Born in 1931 on the Adriatic coast, Santi studied conducting, composition, violin and piano in Padua. He made his debut as a conductor in 1951 at the Teatro Verdi in Padua with Verdi's "Rigoletto". In 1958, he was appointed First Kapellmeister at the Zurich Opera House. From 1986 to 1994, he conducted the Basel Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Santi, who had a photographic memory, primarily cultivated the Italian opera repertoire and was regarded as one of the most important Verdi conductors of our time. He rejected director's theater. Stylistically, Santi was linked to the Italian tradition of his role models Arturo Toscanini, Antonino Votto, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli and Tullio Serafin.

It is said that the fool likes to sit between two stools. He falls outside the system, does not feel bound by any norms, looks the people in the mouth and holds up a mirror so that his jokes lead to brooding with an alert mind. This is also the case with Beethoven's Septet in E flat major op. 20, a work whose entertaining wit was already enjoyed by his contemporaries. Admittedly to the annoyance of the composer, who urged the Leipzig publisher Hoffmeister & Kühnel to publish it quickly: "My septet is sending a little faster into the world - because the mob is waiting for it." (April 8, 1802) The sound seemed popular to many, but even more so the sound of the mixed ensemble in 1800 was not only new, but completely innovative.

The instrumentation corresponds neither to a string quartet nor to a wind orchestra, nor does it come close to the small orchestra of a symphony. As late as 1857, Karl Reinhold Köstlich, in his remarks on music (as the third part of Friedrich Theodor Vischer's Aesthetics or the science of beauty) this is the special attraction and challenge for every sound creator: "The mixed set about a septet is a less sharply defined form, the fulfillment of which with a completely accurate content is more difficult to find, a matter of the composer's luck and tact." (Sp. 1056)

The structure of the work, with a total of six movements, also brings it close to the serenade. And indeed, the minuet, the variations and the scherzo in particular have an emphatically cheerful, pleasing tone - although this is preceded by an almost symphonic introduction at the beginning of the first movement; the introduction to the finale even resembles a funeral march. The fact that the technically demanding parts (especially the winds) apparently did not stand in the way of the work's popularity is still surprising today.

In any case, Beethoven himself emphasized to his publishers that the instrumentation was "tutti obligati (I can't write anything non-obligatory because I was born with an obligatory accompaniment)". In doing so, he captured the essence and spirit of every mixed ensemble. His septet quickly became a model. When, only a few years later, the art-loving cloth merchant Johann Tost commissioned a nonet (op. 31) from Louis Spohr, this was already accompanied by the demand that it should be "each of the instruments emerges according to its character and essence".

Link to the project homepage "52 x Beethoven"

The Graubünden Cultural Promotion Concept presents the current situation in the various areas of cantonal cultural promotion, defines concrete priorities for the three fields of action of cultural promotion, cultural cultivation and cultural mediation over the next four years and identifies concrete measures to achieve these priorities.

According to the message, music and singing have been a great tradition throughout the canton for generations and are still practiced today. Both professional formations and a large number of music societies as well as adult, youth and children's choirs cultivate different types of music: from traditional folk and brass music to jazz, rock, pop and classical music.

The choral scene is also an important element of cultural life in Graubünden and continues to shape the cultural landscape of Graubünden to this day. From the historically grown tradition of church singing and the secular choral movement of the Romantic period, a high-quality, diverse and lively choral scene has developed in the canton. The trilingualism of the canton and the associated cultural influences would still prove to be a great advantage and enrichment in this respect today.

The message can be found here:
https://www.gr.ch/DE/Medien/Mitteilungen/MMStaka/2020/DokumenteMedien/Botschaft_Kulturfoerdergesetz.pdf

Matthias Bamert has been Chief Conductor of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra since April 2018. As the orchestra announced today, his contract has been extended until March 2024. Under Bamert's leadership, the orchestra aims to expand its repertoire and further develop its high standard.

Research assistant Hendrik Sonnabend from the FernUniversität in Hagen.
and a British colleague conducted a scientific study to investigate how rarity affects the prices of unusually expensive vinyl collector's items. They collected data on the most expensive sales of a month on a relevant online platform.

The empirical analysis showed that the price increases by around 16% for a one percent reduction in supply. The age of the recording, on the other hand, hardly plays a role. Recordings by artists on the Wikipedia list of best-selling music artists are on average 15 percent more expensive than, for example, black metal records by bands that are less popular. The entry of an album there only brings four percent.

First editions of very popular albums that were produced in small numbers are particularly interesting. The Led Zeppelin debut album with turquoise lettering from 1969, for example, is worth 1000 to 1500 euros, the official repress with red lettering 15 to 30 euros. The increase in value of the all-black Prince album, of which only a few legally produced debut copies exist, was even more extreme.

Shortly before the release, Prince had a spiritual experience in which God told him that the album was evil or sinful. Prince therefore had the entire production destroyed at his own expense in 1987, with only a few remaining.

Original article:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336923221_Pricing_the_Groove_Hedonic_equation_estimates_for_rare_vinyl_records

The Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna is organizing an international symposium from 15 to 17 October 2020 in collaboration with the Arnold Schönberg Science Center and the Vienna School at the Institute for Musicology and Interpretation Research at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

The symposium will focus on the fragment, its manifestations and contexts. The focus will be on fragments from all of Arnold Schönberg's creative areas, from unfinished compositions and writings to abandoned artistic projects.

For the "Free papers" section, submissions on the main topic as well as on questions of current Schönberg research are welcome.

The symposium offers scientists the opportunity to present the results of their research in a 20-minute lecture. Symposium languages are German and English. A publication of selected contributions and free submissions is planned for the Journal of the Arnold Schönberg Center 18/2021.

Please submit an abstract (approx. 300 words) and short biography by February 17, 2020 to: direktion@schoenberg.at
Arnold Schönberg Center, Schwarzenbergplatz 6, A-1030 Vienna

Information on the acceptance of contributions will be provided in mid-March 2020.
 

The 2020 call for applications (2021 residency) is aimed at professional Bernese artists with a convincing track record and of all ages in the fields of design, art, photography, architecture, literature, music, theater and dance. This does not include filmmakers, for whom two further education grants are offered each year.

The Canton of Bern has studios and workshops in New York, Berlin (every two years) and Paris. The scholarships for several months abroad include living and working space as well as a contribution towards living and travel expenses. The artists are given the opportunity to work in a different context for several months, gain new impetus and network with the respective local cultural scene and often also internationally.

A jury made up of delegates from the cantonal and intercantonal cultural commissions and the expert committee of the Bernese Design Foundation evaluates the applications. The detailed call for applications provides information on the application criteria and admission requirements.
 

In 2020, the Music Fair the best possible conditions for professional exchange. On the first two days of the trade fair (Wednesday, Thursday, April 1 and 2), trade visitors will be the focus of the event. On Friday and Saturday (April 3 and 4) there will be special tickets for private visitors. On these days, the Musikmesse Plaza pop-up experience market will enter its second round as an additional offer. Here, end consumers interested in music can buy instruments, sound carriers and lifestyle products directly and take part in a packed entertainment program. Also on Friday and Saturday, the Community Hub "Home of Drums" will premiere on the exhibition grounds. The event combines product presentations by key players in the drums sector with knowledge transfer, networking and performances by well-known drummers. The accompanying Musikmesse Festival is also celebrating a small anniversary in its fifth edition. From March 31 to April 4, it offers concert highlights on the exhibition grounds and throughout Frankfurt and also invites companies to present their artists and brands.

This anniversary marks four decades of partnership between Messe Frankfurt and the international music industry. 2020 marks an important evolutionary step for Musikmesse. "We are creating an overall event that activates all participants in the value chain - from instrument manufacturers to concert promoters, from dealers to music lovers, from long-standing industry experts to interested newcomers. More than ever, we are relying on attractive content that we create together with exhibitors, organizations from education and research as well as think tanks and innovation leaders," says Michael Biwer, Group Show Director of the Entertainment, Media & Creative Industries division of Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH.

A key aim of the 2020 trade fair concept is to give companies of all sizes and sectors a home at the event. The spectrum of exhibitors who have already announced their participation in Musikmesse ranges from international key players to small manufacturers and hidden champions, including AER Music, APC Instrumentos, Aquila Corde, Arnold Stölzel, Beltuna, Bosporus Cymbals, C.A. Götz, Cooperfisa, D'Addario, Dörfler, Enrique Keller, Franz Sandner, Godin, Hal Leonard, Kawai, Miraphone, Music Distribution Services, Musictech, PetzKolphonium, Pirastro, Saga Musical Instruments, Schilke, Suzuki and Thomastik Infeld.

The two-day special event "Home of Drums" will also feature numerous important brands in the drums sector, including DW, GEWA, Gibraltar, Gretsch, Latin Percussion, Mapex, Millenium, Natal, Paiste, PDP, Pearl, Protection Racket, Remo, Roland, Sabian, Sonor, Toca Percussion, Vic Firth, Yamaha, Zildjian and Zultan.
 

Once again, the Musikmesse will take place on the east grounds of Messe Frankfurt. Hall 3 is the focal point of the event. Level 3.0 presents innovations in the fields of pianos and keyboards, drums and percussion, electric guitars and basses as well as woodwind and brass instruments. Level 3.1 is home to acoustic guitars, string and harmonica instruments as well as publishers and associations.

Messe Frankfurt Exhibion GmbH / Pietro Sutera

Hall 3

In addition, the "Networking & Education Area" will be a central meeting and further education platform. It offers specialized lecture stages on topics related to music trade and marketing (Networking Forum) as well as music education and therapy and cultural policy topics (Education Forum). Trade fair participants will also find a lounge for professional discussions with business partners, speakers and industry experts. Companies that wish to participate in this setting and do not wish to present products can show their presence in this area with a reduced stand package. In addition, various all-inclusive packages are available for fully equipped exhibition stands in the exhibition halls - so even small companies and start-ups can take part in the event with little cost and organizational effort.

With the Circle Stages, Messe Frankfurt is continuing another successful premiere from last year's Musikmesse. On all days of the fair, visitors will experience a packed program of workshops, product demos and live performances, which will be organized together with exhibitors. The round stages are equipped with state-of-the-art event technology and are located in direct proximity to the exhibition areas on hall levels 3.0 and 3.1. Exhibitors are also invited to help shape the program and showcase their brands in and around the Festival Arena on the outdoor area.

Messe Frankfurt Exhibion GmbH / Petra Welzel

Circle stage 2019

In recent years, Musikmesse has already opened up to new subject areas and will continue to do so in 2020. The program highlights of Musikmesse include:
- German Musical Instrument Award with festive award ceremony
- European Songwriting Awards: The live final at Musikmesse
- Class Music Day: Lecture series especially for music teachers
- Frankfurt Music Prize for outstanding musical personalities
- International Vintage Show: Guitars with tradition and history
- Music Tech Fest: Innovation Lab for creative developers
- Music4Kids: a space for young musical explorers
- Musikmesse Campus: Experts coach the professionals of tomorrow
- Musikmesse International Press Award for the best products of the year
- SchoolJam: Musikmesse is looking for "Germany's best school band"
- New Therapy Instruments" competition for international instrument makers, therapists and artists
 

Under the name "Musikmesse Plaza", content for an experience-oriented B2C target group will be bundled on April 3 and 4 in parallel with the other offerings: from musicians of all levels of knowledge, collectors and instrument lovers to fans and newcomers. The centerpiece is the pop-up market in Hall 4.1, where suppliers can sell their products directly to end consumers. Visitors can also look forward to an extended event program with a festival atmosphere on the outdoor area. Music lovers can discover some treasures at a huge record and CD exchange. The special International Vintage Show exhibition will feature an extended program including a Fender and Gibson workshop and a Vintage Guitar Party with star guitarist Thomas Blug as musical director. The Music4Kids area is also open to families.

During Musikmesse Plaza, the international drum industry is initiating a meet-up concept for drummers and percussionists from all over the world with the "Home of Drums". The event focuses on practical use cases and personal interaction between manufacturers and musicians. Visitors experience the latest innovations from top brands and can also compare drum kits from different manufacturers in various categories at mixed test stations. Numerous exhibitors will bring themselves and their artists directly into the event program. On the accompanying online platform homeofdrums.com, drum enthusiasts are invited throughout the year to network, take part in video lessons with well-known artists and keep up to date with the event.

After the record-breaking 2019 event with over 100 concerts in around 60 locations, the fifth edition of the Musikmesse Festival is casting its shadow ahead. This year, from March 31 to April 4, it will once again bring great concerts to the city and event highlights to the Frankfurt exhibition grounds.
There are countless opportunities for companies to reach an urban, music-loving target group and promote their brand. Messe Frankfurt offers support in organizing an event on the grounds or in one of the participating clubs or can arrange a local promoter. Companies can also sponsor events and stages.
Visitors to Musikmesse will receive a festival wristband with which they can attend all events free of charge or at a reduced price.
 

Messe Frankfurt Exhibion GmbH / Jean Luc Valentin

Festival Arena 2019: Big Band of the German Armed Forces

Ammann's mass (1904-1986) was premiered in Rome on the occasion of the canonization of Niklaus von Flüe. According to the Basel madrigalists, its significance is "extremely highly valued both in Switzerland and internationally and has been discussed in specialist journals". After the discovery of Frank Martin's Mass, this is the most significant find of recent years in terms of mass settings in Switzerland in the mid-20th century.

The Basler Madrigalisten are now realizing the Swiss premiere of Ammann's Missa "Defensor Pacis" ad 6-12 voces inaequales in honorem Sancti Nicolai Helvetii Eremitaewhich, in the Palestrina style, is regarded as the high point of his church music.

More info:
www.basler-madrigalisten.ch

Elementary particle physics has its standard model, which is used to describe the important interactions. In mathematics, on the other hand, standard deviations are used to determine the distance from a mean value. And in music, there is the sonata form. Coined by Adolph Bernhard Marx in the middle of the 19th century and still preached in schools today, it is all too easy to forget that this model only works in a few, usually particularly boring cases without exception. There is perhaps only one reason why terms such as exposition, transition, secondary theme and final group are still in use and seem indispensable: they serve as abstract ciphers that can be used to describe the characteristics of a composition - at least most of the time.

Unsurprisingly, Beethoven composed his Piano Sonata op. 101 "differently" in 1815/16. He breaks through the still young conventions of the genre on several levels, so that even Marx must dryly state that here "the name sonata is used for a composition that differs significantly from the usual sonata construction" (Beethoven. Life and work2nd ed. 1863, vol. 2, p. 216). First of all, this concerns the sequence of movements with a formally changing first movement, a lively march and a slow movement which seems like a large-scale introduction to the finale (including a reminiscence of the first movement).

This also applies to the structure of the development - with elements of fantasy, recitative or toccata - as well as to the texture with its distinctly contrapuntal procedures: The trio of the march is laid out as a canon, the development section of the finale as a broadly dimensioned fugue. Furthermore, Beethoven opens up a completely new expressive horizon with the German-language tempo and character markings, differentiated in detail, which, like the cyclical structure of the work, points far beyond the year of its composition.

Link to the project homepage "52 x Beethoven"

Since 2009, the Swiss Music Research Society (SMG) has awarded the Handschin Prize for young musicologists every two years. The prize money amounts to CHF 3000. Doctoral students who completed their doctorate between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2019, including the defense, and who
- have Swiss citizenship or
- have completed a doctorate at a Swiss institution or
- have been employed at a Swiss musical institution with a workload of more than 25% for more than one year or
- make a relevant contribution to Swiss music history with their dissertation; citizenship and academic affiliation play no role here.

Applications will be accepted by the SMG office until March 20, 2020; electronic applications can be sent to the secretary Benedict Zemp (benedict.zemp@musik.unibe.ch) should be addressed. The award ceremony will take place on September 17, 2020 as part of the first study day of the SMG fThe event is held for young scientists.
The application must be accompanied by:
- Dissertation (electronic)
- Letter of motivation
- Curriculum vitae
 

Bettina Skrzypczak is awarded the Heidelberg Women Artists' Prize for the year 2020. The award ceremony will take place on February 19, 2020 as part of a Concert of the Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra. The award was established in 1987 and is the only prize in the world to be awarded exclusively to female composers. The prizewinners include Sofia Gubaidulina (1991), Younghi Pagh-Paan (1995), Olga Neuwirth (2008), Isabel Mundry (2011) and Chaya Czernowin (2016).

The concert on February 19 - with a repeat performance on February 20 - will feature the orchestral work Initial by Bettina Skrzypczak. It was premiered by the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne at the Festival Les Amplitudes in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 2007. Since then, it has been performed several times internationally, for example at the Warsaw Autumn Festival and the Biennale Musica in Venice.

Bettina Skrzypczak is Professor of Composition and Theory at the Lucerne School of Music. She has been involved in Swiss cultural life for many years; until 2016 she directed the Ensemble Boswil for contemporary music, and in 2015 she curated the Tage für Neue Musik Zürich. She is in demand as a juror, expert and guest lecturer at international composition courses. She is the author of numerous texts on contemporary music. She is currently working on an orchestral composition for the Lucerne Festival, which will be premiered by the Basel Sinfonietta on September 6.
 

The collection contains autograph sketches that have received little attention to date, including for the stage works Intermezzo, The Egyptian Helen and The Silent Woman. Strauss' letters to the General Music Director Ernst von Schuch and the Kapellmeister Hermann Kutzschbach can also be viewed. Alfred Roller's stage sketches and costume designs bring to life the stage action at the premiere of Der Rosenkavalier in Dresden.

Central sources are also the orchestral materials used since the premieres and first performances of ten stage works to date, including Salome, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Frau ohne Schatten. These materials in the possession of the Staatskapelle Dresden were processed and published by the SLUB as part of the State Digitization Programme for Science and Culture of the Free State of Saxony.

Original article:
https://blog.slub-dresden.de/beitrag/2020/1/27/richard-strauss-gemeinfrei-slub-stellt-quellen-zu-leben-und-werk-des-komponisten-online/

Eight of the 29 piano students from Switzerland and abroad, who had to be enrolled at a Swiss music academy and born after September 1, 1992, qualified for the final. In the first and second rounds of the competition, they had to perform pieces from a repertoire defined by the jury (Benjamin Engeli, Adrian Oetiker, Walter Prossnitz and Oliver Schnyder).

The first prize (12,000 Swiss francs) went to Asuto Kitamura from Japan, born in 1996, and the second prize (8,000 Swiss francs) to Georgiana Pletea from Romania, born in 1993. The two third prize winners, Jérémie Conus from Switzerland, born in 1994, and Yilan Zhao from China, born in 1995, each received 4,000 Swiss francs.
 

Photo: Rahn Music Prize / Priska Ketterer

Georgiana Pletea

The first and second prize winners also receive a performance as a soloist at the Rahn Prizewinners' Concert with the Basel Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Andrew Joon Choi. The live video and audio recording of the concert will also be made available to you as a streaming link. The Rahn Prizewinners' Concert will take place on March 30, 2020 at 7.30 pm in the Tonhalle Maag in Zurich. Asuto Kitamura will perform Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor op. 54, Georgiana Pletea Mozart's Concerto in D minor KV 466.

Photo: Rahn Music Prize / Priska Ketterer

Jérémie Conus and Yilan Zhao

Comparable tests have already been successfully established in other cantons, writes the city of Lucerne. The Department of Primary Education of the Canton of Lucerne, the Lucerne Music School Association and selected instrumental and vocal teachers and music school directors have jointly developed a Lucerne version of these level tests.

The tests have six levels with increasing requirements. The first level can be passed after just a few years of lessons, while the sixth level is based on the admission criteria for professional studies at music colleges. Depending on performance, the next level can be passed every two to three years. The level tests help to make your own performance transparent, set goals and shape your personal learning plan.

At all levels, a compulsory piece is chosen from a compulsory list and a further piece is chosen by the student. There are also questions on music theory and rhythm as well as a written test. Instrumental and vocal teachers from music schools in the canton of Lucerne are on hand as experts.

The level tests are a further step towards regional cooperation in the field of music education in the canton of Lucerne. However, the focus is on the optimal promotion of pupils' musical development, which receives additional support through the level tests.

Public certificate concert
The certificate concert will take place on Saturday, February 8, 2020. At this public event, selected participants with excellent performances will perform and all successful candidates will receive their certificate.

Certificate concert of the cantonal level test Lucerne

Saturday, February 8, 2020, 4 p.m.
Südpol, Arsenalstrasse 28, 6010 Kriens, Great Hall
Free admission
Further information: www.musikschuleluzern.ch