Sounds and music that are linked to pleasant experiences can evoke positive associations This is the result of a study by the Center for Gerontology and the research focus "Dynamics of Healthy Ageing" at the University of Zurich. Together with various institutions from the field, the study examined the potential of a musical intervention based on biographical memories for people with dementia.

"Individually tailored, meaningful music or sounds enable people with dementia to have joyful and meaningful experiences," says Sandra Oppikofer, head of the study, summarizing the findings. "They can use the sounds to connect with their environment, get involved and relive positive episodes in their lives."

But it is not only the patients who benefit: The basic mood of caregivers and nursing staff also improves, while the acute feeling of stress decreases. In addition, the perceived closeness between caregivers and people suffering from dementia increases.

Original article:
https://www.media.uzh.ch/de/medienmitteilungen/2021/Musikspiegel.html

The winners are Yiqing Zhu (China) with DeepGrey (1st place, endowed with 60,000 Swiss francs), Artur Akshelyan (Armenia) with Three Pieces for Orchestra (2nd place, 25,000 Swiss francs) and Miguel Morate (Spain) with Comme s'en va cette onde (3rd place, 15,000 Swiss francs).

From over 355 scores submitted, the jury selected 12 works (7 for symphony orchestra and 5 for chamber orchestra), all of which were premiered in Basel. The concerts could be followed via livestream and the final concert on March 7 was broadcast on the Idagio streaming platform on the same day.

The jury also includes the composer Usunk Chin, the composers Beat Furrer and Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini and the director of the Paul Sacher Foundation, Felix Meyer.

More info: https://www.baselcompetition.com/

For the 7th time, the Festival for New Music Forum Valais is organizing a competition for acousmatic music. The deadline for submissions is April 1, 2021. The works will be selected by an international jury consisting of Kotoka Suzuki (Tokyo/UTSC Toronto), Reuben de Lautour (UC Christchurch, NZ), Jaime Oliver (Lima/Waverly Labs NYU) and Javier Hagen (Director Forum Wallis) and performed by Simone Conforti (IRCAM Paris/Biennale Venezia) as part of the Forum Wallis New Music Festival at Leuk Castle.

291 works from all continents were submitted to the 6th edition of the competition in 2020, almost three times as many as in 2019. The outstanding quality and thus also the numerical presence of female composers in the selected works was remarkable: While female composers collectively account for just under 20% of the submissions, they are represented by 12 of the total of 22 selected works with over 50%, three of which are active in Switzerland. The works of (in alphabetical order): Alyssa Aska, David Berezan, Mariam Gviniashvili, Konstantinos Karathanasis, Sangwon Lee, James O'Callaghan, Louise Rossiter. There was a Special Mention for (in alphabetical order): Léa Boudreau, Jonathan Corzo, Ingrid Drese, Evelyn Frosini, Regina Irman, Sachie Kobayashi, Panayiotis Kokoras, João Pedro Oliveira, Aki Pasoulas, William Price, Leonie Roessler, Nikos Stavropoulos, Alexis Marie Weaver (with 2 works), Karin Wetzel.

The Forum Valais is an international festival for new music that was founded in 2006 and is organized annually by the Valais section of the International Society for New Music IGNM-VS. Due to the coronavirus, the 15th edition of the festival will not take place over Whitsun this year, but in the summer at Leuk Castle. The exact festival program will be announced later.

The competition documents for the Ars Electronica Forum Valais 2021 can be downloaded from the following links:
http://www.forumwallis.ch/programm-2021arselectronicaforumwallis-call.htm
http://www.forumwallis.ch/fw21-callforacousmaticworks.pdf
http://forumwallis.ch
 

To get an idea of the situation, Kultur Stadt Bern launched the survey "How are you doing? Cultural workers and corona in Bern". It was aimed at professional cultural workers from the Bern area and could be completed from January 29 to February 7, 2021. A total of 411 cultural professionals from numerous different cultural fields took part.

The survey shows that the financial situation of cultural professionals has deteriorated and that financial reserves are continuously decreasing or have already been used up. The more events are canceled or not planned, the more people in the creative industries (technology, graphics, photography, etc.) and suppliers (catering, event agencies, accommodation) are affected.

Original article:
https://www.bern.ch/mediencenter/medienmitteilungen/aktuell_ptk/umfrage-zeigt-corona-verschlechtert-lage-der-kulturschaffenden-deutlich
 

Choral music has had a hard time for a year now. Hardly any other social and cultural sector has suffered more from the current restrictions. Some choirs are currently fighting for their existence. That is why the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, under the direction of Kathrin Schlemmer, together with Carus-Verlag, is asking for help with the ChoCo study (Choral Music in Corona Times).

The survey is intended to comprehensively describe the situation of choirs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in order to identify what concrete measures are needed to protect and rebuild choral music in German-speaking countries. The survey focuses on amateur and semi-professional choirs, but professional choirs are also invited to participate.

Both the general situation of the choirs, such as the development of membership numbers, experience with rehearsal frequency and rehearsal formats, the spatial situation with regard to rehearsals and concerts, as well as the financial situation of the choirs and their directors are topics of the study. A separate section is dedicated to the question of what specific support is needed to help choirs make a successful new start.

The questionnaire, which is aimed at choir directors, choirmasters and choir managers, takes 10 minutes to complete. It is the first comprehensive study to scientifically investigate the situation of choral music during the pandemic.

Link to the survey: www.soscisurvey.de/ChoCo2021/

In a live broadcast from Austria, Germany and Switzerland, the winning team of the seventh Hugo competition was determined on Monday evening. After a close neck-and-neck race, the audience's vote sealed the decision and awarded the Kollektiv Contemporament team from Bern University of the Arts / Nuremberg University of Music. Their concept queerfeldein for the Wandelperformance will now be premiered at Montforter Zwischentöne as part of the festival in November 2021.

The Contemporament collective consists of Mara Maria Möritz (HKB), Philippe Gaspoz (HKB), Rachel Alonso Müller (HfM Nuremberg), Lukas Amberger (HfM Nuremberg), Kiara Konstantinou (HfM Nuremberg), Magdiel Baptistin Vaillant (external) and Maria Rosa Möritz (external).

Another team from Bern made it to the final of the competition: Art Connection, consisting of Fabio da Silva, Johanna Schwarzl, Melissa da Silva and Dan Marginean.

Named after the minstrel Hugo von Montfort, the Montforter Zwischentöne international student competition for new concert formats provides a theme and a location each year that the participants have to address in their concepts. The theme for 2021 was "Paths and Incidence", and the location is Amberg Castle in Vorarlberg, built in 1493.

The orchestra survey "Am Pult der Zeit!?" shows for the first time how many men and women there are in German professional orchestras in the individual voice groups and in which positions. On average, 39.6 percent of orchestra members in German professional orchestras are female. As the reputation of the orchestra increases and the voice position rises, it becomes increasingly clear that the proportion of women in senior positions in top orchestras is particularly low at 21.9%.

A poster from the miz shows a detailed infographic on gender distribution in professional orchestras. It is available as a handy folded version with accompanying texts and in large-format quality print and is available free of charge for a shipping and service fee.

More info: www.miz.org/orchestererhebung

The 30-year-old musicologist Lion Gallusser grew up in Affoltern a. A. and has already become known to Zug Sinfonietta audiences in recent seasons as one of the speakers for the concert introductions. He has previously worked as administrative director for the Musik-Collegium Schaffhausen, project manager and dramaturge for the new Swiss Orchestra and deputy dramaturge at the Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich.

The Zug Sinfonietta was founded in 1998. Since summer 2016, it has been performing its own subscription series in the Lorzensaal Cham under the name "Chamer Klassik Abo". Daniel Huppert has been the ensemble's chief conductor since the 2016/17 concert season. It also carries out music education projects together with the Animation für Schulmusik des Kantons Zug. It receives subsidies from the city and canton of Zug as well as contributions from foundations, municipalities, sponsors and a circle of patrons.

The third semester, which is dominated by coronavirus, starts in April for the 24 state music universities in Germany. This currently affects around 17,000 students on artistic and artistic-educational degree courses, who have had to forego key areas of their degree courses for the past year, particularly ensemble and orchestral playing, project work and performance experience. According to a statement from the Music Council, 20 percent of them are currently considering dropping out of their studies.

Christian Höppner, Secretary General of the German Music Council, is calling for a gradual return to face-to-face teaching at music academies from April. With the targeted use of rapid tests, a fundamental increase in vaccination activity and the provision of larger rooms, the urgently needed interplay between analog and digital teaching could become a reality.

Original article:
https://www.musikrat.de/aktuelles/detailseite/deutscher-musikrat-und-rektorenkonferenz-der-deutschen-musikhochschulen-fordern-von-den-bildungsminister-innen-der-laender-mehr-praesenzbetrieb-fuer-die-musikhochschulen

The Federal Council has drawn up a very cautious plan for the gradual reopening of culture. It is encouraging that museums and library reading rooms will be able to welcome the public again in the first stage, and that children and young people will be able to pursue their cultural activities again. In principle, politicians are recognizing people's need for cultural activities. However, there are also different views within the cultural sector regarding the speed at which libraries should be reopened. Some point to successful and trustworthy protection concepts and call for a faster opening. Others fear that the urgently needed planning security can only be provided if the health situation is and remains under control. Several European studies have shown that cultural events are not a source of infection. It is now time to take this into account in communication and put an end to the stigmatization of cultural venues.

The entire sector agrees that what is possible should be made possible and the criteria for planned openings must be communicated in the coming days. For some it is necessary to be able to plan well in advance, e.g. for festivals, while others can react more quickly. But even short-term openings need clear guidelines: If a theater does not know whether it can accommodate a maximum of 50 people (regardless of room size) or 50% of its seats with good ventilation and only 33% with no ventilation, how should it sell tickets or have them reserved? How is it supposed to organize its crew for this? Nobody wants to call on their staff for the third or fourth time, then call everything off and perhaps compensate them with 80%, but only after months or not at all.

The cultural associations remain ready for a constructive and close exchange with the federal authorities to determine the next concrete steps. After all, an opening must be designed to be practicable. Conversely, there must be no obligation to reopen: A very large number of cultural enterprises are unable to cover their costs under relatively restrictive conditions. Here, the accompanying support measures remain vital.

Regardless of how quickly it reopens: The crisis and its economic consequences are far from over. Due to last year's production backlog, the many postponements and the long lead time for major events, it will still take many months before the cultural sector is back to normal, even in an ideal scenario.

The Culture Taskforce is calling on Parliament and the administration to

1. to close the gaps in the existing support and compensation measures for the extensive occupational ban in the cultural sector
2. simplify the processes to such an extent that the support funds reach the cultural professionals and companies in need in good time.

These demands are also supported by a growing number of thousands of cultural professionals in a petition to parliament:

https://www.change.org/culture2021 (Content and signature)
 

A first glance at the Federal Council's dispatch on the amendment of the Covid-19 Act is unfortunately not very optimistic. In addition to the retroactive reintroduction of loss of earnings compensation for cultural professionals, which is to be welcomed, many other demands that have been urgently put forward by the cultural sector for months have been ignored. These include improvements in the area of income compensation for the self-employed, access for freelancers (employees with short-term, mostly project-related contracts) to all culture-specific measures and better protection for event organizers.

The Culture Taskforce, which represents a broad alliance of associations from all areas of cultural work, has published its demands on the website www.taskforceculture.ch and is campaigning intensively for an improved and simplified package of aid measures.
 

Tanja Scartazzini grew up in Zurich and studied law at the University of Zurich. She then went on to study visual communication at the Zurich University of the Arts, specializing in the theory of design and art. After working in the art and gallery sector, she was responsible for the Art in Construction department at the Canton of Zurich's Building Construction Office from 2004.

Katrin Meier has headed the Office of Culture with its 90 employees since fall 2007 and will remain in the role until the end of March. She is leaving the office because she was elected President of the Ortsbürgergemeinde St.Gallen in December 2020. 

The spring session of Parliament in Bern begins on March 1. The Covid-19 Act is expected to be discussed in the Council of States on March 4 and in the National Council on March 8.

The petition launched by the Culture Taskforce is addressed to all members of the Federal Parliament. For the past year, the cultural associations have been working to preserve Switzerland's cultural diversity by seeking cooperation with the administration and parliament. Much has been achieved, they write in the petition, but by no means everything, there are gaps and some processes are complicated and impractical: "We call on Parliament and the Federal Council to finally solve these long-recognized problems in the spring session!"

https://www.change.org/culture2021
Link to the petition (content and signature)
 

A biography is always tricky: Here the person, who should of course be the focus. On the other hand, there are the social and cultural conditions that open up opportunities for action, but also restrict them. Alexander Schaichet (1887-1964) was a strong personality. But even the outstanding conductor, violinist and violist sometimes found his hands tied when harsh reality struck.

The entertaining anthology Civil status musician - Alexander Schaichet and the first chamber orchestra in Switzerland reads like the combative path of a tireless idealist. Schaichet was "stranded" in Zurich in 1914. The outbreak of the First World War prevented him from returning to Jena, where he already had a position as concertmaster at the age of 25. Schaichet became a stroke of luck for Zurich's music scene, particularly through the founding of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in 1920.

Under adverse conditions, the small orchestra played even the unwieldy works of the avant-garde of the time. The fact that Schaichet had to make do with amateurs due to constant funding problems was no reason for critics of the time to qualify their criticisms. Ernst Isler, a reviewer for the NZZ, apparently went so far as to question the chamber orchestra's right to exist in 1925. Schaichet was quite right to defend himself against such attacks. In his letter to Isler, he posed an eloquent question that also highlighted his own commitment: "Do you believe that an experience can be guided by technically perfect mastery?"

Despite the irrepressible energy of its founder, 1943 was the end of the chamber orchestra. The anti-Semitism directed against Schaichet and the competition with the much richer Collegium Musicum literally left little room for maneuver in Zurich.

The thoroughly edited and richly illustrated anthology captivates with its personal tone. Not only the printed memories of former students contribute to this; the texts by Verena Naegele, Michael Eidenbenz, Dieter Ulrich and Peter Hagmann are also very vivid, offer music history as cultural history and skillfully weave in the person of Schaichet. In addition to further information, all concert programs from the 23 years of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra's existence are available on the website https://schaichet.ch/de/ to view.

Zivilstand Musiker - Alexander Schaichet und das erste Kammerorchester der Schweiz, ed. by Esther Girsberger and Irene Forster, 216 p., 60 ill., Fr. 39.00, Verlag Hier und Jetzt, Zurich 2020, ISBN print edition 978-3-03919-481-0

The fact that Richard Strauss assigned central roles to the horn in all his orchestral works and operas can certainly be explained by the fact that he had been familiar with the sound of this instrument since his childhood. His father Franz Strauss was principal horn in the Munich court orchestra and at that time one of the most outstanding representatives of French horn playing. The 18-year-old composer therefore first wrote this horn concerto in the version for horn and piano for his father, who was no longer able to perform it for reasons of health and age. After completing an orchestral score, the conductor Hans von Bülow, a great patron of the young Strauss, took an interest in this work. In the printed edition of the orchestral version, Richard Strauss dedicated the Horn Concerto to Oscar Franz, the first horn player of the "royal musical orchestra" in Dresden and himself the author of a teaching work that is still in use today, the Great theoretical-practical French horn schoolwho played it in Dresden. The present edition, including the preface, was supervised by Peter Damm after meticulous source studies.

For his parents' silver wedding anniversary on August 29, 1888, Richard Strauss wrote the Andante C major for horn and piano op. posth., which dates from the period of the first symphonic poems Don Juan, Macbeth and Death and transfiguration and brings out the full tonal possibilities of the horn.

Playing three- or four-part chords on the horn by blowing a note and simultaneously singing it in a higher register, thus making other chord tones sound: a twentieth-century technique? This "showmanship", as critics complained at the time, was already used by horn virtuosos in the classical period. It is demanded of the players in Carl Maria von Weber's Opus 45, along with mastery of other technical caprices. One should not even think about the fact that the composer, who did not like valve horns, wrote this work for the valveless horn that was in use at the time. Weber composed this Concertino E minor for the horn player of the Munich court orchestra Sebastian Rauch. He also wrote further solo concertos for the wind soloists of this orchestra: "... the whole orchestra [is] the devil and wants concertos from me."

Benda, Koželuh, Dussek and Neruda were the leading Bohemian composers in eighteenth-century Europe. After leaving his homeland, Johann Baptist Georg Neruda worked as a violinist in the Dresden court orchestra, where he met the outstanding horn players Hampel, Houdek and Knechtel, all of whom came from Bohemia. He wrote his horn concerto for the latter. Johann Georg Knechtel, who also wrote a horn concerto, concentrated his playing mainly on the high registers of the instrument. However, he had to give up his work as a horn player relatively early on, perhaps for this reason, and continued to be employed as a violoncellist. The solo part of Neruda's horn concerto is also in extremely high registers, and the piece will probably still be performed by very few horn players today. Fortunately, however, the publisher includes a trumpet part.

Richard Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major op. 11, edited by Peter Damm; piano reduction by Johannes Umbreit: HN1253, € 20.00; study score, HN 7253, € 17.00

Richard Strauss: Andante in C major for horn and piano, edited by Dominik Rahmer, HN 1332, € 12.00

Carl Maria von Weber: Concertino in E minor op.45 for horn and orchestra, edited by Dominik Rahmer, piano reduction by Johannes Umbreit, HN 1179, € 15.00

Johann Baptist Georg Neruda: Concerto for horn (trumpet) and strings in E flat major, edited by Dominik Rahmer, piano reduction by Christoph Sobanski, HN 561, € 15.00

All editions: G. Henle, Munich