"Schweizer Fonogramm" - the name of the latest Swiss CD label promises a lot. It evokes associations with the good old days when recordings were the artistic measure of all things and Glenn Gould could prophesize the end of classical concerts. Yes, here someone is conjuring up elaborately produced recordings, interpretations carefully crafted in the studio. And the two founders of the label, conductor Graziella Contratto and violinist and sound engineer Frédéric Angleraux, do so with a clear commitment to Swiss musical life.

On the first two releases, this Swiss connection is perhaps not yet so clearly tangible, but the artistic directors themselves present themselves as high-level performers. On double-je Angleraux plays violin duo sonatas by Prokofiev, Honegger and Ysaÿe together with Raphaël Oleg. The interplay between the two is particularly striking. They merge the sound of their violins with ease, only to be clearly separated again shortly afterwards. A recording of a lesser-known repertoire that is well worth listening to.

And Graziella Contratto presents on the CD Titänli together with the Mythenensemble Orchestral chamber versions of Mahler's first symphony and Zemlinsky's orchestral song May flowers bloomed everywhere. Klaus Simon's arrangements prove to be an opportunity for everyone involved. The ensemble members come more to the fore than in the large orchestra and are also allowed to show off their soloistic qualities. Contratto manages to maintain the symphonic character of the work despite the reduced instrumentation. Of course, Angleraux's production also contributes to this, offering a pithy sound very close to the individual instruments. So there is a lot to discover in this recording. For if Mahler's first work in this version - not very surprisingly - has somewhat less orchestral power, the better audibility and, in places, various more accentuated passages offer a fresh perspective on the work.

At the request of the municipal commissions for visual arts, literature, theater, dance, jazz/rock/pop and serious music, the City of Zurich will present the 2019 cultural awards. The work years and awards are a central instrument of the City of Zurich for promoting the independent scene. In addition, the award for special cultural merit is presented to David Basler on behalf of the City Council.

In the jazz, rock and pop category, the first three years of work go to Sibylle Aeberli, Janine Cathrein and Tapiwa Svosve (CHF 48,000 each). In serious music, one year of composition goes to Lara Stanic and one year of interpretation to the Zurich Baroque Orchestra (also CHF 48,000 each).

As the festival writes in today's press release, Graziella Contratto and Barbara Betschart "want to develop the festival further, explore new themes and concert formats and emphasize the Uri character of Alpine tones strengthen". In addition to their artistic and musical backgrounds, they "also bring a wealth of experience as music educators to the artistic direction. While Graziella Contratto, as a conductor, festival-tested dramaturge and head of music at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB), primarily contributes classical music, sound arts and transdisciplinary ideas, violinist Barbara Betschart, as former director of the Uri Music School and current managing director of Roothus Gonten, is a connoisseur of the (research) scene, particularly in the field of folk music, whose new insights she implements musically in regular performances.

The co-directors bring a complementary network to Altdorf, which extends from the folk music of the Middle Ages to new folk music and experimental forms of Alpine culture."

In mid-October 2021, it was announced that Graziella Contratto and Barbara Betschart would be handing over the reins after the successful 2021 edition of the festival.

The SRF Regionaljournal reported: Link to the program

"Flügelschläge" was launched in 2013 by the Belgian pianist, organist and artistic director at Zurich's Bühlkirche and Predigerkirche and has been directed by her ever since. This year, Els Biesemans and her guests are organizing four "Soirées musicales" in honour of Clara Schumann (1819-1896): the literary-musical dialogue with actress Mona Petri, the song recital by tenor Julian Prégardien, the chamber music evening with violinist Chouchane Siranossian and the Ensemble Elsewhere and the final soirée on two grand pianos together with pianist Dmitry Ablogin.

The movie Spring Symphony (Nastassja Kinski as Clara Wieck and Herbert Grönemeyer as Robert Schumann), Jesper Christensen's master class (rare shellac recordings of Clara's piano students) and the exhibition "Flower Book for Robert" provide a further insight into Clara Schumann's eventful life as an outstanding pianist and composer and wife of Robert Schumann.

Three fortepianos bring the world of sound from around 1840 to life: a Brodmann grand piano from 1825, an Érard fortepiano from 1850 and a grand piano by Conrad Graf from around 1840. The special construction of these historical instruments means that the intimate atmosphere of the festival differs from performances on modern grand pianos in large concert halls.
 

Photo: zVg

Festival director Els Biesemans creates an intimate atmosphere at the soirées by playing fortepianos.

For eight years, Rolf Keller "has shown great personal commitment to the promotion of contemporary art in Aargau and has raised awareness of the work of the eleven-member funding committee among politicians and the public", writes the Canton of Aargau.

Rolf Keller's term of office includes the reorientation of the Canton of Aargau Art Prize and the establishment of a recognition prize for cultural mediation, the development of the first cultural concept for the Canton of Aargau and this year, on the occasion of 50 years of cultural legislation and the Board of Trustees in Aargau, the anniversary event and the anniversary book "Oxygen for Art and Culture". The position will be advertised publicly.

Due to the immediate resignation this week of Board of Trustees member and Vice President Stephan Diethelm, Keller will continue to manage the business beyond the resignation date at the end of the year until a successor takes office.
 

The designated President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented the European Commission's portfolio distribution in September: None of the newly nominated EU Commissioners is responsible for culture in their title.

In contrast, the three national music councils of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH) are calling on the European Parliament and the future EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to increase the visibility of culture and to see it as a cross-cutting task.

According to the statement, "a cultural impact assessment for the Commission's projects, as already laid out in the Maastricht and Lisbon Treaties, could contribute to this". In view of the fact that societies are drifting apart, the European Union is more dependent than ever on seeing itself as a community of values. Balancing the right to national cultural policies enshrined in the Unesco Convention on Cultural Diversity with the socio-political dimension of a European cultural policy was one of the challenges facing the future Commission.

The German Music Council, the Austrian Music Council and the Swiss Music Council (DACH) claim to represent the interests of around 15 million people in all areas of musical life.
 

If there was a prize for the smallest opera house in the world - the Opera in the buttonhole would be a hot candidate for this. Twenty years ago, mezzo-soprano Rosina Zoppi wanted to do "something Spanish" with her Spanish pianist and staged a zarzuela by José Serrano in Keller 62: "It came out well, then we just carried on," Zoppi reports laconically. At the time, the performers took part out of idealism and for a small fee: "Foundations are understandably cautious at first. If it works once or twice, the money flows more easily." Today, Zoppi can pay reasonable fees and hire good people. Right from the start, the concept was "small but mighty", although the original work does not always have to be small and mighty. On the contrary, the singer often brings grand opera to the stage, albeit radically scaled down.

Last year, for example, she chose the Grand Opéra Marie Stuart by the Swiss composer Louis Niedermeyer: a five-act romantic opera with almost 20 soloists, ballet, chorus and orchestra. At the Stok Theater, what remained was a heavily abridged score, six singing performers and a four-piece wind ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon): "It worked wonderfully," beams the artistic director, although she admits that such radical downsizing is not possible with all composers: "I love Ravel, for example, but for the life of me I don't know how you could reduce this music to just a few instruments."

"When I look for pieces, I first look for themes. Then I look for suitable settings. Many libraries just throw their treasures at you on the internet," says Zoppi. It's more difficult in Italy: "For the score of our next year's production, the Hamlet opera Amleto by Saverio Mercadante, we had to go through the publisher. But they only had the first two pages of the play". They finally found what they were looking for at the Scala library. There was a handwritten score there, which first had to be digitized.
There are some well-known names among the composers who have come to the fore in the last two decades; less well-known, however, are the pieces, such as The Zoo (Arthur Sullivan), Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra (Johann Adolf Hasse), Bunbury (Paul Burkhard), Prestami tua moglie (Ruggero Leoncavallo), The Bear (Willam Walton), Ô mon bel inconnu (Reynaldo Hahn), L'importanza di esser Franco (Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco), Geneviève de Brabant (Jacques Offenbach).

The director is personally responsible for the dramaturgy. She doesn't skimp on the red pencil, cuts entire parts, merges others, has men sing trouser roles and vice versa. Choruses are often omitted completely or are given to the soloists in the ensemble. And then there is the orchestra: anyone who can reduce a romantic orchestra to four wind instruments can arrange a baroque opera for flute, lute, double bass and harpsichord, as was the case with this year's production.

The buttonhole anniversary production, the five-act and originally five-hour opera Angelica, vincitrice de Alcina was composed by Johann Joseph Fux in 1716 to celebrate the birth of Prince Leopold in Vienna. The premiere of the opera, subtitled "Festa teatrale", took place outdoors on two islands in Vienna's Augarten park. The story comes from The speeding Roland (Italian: Orlando Paladino), the heroic epic from 1516 by Ludovico Ariost, which formed the basis for a number of musical stage works.

The best known are perhaps Handel's Alcina and Haydn's Orlando Paladino. In Fux's adaptation, Roland is missing, but the benevolent Princess Angelica appears, who at the end of the play is characterized by her magnanimous mercy towards the deceitful Alcina. Alcina loves both Medoro and Ruggero, both of whom she keeps on one of her islands. Medoro loves Angelica and Angelica loves Medoro. She therefore sets off for Alcina's island kingdom to free her lover. Meanwhile, Ruggero, who actually loves Bradamante, temporarily falls for Alcina's charms. Bradamante, disguised as a knight, and Angelica, whose magical powers are dwindling, finally prevail and are able to embrace their beloved.

The chamber-music realization of the piece by Oper im Knopfloch concentrates on the finely played and sometimes virtuoso singing aspects as well as the intimate interactions between the characters. Props and stage set pieces are almost completely dispensed with. Recited interludes allow the scenes to be placed in context. The dramaturgical trick of casting Bradamante with a pop singer translates the baroque sensory world into the present in an immediate way.

The law regulates the objectives and tasks of music schools as well as the organizational and financial framework conditions and thus secures music education outside of elementary school. The music school law submitted by the initiators only partially convinced the committee, as some provisions were in need of interpretation and other important sub-issues were completely missing. In addition, the majority of the committee considered the proposed cantonal contribution of 20 percent - currently 3 percent - to be too high.

In the end, the majority of the committee decided against the votes of the SP, Greens, AL and EVP in favor of a cantonal contribution of 10 percent and at the same time parental contributions, which should cover a maximum of 50 percent of the operating costs. The remaining costs will be borne by the municipalities.

With regard to the objectives and tasks of music schools and the criteria required for recognition by the canton, the new law is largely based on previous practice and the greatest possible municipal autonomy. The music schools should provide a minimum offer and cooperate regionally with regard to a more extensive offer.

The services provided by music schools cover all levels from basic musical education to preparatory courses for music studies for particularly talented pupils, the latter in coordination with the universities of applied sciences. A minority (SVP and partly FDP) would grant music schools even more freedom with regard to their market positioning, for example in relation to the training requirements for music teachers, and has tabled several amendments to this effect. A minority (FDP) demands a legal obligation for the financial participation of parents instead of an optional formulation at the discretion of the municipality, as well as clarifications regarding the composition of the chargeable operating costs.

A minority (SP, Greens, AL, EVP) would like to make the financial framework conditions more generous for music schools by requesting a cantonal contribution of 20% and parental contributions to cover a maximum of 43% of operating costs. The SP and AL also support the popular initiative.

Donaueschingen is a grab bag. Even festival director Björn Gottstein can only influence what comes out of it to a limited extent. And that was particularly evident this year, right from the opening concert. It began with a kind of table bomb: Happy, happy, joy, joy is what the Australian Matthew Shlomowitz calls his attempt to compose happy music, with lots of keyboard sounds and allusions to light music, playful, cheeky, quirky and also a little rough, yes, it could have been more refined and refined, but it gave the festival a direction: towards entertaining music, which is rather rare in these circles.

His piece was topped in the same concert by the Trio for big band, choir and orchestra by the Dane Simon Steen-Andersen. These three bodies of sound were joined by a video. It was the starting point of the piece. Steen-Andersen went down into the archives of Südwestrundfunk and watched hundreds of hours of music film recordings, including symphony and choir concerts, but also rehearsals with conductors such as Sergiu Celibidache and Carlos Kleiber, as well as jazz concerts with Duke Ellington, for example. He has filtered out the tiniest snippets, words, notes and chords, and reassembled them into a coherent musical sequence. Two notes from a jazz bassist, for example, merge into "Till Eulenspiegel" or a conductor's commentary. At the same time, the "KomPonist" has notated these snippets, transformed them into a score and given them to the three orchestras for live performance. For example, the music switches back and forth between orchestra and film soundtrack at a horrendous tempo. It was a virtuoso performance, perhaps a little redundant towards the end, but in any case a great amusement.

The composer actually composes less in the conventional sense than by taking something that already exists and placing it in a new context. It is a reflex to the sampling technique. What was new here was that the sampled material was not only played back, but also transcribed and transformed. This year, a number of composers followed this working model in their own independent way. Gordon Kampe asked members of a church choir to sing songs from their childhood to him and wove them into his ensemble piece Remember Me one. Canadian Nicole Lizée used the noises and sounds of the defective appliances in her father's electrical store to create a Sepulchre - and the Swiss composer Michael Pelzel transferred the tolling of the dead from Varanasi in India to the orchestra. Melancholy slowly mingled with the amusement. It is a game of self-reference and intertextuality. At times, one might think that the composers distrust the invention of sounds and prefer to recompose what already exists.

It was as if they were solemnly attending a Sunday service: the composer and his family under two large dark umbrellas on their way from the hotel to the concert. What followed resembled a high mass of sound in an almost cathedral-like, albeit not very high concert hall, almost monumental, carried by a faith in sound that seemed almost lost in the other concerts. With his Poética del espacio created the most expansive work of the festival, an exploration of sound space in various directions, multi-layered in space, with wonderful passages, at best, if you look at the sound-gestural detail, almost a little old-fashioned. Yes, I asked myself again: on what level can the sound still renew itself?

The Swiss participation this year was pleasing. In addition to Pelzel, there was a lively clarinet concerto by Beat Furrer, which, however, was not completed and could only be partially premiered. In the end, the festival ended in melancholy without sinking into it. A delicate and heterogeneous orchestral landscape called Sound Gate was presented by Lidia Zielińska from Poland. At the very end, there were the quiet ones, leaning towards silence Elemental realities by Jürg Frey from Aarau. Elementary indeed, tones, motifs, chords in often steady movement, over half an hour long and yet also making you forget the time. Sometimes almost inaudible - and surprising, because the many tonal elements caught the ear, as if a late Mahler Andante wanted to continue into Feldman, even Pärt. And then into the free.

The portal swissfoundations.ch brings together comprehensive, up-to-date information on organizations, projects, events, jobs and statistics from the Swiss philanthropy and foundation sector in a central location that can be accessed at any time. It also offers them a range of digital tools.

In addition to institutional stakeholder groups, private donors can now also get their money's worth. The portal brings together over 5,000 organizations and projects that are represented with their own microsite and to which donations can be made directly online (including via Twint). A personal dashboard provides an overview of donation activities and receipts at any time.nfor the tax return.

In addition to the new platform and numerous digital services, StiftungSchweiz is also launching "The Philanthropist" magazine at the end of October, the first and only publication of its kind in the Swiss philanthropy and foundation world. "The Philanthropist" is published four times a year with a print run of 35,000 copies and as a web magazine (thephilanthropist.ch).

All offers on stiftungschweiz.ch are available to all users free of charge until January 15, 2020.

Photo: Diego PH / unsplash (excerpt)

Music is still a "political nonvaleur", said the President of the Parliamentary Group for Music (PGM), National Councillor Stefan Müller-Altermatt. Nevertheless, he is passionately committed to music, which he once again demonstrated at the meeting between parliamentarians and association representatives in Bern on September 11. Séléna Plain introduced the harp as an instrument for various musical styles and divided the event into meaningful sections with her impressive presentations.

The outlook revolved around the coming legislative period and the upcoming elections, and the hope that the music sector will be well represented in the Federal Parliament. Stefan Müller-Altermatt and Rosmarie Quadranti, National Councillor and President of the Swiss Music Council (SMR), have opened a number of doors for music in Bern over the past four years. In order for this work to continue, numerous music-loving parliamentary colleagues are needed. This is why the SMR and Sonart, together with other associations, initiated the clap4culture.ch platform with recommendations for the 2019 elections.

To strengthen the music sector, three initiatives were also bundled into a charter and submitted to the Federal Parliament: National Councillor Thomas Ammann demands an annual Tax allowance for compensation for volunteer work. Rosmarie Quadranti wants the Federal Office of Culture and the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation are jointly responsible for tasks relating to both the cultural and educational sectors. concern. Finally, Stefan Müller-Altermatt calls for reliable Statistical data on the economic performance of the music sector.

The factual review of the topics dealt with over the past four years culminated in a highlight with Sandra KünziThe "poetry slammer of the first hour" summarized the topic of music and politics in federal Bern in an "oratorio for poor musicians in six pictures". Keywords: youth and music, backstage, money, copyright, cultural message, parliament is an orchestra. Listen to the version for the Swiss Music Newspaper here:

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Postscript on October 22, 2019: Unfortunately, Rosmarie Quadranti and Thomas Ammann were not re-elected.

The accreditation is valid for seven years and is subject to conditions that also represent areas of development for internal quality assurance. The path to institutional accreditation took around two years. The procedure was carried out by the Swiss Agency for Accreditation and Quality Assurance AAQ.

Following a comprehensive self-assessment process, a team of experts visited the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in March 2019 and conducted interviews with employees, students, external partners and members of the top management bodies. A total of around 100 people were involved in the interviews.

In their report, the experts gave the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts a good report and, according to the official press release, "particularly emphasized the culture of quality and dialogue". Michael Eidenbenz (Head of the Department of Music at the Zurich University of the Arts) was the assessor for the music department.
 

Jörg Köppl lives and works as a freelance musician and composer in Zurich. In his works, he expands the concept of new music by combining it with sounds from real life. In his works with disabled people in particular, the canton writes, he succeeds in showing the physically impaired performers in such a way that the result is not a theater of consternation, but a very unique aesthetic statement.

Electronic music and the associated nightlife are dominated by male promoters, DJs and club owners. This is where Les Belles de Nuit comes in: the association aims to promote and network women and other underrepresented groups in the electronic music and culture scene.

The promotion of cultural participation is one of the priorities that the Canton of Zurich has set for its cultural policy. The recognition grants are endowed with CHF 10,000 each.
 

Photo: Marco Borggreve

Oliver Schnyder

The concept and program of the Swiss Orchestra, founded in 2018 and directed by Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer, are anchored in its name. According to its self-portrayal on the website, it has "set itself the goal of bringing forgotten Swiss symphonic musicians back to the concert stage and making them directly tangible throughout Switzerland." It sees itself as a "unique bridge builder" and a "pioneer of Swiss symphonic music".

The orchestra is made up of "first-class instrumentalists of the younger generation".
Its first tour will take it to Zurich, Bern, St. Gallen and Geneva from October 20 to 27. The program includes Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto and Mozart's A little night music Jean Baptiste Edouard Dupuy's overture to the opera Youth and recklessness and Hans Huber's Serenade No. 2 Winter nights. The soloist is the Swiss pianist Oliver Schnyder.
A second tour in spring 2020 combines works by Johann Carl Eschmann and Frank Martin with Johannes Brahms' Third Symphony. The soloists are oboist Heinz Holliger and harpist Alice Belugou.

The four-genre theater is currently being managed on an interim basis by the entire management under the chairmanship of Commercial Director Anton Stocker. The designated artistic director Florian Scholz, currently still employed at Theater Klagenfurt, will take over the overall artistic management for the 2021.22 season.

Born in Basel, Zuber has been Opera and Concert Director at Konzert Theater Bern since the 2011.12 season. He created new formats such as the seat cushion concerts for children and the Schweizerhof brunch. His tenure also saw the merger between the Bern Symphony Orchestra and Konzert Theater Bern, as well as concert tours of the Bern Symphony Orchestra through China and England.