistical Office in Neuchâtel, where she has been working as head of production for the business census since 2007. She also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the HEC of the University of Lausanne.

With the appointment of the Administrative Director, the new TOBS management team is complete with the exception of the Head of Concerts. The Board of Trustees "is delighted that a quick solution with a convincing personality has been found for this important position in the newly established foundation". This will enable a smooth transition.
 

According to local press reports, the festival will now be freely accessible between Sunday and Thursday. On the other days, admission to the lakeside promenade will remain subject to a charge. In addition to the Lungolago, other concert venues will also be used.

According to director Nicolas Gilliet, the highlights of this year's program are the gospel group The Blind Boys of Alabama, guitarist Robben Ford and The Original Tuxedo from New Orleans.

The festival's visitor numbers have been falling since 2009. Last year, 60,000 admissions were recorded, a drop of around 15 percent compared to the previous year. Jazz Ascona has a budget of around 1.8 million francs.

"I struggled to control my excitement as I climbed the stairs to the poor apartment where the big man lived. When I opened the door, I found myself in a kind of hovel, which was not only dirty, but also in terrible disarray." With these words, Gioacchino Rossini recalled a visit to Ludwig van Beethoven. Let us imagine Beethoven sitting at his home instrument, perhaps a clavichord, and composing: scattered in front of him were sheets of paper with sketched themes, motif ideas and melody fragments. Beethoven transformed these into sound for the first time on the clavichord.
A fictitious scene that became reality, at least in the performance at the first concert of the "10 x Beethoven" project. The program included Beethoven's first symphony in the four-hand piano version by Hugo Ulrich (1827-1872), played by the Bernese pianist and composer Erika Radermacher and Michael Kaufmann, Director of the Lucerne School of Music. Beethoven's first symphonic work was played in a very simple, seemingly original manner. Of course, the palette of orchestral colors had to fall by the wayside. Instead, other elements of the masterpiece came to the fore: the monophonic melodies, for example at the beginning of movements two and four, were particularly impressive. The simple, vulnerable tone of the piano immediately captivated the audience and they listened to the melody perhaps even more attentively than they would have done with the orchestra.

Successful start
The C major Symphony was introduced with the extremely short composition Vision of the original form by Erika Radermacher. In the piece, dominated by repetitive staccato figures in the lower register, the co-initiator of the project prepared the key of C major, which was predominant that evening. Without a break, the work led into the performance of the famous waltz by Anton Diabelli (1781-1858). Radermacher then presented the 33 variations by Beethoven in an extremely fast-paced and dynamic interpretation. On the one hand, this emphasized the humorous character of the work, but on the other, it offered only a few pauses for breath and created almost cluster-like sounds through the sometimes generous use of the pedal.
What contrasts: From the playful late work (Diabelli-Variations) to the serious first work (Symphony No. 1), from the giant of piano literature to the orchestral work in piano transcription. Although the pronounced dynamics of the Waltz Variations were missed here and there, it was a successful and surprising conclusion to the evening that left the audience wanting more: How might the heroic tones of the Eroica sound on the piano? Or the pastoral thunderstorm from the Sixth Symphony? Or the second movement of the Seventh Symphony, often described as a funeral march?

The professional circles that would have been directly affected by a reduction have taken a clear stance against the planned lesson reductions during the consultation process. They fear a reduction in quality at secondary schools.

The canton writes that the Education Council largely understands the arguments put forward. It has therefore decided not to make the planned cuts in the subjects German and in the elective area of visual arts/music. Instead, the savings demanded by the cantonal council are to be made by reducing the number of lessons "at the disposal of the school".

These are teaching units in which the schools determine the teaching content autonomously. Previously, grammar schools had four of these lessons available, spread over the entire duration of the course. This area is compulsory for pupils.

Today, schools use this vehicle in very different ways. For example, it is used to deepen core high school subjects such as French or English or to practise interdisciplinary skills, particularly in the field of IT.

The lessons are also popular for new forms of teaching, for example as part of interdisciplinary project lessons or as part of themed half-days at school.

Picture: Claudia Hautumm - pixelio.de
 

pd. This year's motto is nuevo mundo antiguo. Five ensembles and artists from Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Italy, Winterthur, Zurich and Basel combine the old world (Europe) with the new world (Latin America) with their music. In addition to six concerts and three musical workshops for amateurs and advanced students, there will be three new introductory panel discussions. As ensemble in residence, Grupo Anima from Brazil will open the festival with traditional and Indian music from Brazil as well as early music from Spain and Portugal. Luiz Alves da Silva and his Ensemble Turicum invite the audience on a journey to 15th and 16th century Portugal with the music of the explorers. Other performers include Ann Allen, director of the Nox Illuminata festival in Basel, the Roland Fink Singers from Winterthur and the La Chimera ensemble with the voices of Susanna Moncayo and Furio Zanasi.

www.innovantiqua.ch/festival.html
 

In the consultation process, it was requested several times that the city should enable all children to attend free basic musical education for more than one lesson within the block times.

The city council is seeking to restructure and redistribute funding. Recorder lessons are to be discontinued. The funds thus freed up are to be used more efficiently and effectively. Basic music education in the first primary classes will be extended from the current one to two weekly lessons. In addition, music education projects such as musicals, choir singing and dance performances are to be promoted and supported more in future.

The mission statement explains that traditional recorder lessons no longer correspond to current music education knowledge. Demand has been steadily declining since 2003, with only a minority still taking advantage of the musical offer. In addition, the search for qualified recorder teachers is becoming more difficult, as the Swiss Association for Youth Music (SAJM) only offers very limited training in this area.

The cooperation between the city of Winterthur and the music schools is to be defined by service agreements. These should enable a better and more flexible response to the changing needs of teachers and students at the music schools and the city of Winterthur.

 Picture: *Clam* - pixelio.de

The Cultural Commission of the Canton of Thurgau elected the 57-year-old from Weinfeld as its new president at the end of 2012. Hans Jörg Höhener is Head of the Vocational Schools and Continuing Education Department at the Canton of Zurich's Department of Education and has been a member of the Cultural Commission of the Canton of Thurgau since 2009.

He has been involved in cultural education and cultural policy in the Canton of Thurgau for many years: among other things, he was President of the Weinfelden Regional Library, the Thurgau Art Society and Vice President of the Cultural Foundation of the Canton of Thurgau.

He is currently still a member of the advisory board of the Art Museum of the Canton of Thurgau and of the art museum's acquisitions committee. His personal cultural interests are broad, with a particular affinity for the fine arts, jazz and architecture.

Hans Jörg Höhener will take over the office of Chairman from Kurt Egger at the beginning of 2013. The latter already announced when he was appointed President in 2010 that he would only be available for two years; he is now passing on the chairmanship of the Cultural Commission following his election to the Grand Council.
 

HKB. Together with the Inselspital in Bern, the Bern University of the Arts has established a new continuing education focus on the singing voice. The phenomenon of the singing voice is examined from different perspectives in weekend courses, the extra-occupational "CAS Singing Voice" course and in events that focus on the interface between medicine, speech therapy and vocal pedagogy.

On the occasion of the World Voice Days 2013, a conference will be held on April 13, 2013 at the Bern University of the Arts. Worlds of voice this year under the motto Agilité-Fragilité. In addition to presentations by Eberhard Seifert (Head of Phoniatrics at Inselspital Bern) and Christian Hilz (vocal lecturer at Bern University of the Arts), experts will discuss the fragility of the voice and how to deal with it from various perspectives (medicine, speech therapy, vocal pedagogy, opera agency, choral conducting, musical productions).

Further information: www.hkb.bfh.ch/de/weiterbildung/singstimme

Contact: nina.grunder@hkb.bfh.ch