From March 4 to 6, 2022, adolescents from all over Switzerland took part in the entrada competitions of the Swiss Youth Music Competition (SJMW). Over 1,000 music-loving young people took on a panel of judges alone, as a duo, in chamber music ensembles and/or as composers. Over 150 jury members were called upon to evaluate the entries.

A total of 774 prizes were awarded, including 90 1st prizes with distinction and 224 1st prizes. This means that 219 individual and 37 chamber music formations will be heard at the final from April 29 to May 1, 2022 at the Musikschule Konservatorium Zürich.

The detailed ranking lists with the results of the participants can be found on our homepage under the following link: sjmw.ch/classica/downloads
 

Friday, August 26, 5 p.m., Reformed Church Baden
Ukrainian benefit concert "Life becomes music" 

Tyhran Nakhalov, cello; Borys Gusev, cello; Elena Dovhan, piano; Irina Daschkeeva, harp

The dramaturgy, which shapes the artistic signature as a "think tank", will be strengthened. According to the press release, it thus "makes an important contribution to ensuring that the cultural institution is perceived externally as more than just the sum of its four divisions". In terms of personnel, the contract of Chief Conductor Modestas Pitrenas will be extended for a further four seasons until 2026/2027.

The contracts of concert director Florian Scheiber and dance company director Kinsun Chan expire at the end of the 2022/2023 season. It was decided earlier that the contract of theater director Jonas Knecht will also end at the same time.

An eight-member, broad-based management team runs the theater collaboratively and transparently. In addition to the director with overall responsibility, this includes the heads of the four divisions (concert, music theater, drama, dance), the heads of dramaturgy, scheduling and technology as well as the CFO.

The head of the dance division and the drama division are to be filled by summer 2022. The search for the head of the orchestra office and the CFO position will begin in the following season. The Board of Directors would like to take this opportunity to thank the departing colleagues for their great commitment.

For four years, a European research group has been working on the development of experimental psychological and sociological measuring instruments, which are now being used extensively. Following a sneak preview in September 2020 and opening concerts in the Pierre Boulez Saal in mid-April 2022, a nine-day concert series will take place in the Radialsystem from April 28 to May 6, sponsored by the Aventis Foundation.

Concertgoers will be given an insight into this unusual research project and will have the opportunity to engage with their experience of the concert as test subjects. Using a specially designed combination of methods, they are wired up and interviewed - and thus actively and passively involved in the investigation.

More info:
https://experimental-concert-research.org/?lang=de

As announced by Forum Wallis, the international festival for new music Forum Wallis 2022 will take place for the third time in a row at Leuk Castle in November rather than at Whitsun as usual. The decision is based on the long-term consequences of the coronavirus pandemic: several major events that had to be postponed for two years due to the pandemic are now taking up the dates in the first half of the year. The exact festival program will be announced in late spring.

Electroacoustic compositions can now be submitted until July 1 as part of the 8th Ars Electronica Forum Wallis competition for acousmatic music. Hundreds of works are once again expected. The international jury is made up of Kotoka Suzuki (Toronto), Reuben de Lautour (Auckland), Jaime Oliver (Lima) and Javier Hagen (Forum Wallis/ISCM Switzerland). The prize-winning works will be performed in November in Leuk by Simone Conforti (IRCAM Paris).

Brigitt Leibundgut was elected to the board of the Schweizer Musikzeitung association as a representative of the Swiss Music Pedagogical Association (SMPV) at the delegates' meeting on September 22, 2000. For 13 years, she meticulously recorded the minutes of the association's numerous board meetings and delegates' assemblies. The Swiss Music Newspaper owes a great deal to her many years of work on the association's board.

As the family announced in the obituary, Brigitt Leibundgut died "after a richly fulfilling life full of energy and passion for music" on February 23, 2022, shortly before her 86th birthday.

An obituary will be published in the next issue on the SMPV pages of the Swiss Music Newspaper published.
 

It was drawn up by an interdisciplinary committee of scientists with the involvement of cultural event organizers and the Federal Environment Agency. It was initiated by the Minister of State for Culture and the Media.

The recommendations provide operators of cultural event venues with uniform guidance for hygiene measures on site. This applies both to short-term preventive measures during the current pandemic, as well as in the medium and long term for the time afterwards. The recommendations enable flexible adjustments to be made to the infection situation and can form the basis for uniform nationwide certification.

More info:
https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/bundesregierung/bundeskanzleramt/staatsministerin-fuer-kultur-und-medien/fuer-einheitlichere-corona-regeln-in-der-kultur-2010308

According to the ZHdK, the soprano will join the vocal ensemble with Lina Maria Åkerlund, Markus Eiche, Sebastian Geyer, Werner Güra, Martina Janková, Yvonne Naef (classical), Rahel Hadron and Yumi Ito (jazz, pop).

Caroline Melzer studied singing with Rudolf Piernay and Vera U. G. Scherr as well as song interpretation with Ulrich Eisenlohr and Irwin Gage. The soprano, who is active throughout Europe, is successful in an extraordinary range of repertoire, in both lyrical and youthful-dramatic repertoire, in operettas and contemporary works, some of which were composed especially for her.
 

According to the BVMI's press release, by far the largest share was generated digitally, with 76.4 percent of revenue coming from online music use. This means that the industry in Germany is now also heading towards a digital share of almost four fifths, which has long been a reality in the Scandinavian countries in particular.

Audio streaming, which has been growing dynamically for years, once again increased significantly by 18.6%. Although the growth curve was somewhat flatter compared to the previous year (2020: +24.6%), this form of music usage from the cloud was able to increase its share of the overall market to 68.3% compared to the previous year (2020: 63.4%).

The CD remains in second place with a 16.3% share of sales, a decline of 16.7% compared to the previous year. Vinyl is once again in third place in the format ranking. Thanks to an increase in sales of 20.1%, vinyl has a respectable overall market share of 6% in the age of audio streaming. Not least because of this, the contribution of the physical market to sales remains fairly stable at 23.6% despite a decline of 9.1%. Downloads still account for 3 percent of revenue.

Bánffy-Hall first studied Performing Arts / Community Music at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts from September 2000 to July 2004, followed by a Master's degree in Arts and Cultural Management at Manchester Metropolitan University.

She went on to become director of the community arts company Amabadelo and led numerous projects in cultural and educational institutions in the fields of music, movement and theater. She also worked as a creative agent for Creative Partnerships Merseyside in England. During this time, she was also the conceptual director of the first four community music projects with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

At the same time, she completed her doctorate at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, where she graduated in March 2019 and was awarded the Bavarian Culture Prize for her dissertation. At this time, she was already gaining extensive teaching experience through lectureships, for example at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, the Catholic Foundation University of Applied Sciences Munich, the University of Hildesheim, the Zurich University of the Arts and Manchester Metropolitan University.

From December 2016, she was a lecturer for special tasks at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, where she helped to set up the first Master's degree program in inclusive music education / community music, and has held a professorship at Landshut University of Applied Sciences since September 2021. Since 2018, she has been advising the Konzerthaus Dortmund on the development of community music in Dortmund. Her teaching and research focus will be on community music, community arts and music in social work.

The dramatic transformation of the instrument market, in which over 70 percent of sales are distributed among a small number of online retailers, has already had a strong negative impact on the Musikmesse trade exhibition in recent years and has intensified the transformation from an industry event to a consumer event. As a result, Messe Frankfurt will not be continuing the B2B section of Musikmesse. The theme of music will be implemented at a later date as part of a reorganization of the B2C formats, writes the fair.

The end-consumer formats Musikmesse Plaza and the Musikmesse Festival cannot be implemented in view of the current situation and the short lead time for April 2022, Messe Frankfurt continued. In particular, concerts with high attendance by international artists, concerts in clubs and unusual venues as well as music education offers could not have been seriously planned under the current hygiene regulations.

Professional, freelance artists residing in the city of Zurich who are active in an artistic field supported by the City of Zurich Culture (visual arts, serious music, jazz rock pop, literature, dance, theater) are eligible to apply. The work grants contribute to the artists' living expenses while they are working on one or more artistic projects.

According to the city's press release, around 300 work grants with a fixed lump sum of CHF 15,000 can be awarded. Artistic projects lasting at least three months can be submitted.

More info:
https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/kultur/de/index/foerderung/arbeitsstipendium.html

#lightforpeace is a project of event industry associations from Switzerland, Germany and Austria. From Switzerland, for example, the Association professionnelle de la scène culturell romande (Artos), the Association of Swiss Professional Orchestras (orchester.ch), the Swiss Stage Association (SBV) and the Swiss Music Promoters Association (SMPA) are involved.

The network is organizing the Light for Peace campaign on 3 March. From 8 p.m. on this day, as the network wrote on 28 February, event venues, event locations, theaters and stages, company headquarters of service providers and selected locations will light up in the rainbow colors of peace for two hours. Participants are asked to share photos and videos of their installations on their social media channels under the hashtag #lightforpeace2022.

This action is justified as follows: It is a privilege to be able to take a stand. This privilege should be used to express solidarity with the people who are victims of political, physical and psychological violence worldwide and with all those who take to the streets with courage against aggressors. #lightforpeace2022 believes in internationally valid values and works with everything it has and within its means for democracy and human rights. It is a duty to say no to aggression and war.
 

TheTonhalle Society Zurich is organizing a benefit concert for the war-wounded Ukrainian population. All artists waive their fees. The ticket proceeds will go to Swiss Solidarity. The concert on March 23 with works by John Adams and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor (soloist: Leonidas Kavakos) will be conducted by Music Director Paavo Järvi. In its press release, the Tonhalle Orchestra writes: "We categorically condemn the barbaric actions of the Russian government against the independent Ukraine." We must all support each other. "We stand in solidarity with Ukraine."

The Verbier Festival announces on February 28 "first changes to express its dismay and condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine." The resignation of Valery Gergiev as music director was "demanded and implemented". Donations from sanctioned individuals will be repaid and artists in solidarity with the Russian government will not perform in public.

The Lucerne Festival has canceled the concerts on August 21 and 22 with the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev. Artistic Director Michael Haefliger commented on February 28: "In view of Russia's acts of war in violation of international law, we are sending a clear signal of solidarity for the people of Ukraine. We are deeply saddened and condemn the attack on Ukraine and innocent people in the strongest possible terms"

The Prix Thierry Scherz was awarded for the best interpretation in the series of young talents. This year, the jury decided to award the prize to the young violinist and graduate of the Lausanne School of Music, Anna Egholm. The young musician impressed the jury with her interpretation of works by Beethoven, Brahms and Ravel.

The Prix André Hoffmann aims to bring contemporary music closer. Each year, a composer writes a special work for the festival and it is then performed by the festival's young musicians. The Fondation André Hoffmann finances one composition. This year, composer-in-residence Wolfgang Rihm has written the work Episode created. Mairéad Hickey received the prize of 5,000 Swiss francs for the best interpretation of this contemporary work.

Photo: Santiago Canon Valencia

Mairéad Hickey