Andri Probst - Hannes Meyer is closely associated with the cultural development of Schanfigg. From 1967 to 1978, he was organist in Arosa and founded the legendary "Bergkirchli-Konzerte Arosa" concerts, which have been held every Tuesday evening in the summer and winter seasons without interruption ever since. From 1978, Hannes Meyer traveled the world as a freelance organ soloist, composer, teacher and animator and lived in various places in the canton of Graubünden. He was also particularly interested in teaching music to children. On so-called "experience days", he introduced over 250,000 schoolchildren in Switzerland, Europe, the USA and the Philippines to the organ and organ playing in an entertaining and exciting way. In his honor, several concerts at the Arosa Classical Music Festival (17.3. - 2.4.2023) will make programmatic reference to his work, and the festival will conclude with a memorial concert on Sunday 2 April in the Evangelical Village Church of Arosa, his former place of work. Matthias Gubler (saxophone), Domenic Jannett (clarinet) and Wolfgang Sieber (organ) will perform a program of interpretations, arrangements and improvisations of and on music by Hannes Meyer. A commemorative publication by Christian Albrecht will round off the tribute to Hannes Meyer.

The second anniversary concerns Arosa Culture's latest project, the jazz, blues and rock festival "Arosa Sounds". The small but exquisite festival will take place for the fifth time from February 2-4, 2023. Reason enough to celebrate this edition with a special project. Rolf Caflisch, director of Jazz Chur and drummer, and Andri Probst, artistic director of Arosa Sounds, have brought together six Grisons singers under the "Bündner Sounds" concert format and commissioned them to create two full-length programs together with an accompanying band.

The two "Bündner Sounds" concerts will take place on Thursday and Friday evening at 8.30 pm in the Klub im Kursaal. The backing band for both concerts consists of Rolf Caflisch (drums), Andi Schnoz (guitar), Rees Coray (bass) and Sören Dokter (keys).

Flavia Capello, Marcus Petendi and Mattiu Defuns will be on stage as singers on Thursday, while Pascal Gamboni, Liza from the Moon and Andrin Berchtold will take to the stage on Friday. Most of the musicians mentioned will be performing together on stage for the first time, so it will be exciting to see the song selection. It is already clear that the two concerts will be unique and full of surprises.

February 2-4, 2023, Arosa

Program:

Tie drei / Bündner Sounds with Mattiu Defuns, Flavia Capello, Marcus Petendi, Pascal Gamboni, Liza from the Moon and Andrin Berchtold / Mattiu / Liza from the moon / Pippo Pollina & Palermo Acoustic Quintet: Canzoni segrete / The Robots

> www.arosasounds.ch

17.3. - 2.4.2023, Arosa

4 concerts with winners of the Hans Schaeuble Award / Kaleidoscop String Quartet / Wind Ensemble of the Conser-vatorio della Svizzera italiana / Lisette Stoffel / Hannes Meyer memorial concert with Matthias Gubler, Domenic Janett and Wolfgang Sieber

> www.arosaklassik.ch

Heinrich Baumgartner - With numerous auditions and an impressive musical showcase, this year's Swiss Youth Music Competition came to a brilliant close in Zurich from April 28 to May 1. Once again, almost 1500 young people aged between 8 and 20 took part in the Classica, Jazz&Pop, Free Space and Composition categories, the lion's share in the Classica category. A few snapshots from the various categories can be found under "News" on the competition's homepage (https://sjmw.ch). Following the actual competition, some of the prizewinners were offered long-term opportunities to broaden their musical horizons and deepen their practical experience under the name "Follow-Ups".

A workshop with saxophonist and composer Daniel Schnyder and a course for special string ensembles with Tina Strinning and Baiju Bhatt took place at the end of June. In August, Richard Dubugnon led a master class in Basel and in September Oscar Bianchi led the second European master class in Arc-en-Senans, which was held in collaboration with the European Union for Youth Music Competitions. Scholarships for masterclasses of their choice and a scholarship for the Swiss International Music Academy on the Rheinau Music Island in July 2022 or 2023 were awarded to prizewinners. In addition, the precollege course with Maurice Steger took place in August as part of the Gstaad Baroque Academy.

In September 2022, prizewinners of the competition performed at the Bachwochen in Thun and in the "Herbst in der Helferei" concert series in Zurich. Coaching, rehearsals and two concerts for prizewinners with the Camerata Zurich are planned for November 2022. Further prizewinners will be heard at the Forum Musikalische Bildung of the Swiss Association of Music Schools in January 2023. Professional recordings at the ZHdK or the Jazzcampus of the Basel Music Academy as well as a concert performance at the Esse-Musicbar in Winterthur await prizewinners in the Jazz&Pop category. All of these offers are only possible thanks to intensive collaboration with foundations, ensembles and event organizers, above all with the Ruth Burkhalter Foundation for the Promotion of Young Musical Talent and the Hirschmann Foundation in Zug.

Active participation in most of these activities is reserved for prizewinners of the competition. However, attending the concerts or master classes as an audience member - which is often also very rewarding - is possible in many cases. Details can be found on the competition website. If you have any questions, please contact the office.

After the competition is before the competition. An event of this size cannot be organized from one day to the next. The locations where the final will be held have already been decided: in Lugano in 2023, in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 2024 and in Zurich in the anniversary year 2025. The registration periods for the 2023 competition have also been set: for Classica, Free Space and Composition from November 1 to 27, 2022, and for Jazz&Pop from December 1, 2022 to January 15, 2023. Details on the competition procedure in the various categories, the instruments accepted this year in the Classica category and answers to frequently asked questions can be found online.

Even though the competition is no longer comparable to its beginnings in terms of size, professionalism, organization and judging, the idea of the Tonhalle conductor and founder of the competition, Gerd Albrecht, to create a professional framework with a national music festival in which young talents can show what they are made of in front of an interested audience and renowned jurors and find out where they stand in the national comparison, still applies today.

Andri Probst - The first "Young Talents" event with the new concept was held at the beginning of July under the direction of Roberto Kowalski.

Young talents in concert

After a two-year hiatus, the "Young Talents in Concert" project has been relaunched this July with a new concept. In collaboration with the two Ticino cultural institutions Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana (CSI) and the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana (OSI), Arosa Culture invited seven young students from the CSI Pre-College to Arosa for a week of rehearsals. Under the direction of the OSI's 1st concertmaster, Robert Kowalski, the students rehearsed at the Arosa Congress Center and gave a concert in both Arosa and Lugano at the end of the week. The focus was on intensive daily musical work with Robert Kowalski. The enthusiastic feedback from the participants has prompted those responsible to invite pre-college students from other music academies in Switzerland to take part next year. Discussions to this effect have already begun.

"Hans Schaeuble Award" and the Arosa Classical Music Festival

Since 2015, the "Hans Schaeuble Award" has been presented to several participants of the Arosa Music Academy every year. The Arosa Music Academy is an international master class of the Arosa Music Course Weeks for the instruments violin, viola, cello, saxophone and accordion. This year, at least eight participants will be honored with a "Hans Schaeuble Award". The award also includes an invitation to actively participate in the Arosa Classical Music Festival the following winter. Various chamber music programs will be developed and performed under the direction of Markus Fleck (violin) and Lars Mlekusch (saxophone).

The Arosa Classical Music Festival 2023 will take place from March 19 - April 2 in various concert venues in Arosa. In addition to the chamber music concerts, an ensemble from the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana and the "obsigänt" ensemble will perform. Original works and arrangements by Hannes Meyer will be performed to commemorate the Graubünden organist Hannes Meyer, the 10th anniversary of whose death will be celebrated in 2023. Two memorial concerts are also planned, one with horn player Pascal Deuber and the final concert with Mathias Gubler, Domenic Jannett and Lisette Stoffel.

Information about the festival will be posted on www.arosaklassik.ch.

All information is also available at www.arosakultur.ch.

Contact: AROSA KULTUR, Andri Probst, 076 403 04 03, aprobst@arosakultur.ch

Angela Buxhofer - Course weeks for folk music, alphorn and Bohemian brass band are particularly popular. If you would still like to attend a course, you can find all the information about the courses, registration and free places on the website musikkurswochen.ch. Some courses are already fully booked.

20 different master classes Arosa

Under the label "Meisterkurse Arosa - Masterclasses Arosa", Arosa Kultur bundles all those courses of the Arosa Music Course Weeks that offer the level of masterclasses. In total, there are around 20 individual courses for various instruments. A special offer within the masterclasses is the "AROSA MUSIC ACADEMY", which combines individual lessons with intensive chamber music lessons.

Lecturers at the master classes include well-known musicians such as Maurice Steger, Simon Fuchs, Priya Mitchell, Lars Mlekusch, Markus Fleck, Sarah O'Brien and many others.

Attractive awards for participants in the master classes

Arosa Culture has created attractive awards for participants in the master classes. The Hans Schaeu-ble Award is presented to a maximum of nine participants. One award includes a concert engagement as part of the Arosa Klassik festival in the following winter. Arosa Kultur offers the opportunity for chamber music performances with renowned musicians.

The award can be presented thanks to the financial and non-material support of the Hans Schaeuble Foundation.

The Villa Musica Foundation from Rhineland-Palatinate DE awards attractive and coveted scholarships to selected music students. Participants in the arosa music academy for string players have the opportunity to audition exclusively for a Villa Musica scholarship.

All information about the Meisterkrusen can be found at:

masterclassesarosa.ch.

Arosa cultural summer with a wide range of cultural activities

The Kultursommer Arosa 2022 will officially open on Friday 8 July with the two-person theater Via Mala with Gian Rupf and Volker Ranisch. Other highlights of the cultural summer include the solo concert by Swiss jazz pianist Yves Theiler, the folk music combo obsigänt, a reading with Ueli Haldimann about Thomas Mann, the farewell concert by the Hannelimusig or the opera production Der Praline soldier by Oscar Straus with opera in the buttonhole. Every Tuesday from June 28 to October 11, the Tuesday concerts take place at 5 p.m. with many Graubünden musicians and instructors from the Arosa Music Course Weeks.

Convenient: for some events, the train journey Chur-Arosa-Chur is included in the ticket. And when the weather is fine, many of the events take place on the open-air Waldbühne Arosa.

The Waldbühne is also the venue for Arosa Kultur's children's events on Mondays in July and August.

Tickets for the Kultursommer can only be reserved by registration:

+41 (0)81 353 87 50 or

ticketing@arosakultur.ch.

All information is available on

www.arosakultur.ch to find.

Heinrich Baumgartner - A colorful musical firework display at an extremely high level was set off on May 1 in the Great Hall of the Zurich Conservatory of Music on Florhof-gasse at the end of this year's edition of the Swiss Music Competition.

Twenty-nine individual and ensemble prizewinners from all four age categories performed music from Haydn to Wieniawski, from Saint-Saëns to Schubert, from Karg-Elert to Brahms, from Piazzolla to Bach, as well as a great deal of music from the 20th century - some of it music for teaching, but certainly suitable for concert performances. Some of the music was composed for the classroom, but it was certainly suitable for concert performances - by Keiko Abe, Gene Koshinski, Deborah Henson-Conant, Felix Holler, Greg Pattillo, Gilles Silvestrini, Fuminori Tanada and an original composition by an eleven-year-old competition participant.

Between the first movement of a Haydn string quartet that opened the marathon and the violinist who, four hours later, sent the audience off into the sunny Sunday afternoon in high spirits with a fiery paraphrase of Rossini's Barber of Seville, music formed on the piano, the recorder, the harp, the bassoon, the double bass, the marimba, the snare drum, the clarinet, the flute, the soprano saxophone, the oboe and the English horn as well as a singer formed a program with many surprises and a consistently high artistic level. The delicious aperitif that awaited the audience, performers and helpers between the two halves of the program also contributed to the good atmosphere.

Although there was also a blues on the Celtic harp in this firework display and a prizewinner beatboxed on the flute, solo pieces for snare drum and marimba sounded less "classical" in the conventional sense, this concert was the "Finale Classica". Although "Classica" is at the top of the homepage of the music competition, "Jazz & Pop", "Free Space" and "Composition" are right next to it.

However, this does not fully reflect the actual situation for the final of the competition: In addition to the hundreds of entries in the Classica section, just a dozen works were received in the Compositions section, with even fewer entries in Free Space and Jazz & Pop. It can't have been due to the conditions. Three acts that could not have been more different were presented at the final of the Jazz & Pop section on April 9 at the BeJazz Club in Bern. A double bass player and his sampling machine gave a first-class solo performance of a Thelonious Monk tune. This was followed by a pop song by one of the participants, who performed it with a touching voice and accompanied herself on the piano. Finally, the double bassist performed again, but this time as part of an eight-piece band, who played standards and a ballad by the bassist and also made extensive use of the space for improvisation. Despite the small number of participants, the event felt less like a competition and more like a regular concert in a jazz club. Thanks to the collaboration with the Bern Music School, the auditions for the music competition, which were held under the title Come Together were well embedded.

The Free Space and Composition auditions took place on April 29 in the auditorium of the Hirschengraben school building in Zurich. And here, too, there was much to hear and experience that was astonishing and enjoyable. From free improvisation on the piano to the astonishingly concise piano pieces with resounding names such as Stalactite caves, ladder to heaven or The wondrous world of elves and trolls freshly and virtuosically performed by the composers through to the music theater with five performers, entitled L'escargot furieux performed a mix of Nino Rota, chanson and French rap with a pinch of Zappa. The Free Space prelude was opened by a piece for ten trumpet players, who performed their piece in the middle of the audience.

Jazz&Pop and Free Space& Composition are two exciting new "playing fields", two niches of the Swiss Music Competition that definitely have the potential to further develop the competition as a whole. The composition of a young participant has made it into the program of the classical final and has not fallen behind the other program items at all. The prerequisite for these exciting vessels to realize their full potential is that they use every point of contact with the classical field for exchange, and this is only possible if these vessels become better known and more popular with participants and teachers alike. The idea and conditions of participation are described on the competition website. If you have any questions, please contact the office.

Heinrich Baumgartner - A music competition is only as good as its juries. If they know how to put themselves in the participants' shoes and support them from a wealth of experience, then the horrors of the competition are lessened for the participants and the possibilities of the competition are exhausted.

Over the years and decades of its existence, the Youth Music Competition has succeeded in building up a large network of competent jury members who are responsible for ensuring that the assessments and feedback to the participants are fair.

Pianist Simone Keller is one of the jury members who has been a highly committed member of the jury and expert committee for many years and has now decided to devote more time to other projects. We took this departure as an opportunity to ask her for a few more assessments on fundamental topics relating to the competition. Despite her packed calendar of appearances these days, she has taken the time to formulate a few written statements:

Simone Keller, what are your most important experiences with the Youth Music Competition as a participant, jury and expert committee member (positive, negative, changes)?

For me personally, competition does not only have positive connotations. In art in particular, I believe that supposedly absolute measurability and dogged competitive pressure can be extremely counterproductive. My relationship to music competitions has therefore always been ambivalent. However, as it cannot be denied that my own musical development has been greatly enhanced by competing in the Swiss Youth Music Competition, I am happy to support the positive aspects of the competition. In recent years, I have experienced a very differentiated culture of discussion in the expert commission and a very careful approach to this responsible task.

What do experimental and interdisciplinary formats mean to you personally? How did you find the approach? Experiences with different fellow musicians and audiences? Experiences with free space?

When I used to take part in the SJMW as a child, a so-called "compulsory piece" by a modern Swiss composer was prescribed for each category in each discipline. I was always totally thrilled by this little broadening of my horizons, which seemed to me like learning a new foreign language. When you then met the other participants at the competition, you could hear how different the interpretations sounded and draw a lot of inspiration for your own playing. I thought that was wonderful and never had any aversions or reservations about new sounds, but found it quite natural that musical expression can be very diverse. Perhaps this was also due to the fact that I grew up on a farm where biodiversity was part of everyday life.

I would like to see this "biodiversity" become even more audible and visible in our FreeSpace in the future. Although we have already received very diverse contributions, we hope that in the coming years we can motivate even more children and young people to expose themselves with unconventional ideas and surprise us with their music.

You have an international perspective on issues of cultural promotion and music education. Do you think there are developments that are fundamentally going in the right or wrong direction in our country?

Basically, I see a lot of positive developments in the musical promotion of children and young people and cultural participation in our society in general. Occasionally, however, I also see an excessive competitive pressure at Swiss universities, where fear of being overrun by foreign competition can arise instead of seeing the high international level as an enrichment.

Due to the global political changes of recent years, we will have to deal more intensively with the issue of refugees in the future. For this reason, I have founded the SYM association - Save Young Musicians - together with other musicians, with which we want to support young musicians from crisis regions, which is why I will be withdrawing from the SJMW in order to be able to concentrate more on this new task.

Heinrich Baumgartner - Five of the seven venues kicked off on Friday, March 4 at 9.30 a.m. in Arbon, Liestal, Neuchâtel, Winterthur and Zug. Geneva joined half an hour later and Lugano on Saturday, March 5. Auditions were held in parallel in several rooms at almost all venues. In cooperation with the local music schools, up to 19 auditions took place simultaneously. The huge event was concluded with the announcement of the results and consultations with the participants, separately for each instrument. These discussions took place for the last time on Sunday afternoon or early evening and were conducted by the four-member expert juries, expert juries for accordion, recorder, cello, bassoon, harp, horn, chamber music, clarinet, four-hand piano, double bass, music before 1750, oboe, organ, pan flute, transverse flute, saxophone, percussion, violin, viola and contemporary music. (The competition is held every two years for the various instruments).

It's unbelievable when you think about what it takes to pull off an event like this. At the weekend itself, you can only see the tip of the iceberg. The long preparatory work can only be guessed at.

However, this applies not only to the organization of the event, but also to the performers. The fruits of hours, weeks, even months of work with the instrument and several works are presented live here without a net or a false bottom. There is no correction button or reset button.

My impressions of this event are limited to a few excerpts. I heard harp performances in Arbon and saxophone performances in Zug. In both places, I perceived a less competitive atmosphere. The few audience members present - mainly music teachers and parents of performers - were welcomed into the bright, spacious rooms of the music school and the program was announced. The performers had enough time to set up. The regulations stipulate a reasonable program length for the individual performers. The jury was positioned in the audience in such a way that it was not perceived as a "wall" for the performers.

In any case, I didn't get the impression from any of the performers that they were running a gauntlet. The parts in which music was created predominated by far.

The standard was consistently high. The programs were varied. A jazzy piece was also included in the classical programs and was usually performed with even more commitment than the classical pieces.

It's easy to get hurt in a music competition. You always show a lot of yourself when making music and are correspondingly vulnerable. The director of the Winterthur Conservatory, Christian Ledermann, sums this up in his introductory words to the Entrada 2022 program in Winterthur: "Our aim is for all musicians to be able to present their skills in a positive atmosphere and in a calm, competent environment."

In the auditions I attended, this was completely successful. I was also amazed at how many of the participants sat with their colleagues in the audience, but also how many teachers attended the presentations of other students.

The Entrada competition, from the welcoming ceremony on the morning of March 4 to the closing of the music schools on Sunday evening, is in many ways just the tip of the iceberg. From my perspective as a listener, however, it was a particularly successful iceberg that provided the participants with many valuable experiences, encounters and impressions.

The classical category is by far the largest in the Swiss Youth Music Competition, but it is not the only one. From April 28 to May 1, 2022, some excellent performers will be heard again at the final in Zurich. The Come Together of the Jazz&Pop Competition will take place in Bern on April 9, and the live performances of the Composition Competition and the Free Space category will be held on April 29. Details of these events can be found on the competition homepage.

Heinrich Baumgartner -In 2008, almost 15 years ago, the popular initiative jugend + musik to strengthen music education in Switzerland was submitted to the federal government with over 150,000 valid signatures. Mainly to prevent a dispute over competencies between the federal government and the cantons, the federal government drew up a counter-proposal, which was approved by a large majority in a referendum in September 2012. The first result of this referendum was Article 67a of the Federal Constitution, which culminates in the sentence: "The Confederation, with the cooperation of the cantons, shall lay down principles for young people's access to music-making and the promotion of musically talented individuals" (paragraph 3).

Since 2016, the Federal Office of Culture's Youth and Music program has defined more than just principles for the topic of "Youth access to music-making" - from 2016 to 2018, 710 Y+M leaders were certified and 593 Y+M courses and camps were held. A total of around 20,000 children and young people were reached through this program. Now the constitutional mandate to "promote musically gifted children" is also to be promoted through the Talent Card Music program.

Over the past ten years, there has been no lack of action when it comes to promoting talented young people: As early as 2013, the Federal Office of Culture published the comprehensive report of a working group on the implementation of Article 67a of the Federal Constitution. In 2017, the Swiss Association of Music Schools drew up a concise and intelligent mission statement on the promotion of talented students, and in 2018 it conducted a broad-based survey on the topic. These are two important foundations for the working group that developed the concept for the talent card in 2021. Since December 1, 2021, music schools, universities, music institutions and other interested parties have been able to give their opinion on this concept until February 1, 2022. If the timetable is adhered to, the first talent cards can be issued in spring 2023.

The concept's functional model is clear and straightforward:

The Federal Office of Culture transfers an annual contribution to the cantons and concludes a performance agreement with them.

The canton appoints a cantonal coordination office and sets up an expert commission.

The cantonal coordination office awards the talent cards to the talents recognized by the expert commission and pays out the corresponding contributions. In addition, it recognizes and coordinates the offers of talent promotion.

The specialist commission recognizes the talents according to their level and reports the names and levels of the talents to the coordination office.

The providers of support services ensure a high-quality offering at the various support levels and in the various styles and network with other cantonal and regional providers.

Finally, the talents attend the gifted and talented programs and use the Talent Card contribution for this purpose.

Experience in sport with similar talent cards has been positive. The Federal Office of Culture's 2021-2024 cultural message initially assumes that around 1,000 talented musicians could be supported in this way each year.

Institutions such as the youth symphony orchestra or the youth music competition are among the few institutions that have many years of experience at national level in promoting talented young musicians. Even if they are only mentioned in passing in the talent card concept, it is to be hoped that this wealth of experience will be incorporated into the new form of support.

Angela Buxhofer - The Arosa Culture Association has been offering the Arosa Music Course Weeks for 36 years. Every summer and fall, around 1400 participants find their way to the magnificent mountain world of Arosa. Around 200 experienced instructors are on hand for the more than 130 courses.

Not only music courses on offer

The mostly 6-day courses are aimed at amateur musicians as well as professional musicians and students. Around 80 instrumental courses are offered for a wide range of string, wind, keyboard and percussion instruments. A varied program awaits participants in the various choir and singing weeks.

But Arosa Kultur doesn't just offer music courses. The program also includes painting courses, various dance courses, an acting course, courses for mental training and an instrument making course. Once again, there are also various beginners' courses and special courses for children and young people.

New in the program

The following courses will be offered for the first time in 2022: "Everdance®" a dance course with Valeria Klaus - "Dance course for children from 8 - 13" with Rea Güttinger - "HULA dance from Hawai'i" with Jenny Pippan - "Irish Dance" with Ronan Healy - "Viola instrumental course" with Prof. Nicolas Corti - "Ocarina" with Sofia Perolo - "Flute master class" with Isabelle Schnöller and "Harp master class" with Prof. Sarah O'Brien.

A very special course is offered under the direction of Prof. Manuel Bärtsch and Sebastian Bausch: "Piano lessons with Grieg, Scriabin and Co". Piano rolls from 1905 transferred to a Yamaha Disklavier make it possible to make music together with the masters of the past.

Arosa Music Academy and master classes

The Arosa Music Course Weeks are also an international player when it comes to promoting top musicians. 15 different master classes and two Arosa Music Academies will take place in Arosa in summer and fall 2022.

All information about the courses and registration can be found on the Internet at www.musikkurs wochen.ch or www.meisterkurs earosa.ch. The printed course program can be ordered from the Arosa Kultur office (see contact). There is a 40 franc discount for early bookers until the end of February.

Andri Probst - The Arosa Classical Music Festival will take place in Arosa from March 20 to 26, 2022. Arosa Kultur asked the two artistic directors about the festival and their vision.

How did the collaboration with Arosa Kultur come about?

Markus Fleck: A concert in honor of Hans Schaeuble's 100th birthday in 2006 was the start of a fruitful, long-standing collaboration. After this first encounter, the first Arosa Music Festival took place in 2008, and Christian Buxhofer, then President of the "Kulturkreis Arosa", invited the casalQuartett to perform a chamber music concert to mark the anniversary. In addition to this wonderful commission, I also founded and directed the Arosa Music Academy in 2011. Since initiating these two important core elements of Arosa Kultur's work, I have been closely associated with the committed protagonists on site.

Lars Mlekusch: Over 15 years ago, Christian Buxhofer invited me and my duo partner at the time, pianist See Siang Wong, to give a concert in the Protestant church in Arosa. That was my first visit to Arosa and a wonderful and formative experience. I was very happy to accept the subsequent request to lead an annual saxophone course as part of the Arosa Music Academy. I have been teaching the Arosa Music Academy, as the master class has been called for several years, together with my wonderful colleagues Timothy McAllister from the USA and Christian Wirth from France as well as the pianists Iren Seleljo (Vienna) and Florian von Radowitz (Berlin). The close collaboration with the accordion master class has also become a unique feature of the Arosa Music Academy. This is led by accordionist Grzegorz Stopa (Vienna) and has been team-teaching with Stefan Hussong (Würzburg) for several years. We have all been very good friends for years and complement each other perfectly thanks to our different artistic focuses.

What values does the Arosa Music Academy embody for you?

MF: One participant in 2021 put it very nicely: "At the Arosa Music Academy, you meet students from different countries who, unlike other masterclasses, don't become co-current students over the course of the week, but friends. An essential part of the secret is the free offer to take chamber music alongside the intensive solo course. As a result, we quickly grow into a close-knit group whose participants spur each other on to top performances. The breathtaking scenic surroundings of the mountains in Arosa are magnificent, but it is the motivating and supportive charisma of the fantastic team of professors that makes participation in the Academy an unforgettable experience." This impression is spot on.

LM: In recent years, the Arosa Music Academy has positioned itself internationally as a leading summer course for classical saxophone and accordion. Talents from all over the world come to Arosa every year for this unique experience. In a family atmosphere, the students work intensively in individual coaching sessions on the one hand, while on the other hand there is a strong focus on chamber music and ensemble playing. Friendships often develop over many years during the Academy.

Why does the Arosa Classical Music Festival need to promote young talent?

MF: Most music festivals score points with glamorous names and established artists. Arosa deliberately focuses on young talents who, after careful selection, urgently need such stepping stones to prove themselves and distinguish themselves in the music world. Quality is the most important yardstick here. Just because many of them are still at the beginning of their professional careers does not mean they have to compromise on quality. The performers are often already outstanding experts in their field.

LM: The fact that they rehearse and perform chamber music with others at a high level and are accompanied by highly experienced musicians and teachers makes the whole thing even more attractive.

The Arosa Classical Music Festival offers young musicians a wonderful opportunity to gain performance experience outside the universities and to network with like-minded people.

What is your vision for the Arosa Music Academy and the Arosa Classical Music Festival?

MF: It is truly amazing what a high standard (in more ways than one!) can be experienced in Arosa, despite, or perhaps because of, its remoteness. Here you arrive and stay. Hectic and restless hustle and bustle is elsewhere. Just as you can admire the majesty of nature in Arosa, you can experience man-made art as a creative counterpart and complement. This is a mutually reinforcing togetherness. I hope that more people from Arosa and abroad will discover this double "filling station" for body, mind and soul and tell others about it, whether they are teachers from all over the world or visitors who are captivated by Arosa and its culture.

LM: I hope that many young talents will continue to find their way to the tranquil town of Arosa with its wonderful mountain world and that they will be able to gain positive and intensive musical as well as interpersonal experiences.

... is a violinist and violist. His work focuses on giving concerts with the casalQuartett and the chamber music collective CHAARTS. He is also a teacher, including as director of the AROSA MUSIC ACADEMY and, from 2021, as a tutor for projects at the Stuttgart University of Music.

... is a lecturer for saxophone and conductor. After studying in Basel, Chicago, Amsterdam and Paris, he initially enjoyed international success as a saxophonist before he increasingly began to recommend himself as a conductor. He has been a professor at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) since 2015. He gives courses at renowned universities worldwide and acts as a juror at international competitions.