Zurich, December 2025

Dear musicians, cultural professionals, and users of SRG services
Dear Ms. Susanne Wille

In March 2026, we will vote on the halving initiative. We cannot take a stand early enough to defend ourselves against this attack on our public broadcaster. Among other things, the SRG is committed to providing independent information, representing the diversity of cultures in our country, building bridges between science and the public, and publicizing the concerns of minorities. It fulfills its mission in all parts of the country and in all national languages. In fulfilling its mandate, it is indispensable to our country in terms of maintaining democratic conditions and strengthening the sense of community. No commercially oriented private broadcaster driven by particular interests can even begin to fulfill the aforementioned tasks. We are called upon to express our solidarity with the SRG in discussions and at any public appearances in the coming period and to ensure that the aforementioned initiative is rejected.

This obligation is binding, regardless of the fact that the measures decided upon by SRG management in recent months must be protested in the strongest possible terms. The strategy of right-wing populists, which aims to undermine democratic conditions, includes attacks on independent media and the freedom of science and the arts. The cancellation of programs in the fields of literature and science, for example, and most recently in the field of music – «Musik unserer Zeit» (Music of Our Time) – represents a premature concession to the aforementioned right-wing extremist tendencies and a departure from key points set out in the public service remit.

The major cultural associations in Switzerland have so far refrained from making any public statements on these cuts – presumably with the intention of not weakening the campaign against the halving initiative by criticizing the SRG. However, given the current situation and future developments, a firm commitment to continued adequate funding for the SRG and criticism of decisions made at the top are two sides of the same coin. The SRG deserves our support because of its unique selling points. Its current strategy of adapting to market forces means disregarding the mandate that justifies adequate public funding in the first place. Instead of canceling programs such as «Wissenschaftsmagazin» and «Musik unserer Zeit,» the management's strategy in the referendum campaign should be to resolutely continue the dialogue between science and society and to carefully cultivate profound journalistic work in the cultural sector.

Market research may consider the listeners of Espace deux's musical and literary features to be a negligible quantity, as it does the die-hard fans of «Klassik-telefon» or the loyal audience of «Echo der Zeit» – to stick with the example of radio programs. With regard to the upcoming vote, it should not be forgotten that this regular audience is prepared to mobilize in support of the SRG.

The SRG must focus on resistance rather than adaptation, on its uniqueness—if it does not want to dig its own grave. It must urgently remember which core areas of its mandate it needs to protect and who in civil society are its comrades-in-arms, its allies in the fight against the halving initiative.

The signatories in alphabetical order

Heinrich Aerni, Ingrid Alexandre, Dieter Ammann

Ulrike Andersen, Monika Baer, Nik Bärtsch

Werner Bärtschi, André Baltensperger, Philip Bartels

Felix Baumann, Peter Baur, André Bellmont

Elisabeth Berger, Marino Bernasconi, Ramon Bischoff

William Blank, Dominik Blum, Bettina Boller

Hugo Bollschweiler, Thüring Bräm, Esther de Bros

Albin Brun, Catriona Bühler, Christiane Bult

Peggy Chew, Jessie Cox, Flurin Cuonz

Reto Cuonz, Therese Cuonz-Räz, Jürg Dähler

Claudio Danuser, Daniela Dolci, Mariana Doughty

Alfred Felder, Adrian Frey, Daniel Fueter

Thomas Gartmann, Bettina Ginsberg, Roger Girod

Katharina Gohl, Anna-Katharina Graf, Kathrin Graf

Ivo Haag, Jonas C. Haefeli, Viviane Hasler

Edu Haubensak, Doris Hauser, Fritz Hauser

Ruedi Häusermann, Hanna Helfenstein, Horst Hildebrandt

Christian Hilz, Jeannine Hirzel, Beat Hofstetter

Christoph Homberger, Raphael Immoos, Markus Jans

Mischa Kaeser, Eriko Kagawa, Vera Kappeler

Christoph Keller, Max E. Keller, Simone Keller

Burkhard Kinzler, Michael Kleiser, Christian Kobi

Canan Kocaay, Tamriko Kordzaia, Niklaus Kost

Herbert Kramis, Hanspeter Kriesi, Anne-May Krüger

Jojo Kunz, Annette Labusch, Matías Lanz

Leslie Leon, Heinrich Mätzener, Delia Mayer

Thomas Meyer, Roland Moser, Moritz Müllenbach

Marie-Louise Müller Choquard, Martin Neukom, Lucas Niggli

Anne-Catherine de Perrot, Stefka Perifanova, Peter Reidemeister

Felix Renggli, Nicola Romanò, Petra Ronner

Michel Roth, Johannes Rühl, Bettina Ruf

Edward Rushton, Nina Sahdeva, Claudine Saner

Urs Saner, Evangelos Sarafianos, Tobias Schabenberger

Sir András Schiff, Isabelle Schnöller, Oliver Schnyder

Muriel Schwarz, Meinrad Schweizer, Yuuko Shiokawa

Peter Siegwart, Rahel Sohn, Peter R. Solomon

Bruno Spoerri, Eleonor Stähli, Jacques Stähli

Urs Stäuble, Egidius Streiff, Monica Thommy

Germán Toro Pérez, Balz Trümpy, Saadet Türköz

Nina Ulli, Christoph Ullmann, Petra Vahle

Katharina Weber, Urs Weibel, Andreas Werner

Peter Wettstein, Maki Wiederkehr, Helena Winkelmann

René Wohlhauser, Maria Wolff, Alfred Zimmerlin, Samuel Zünd

 

PDF download of the original letter

_______________________

PS

«If 100,000 people want to listen to James Last and one person wants to listen to Anton Webern, you don't have to broadcast James Last for 100,000 hours and Webern for one hour; instead, you broadcast James Last for one hour and Anton Webern for one hour. Since all 100,000 can listen at the same time, all 100,000 Last fans get their money's worth, and so does the Webern fan. That's democracy.»

Urs Frauchiger (1936–2023)
Cellist and author, he was in charge of the music department at the Bern studio of Swiss German Radio from 1970 to 1977; from 1992 to 1997, he headed the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.

 

The Federal Office of Culture writes:

«At its 20th session in New Delhi, India, the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage inscribed yodeling on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In its decision, UNESCO highlighted the quality of the dossier submitted and the solid participatory process that led to the nomination.

As a characteristic singing technique, yodeling alternates between chest voice and head voice and uses meaningless syllables that are often associated with local dialects. A distinction is made between natural yodeling, which consists of melodies without lyrics, and yodeling songs, which combine verses and yodeled refrains and often deal with nature and everyday experiences. Whether performed solo, in small groups, or in choirs—sometimes accompanied by instruments such as the accordion—yodeling is characterized by its rich sound and its presence at concerts, festivals, and competitions, which are often associated with the wearing of regional costumes.

Yodeling is extremely popular and is passed on within families, clubs, music schools, or simply among singers. Over 12,000 yodellers are members of one of the 711 groups belonging to the Swiss Yodelling Association, but the practice is also cultivated outside clubs and choirs. Contemporary artists also draw inspiration from it, confirming the vitality of a tradition that is constantly evolving.

The application, submitted in March 2024, was coordinated by the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) with the involvement of yodeling experts and relevant organizations (see list below). This collaborative process made it possible to identify the challenges that are crucial for passing on yodeling to future generations: promoting young talent, national coordination, training, documentation, and research. To this end, measures were jointly defined, including strengthening cooperation, developing new training and further education opportunities, raising public awareness, and supporting practitioners.»

partner organizations

• Swiss Yodeling Association
• Roothuus Gonten – Center for Appenzell and Toggenburg folk music
• HSLU Music
• Interest Group for Folk Culture in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein

Link to the press release from the Federal Office of Culture

The TriRhenum Symphony Orchestra stands out in the Basel music scene for its often original programs with rarely performed works and commissions to Basel composers. Or through special concert formats such as The Basel Night at the Proms. The ambitious amateur orchestra with members from north-western Switzerland and southern Baden was founded in 1999 by the English-born conductor and horn player Julian Gibbons, who still conducts it today. Two concert programs are developed each year. The most recent, performed in Basel's Martinskirche (with a repeat performance in Reinach BL), was dedicated to the theme of "Peer Gynt". Not only were excerpts from Grieg's incidental music op. 23 and the two orchestral suites op. 46 and op. 55 performed, but also a world premiere by composer Lukas Langlotz, born in 1971: Rounds. Four tableaux for "Peer Gynt". Langlotz is no stranger to Basel, as he teaches composition, music theory, ear training and score playing at the Academy of Music. He studied with Rudolf Kelterborn and Betsy Jolas, among others. His works often have a religious background or refer to historical music.

The concert dramaturgy follows the drama

The decision to perform the works by Grieg and Langlotz interwoven rather than one after the other proved to be a very good one. The narrator Dominique Gisler deepened the understanding with interspersed quotations from the drama. The evening was an excellent motivation to engage with Ibsen's work about his hero's search for and discovery of identity. Peer Gynt, a traveler between dream and reality, the world of mountain spirits and the world of the 19th century, is actually a thoroughly unsympathetic person without empathy, without respect for women, but with megalomaniacal fantasies of world domination. Having become rich as a merchant and slave trader in Africa, he lies to himself about his useless life. Defrauded of all his riches, he returns to Norway as an old man. The "button caster", an angel of death or devil's messenger, predicts his end, but he is saved by Solvejg, who has been waiting for him in a hut all her life and loves him. She is often interpreted as the personification of Peer's soul.

Ibsen's work, sometimes referred to as the "Nordic Faust", is based on fairy tales, but is also a bitter satire of its time. The lyrical and folkloristic music by Grieg, who could not identify with the character of Peer Gynt at all, does not fit the drama particularly well, but is enormously popular with concert audiences. For an amateur orchestra like the TriRhenum Symphony Orchestra, which was obviously well prepared by Julian Gibbons, it is very grateful. We heard some outstanding solo performances (viola, oboe, flute, clarinet) and a very homogeneous string section. Intonation problems in the winds were not too noticeable.

Langlotz' "theater music"

The orchestra also mastered the new work by Lukas Langlotz - in the words of the composer "theater music without a stage" - well. Rounds does without unusual playing techniques, but it is certainly contemporary music, even if not in its most avant-garde form. The first part, which characterizes Peer, could perhaps also have been written by the late Penderecki; the second movement, a scherzo in rondo form, which depicts both the troll world and the atmosphere in the madhouse in Cairo, is in the tradition of Mahler's or Shostakovich's scherzos, but without possessing their bite and grim humour. The "Knopfgiesser" music of the third part - at times very dissonant - is haunting, and the last section, dedicated to Solvejg, contains beautiful soundscapes from which the Whitsun hymn Veni Creator Spiritus appears. It ends with a question mark, so to speak. As in the play, the ending remains open. The audience in the well-attended church was enthusiastic.

I start my laptop to write this article. Soon the two red camera eyes are flashing and checking my identity. They compare a stored image of me with what they are currently recording. No matter what glasses I'm wearing, whether I've had my hair cut or have a scar on my face from shaving, there's nothing to confuse the biometric facial recognition system, nothing to stop it from recognizing my identity.

When depositing the original image, this technology measured the distances between around thirty points of the facial landscape. These include key factors such as the distance between the eyes, the distance between the forehead and the chin, the shape of the cheekbones and the contours of the lips, ears and chin. All this data was then converted into a mathematical formula, a numerical code, and stored. Just like a fingerprint, the resulting "face print" is unique to each person.

What did Mozart look like?

The portraits of this unique genius are countless: real, fake, attributed, lost and rediscovered, dubious and unambiguous, artistically valuable and less valuable. And new ones are constantly being found. These then either lead to a huge flurry of articles in the media, or they are barely noticed.

There are a handful of portraits that are written about in detail in the Mozart family letters and their resemblance to the son or brother is reported. But what did Mozart (1756-1791) really look like, which one is the "real" Mozart? Many a fierce dispute has broken out among music scholars about this. Now, however, biometric facial recognition is available as an aid that seems likely to make the disputes more objective.

Since the beginning of the new millennium, the method, which was invented in Japan in 1980, has rapidly gained momentum and, as one of the many AI functions, it is hard to imagine life today without it. It is hardly surprising that it has also begun to occupy modern musicology, albeit cautiously and with a great deal of skepticism. Here are two concrete examples of how it can be used to verify the authenticity of Mozart portraits.

A new "last" portrait

 

Until 2002, the depot holdings of the Berlin Gemäldegalerie contained a collection entitled Gentleman in the green skirt an oil painting by the Munich painter Georg Edlinger (1741-1819). It was painted in 1790, one year before Mozart's death.1

As early as 1995, a certain resemblance to the so-called Bologna portrait of 1777, which Leopold Mozart had painted by his 21-year-old son and sent to the Academy in Bologna for its gallery, was thought to have been discovered (collage top row, 4th from left; bottom row, 2nd from right). He praised it as particularly apt.

In 2006, Rainer Michaelis, the chief curator of the Berlin Gemäldegalerie, together with the Swedish neurobiologist Martin Braun, undertook a highly interesting attempt to compare the two paintings using the latest biometric-statistical methods. 2

The astonishing result was that the Edlinger portrait shows the same person as the Bologna portrait with a probability of 1:10,000,000.3 This makes the Edlinger portrait the last Mozart portrait painted during his lifetime. As early as 2006, the Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen Berlin published a carefully edited and excellently illustrated special edition in its "Bilder im Blickpunkt" series.4

A youth portrait?

Not far from Salzburg, a professor emeritus from the University of Constance, who goes by the pseudonym "Bilddetektiv"5 In an art shop, he came across a rather inconspicuous picture of a young man that immediately fascinated him: Somehow this open face of the young man seemed familiar to him. The picture detective had been studying artists' portraits and the physiognomic authenticity of the sitters for a long time. In over thirty works, he had acquired an enormous amount of knowledge about painting techniques, biographical and historical backgrounds and contexts and had honed his powers of observation for the smallest physiognomic and physiological details. After making comparisons with known Mozart paintings, it was clear to him that the portrait found at the time could well depict Mozart at the age of around ten.

 

The picture detective was well aware that "new" Mozart portraits continue to appear to this day, but that they cannot be verified. He therefore proceeded with caution. He initially substantiated his thesis that the portrait he had found depicted the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by comparing it with the portraits of Joseph Lange, Dorothea Stock and Joseph Grassi, which were considered authentic, and with the one by Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni from 1763, which shows the child Mozart at the age of six (collage, bottom row, 3rd from right). He primarily relied on the comparative observation of physiognomic features.

The research results showed that the size "and shape of the head (forehead, temple, face shape) are the same in all images, as are the distance between the eyes and the proportions of the face. The soft tissues may change in the course of life, but the skull remains the same."

The picture detective also points out another important feature for identifying the sitter, which Eva Gesine Baur describes in her book Mozart, genius and Eros has noted.7 In the caption to a portrait of Mozart shown there, she writes: "Here too, inward strabismus, the squinting inwards (of the right eye), is visible, according to ophthalmology often the result of serious illnesses in the first years of life. It is documented in Wolfgang's case for the year 1767 (smallpox epidemic). This would explain why he is not squinting in the Lorenzoni portrait of 1763." He confirms that the squint in the right eye mentioned by Baur can also be seen in the present youth portrait: "The misalignment of the eyes is a key biometric feature with a prevalence of less than 3 percent. This significantly reduces the probability of random parallelism (less than p of 0.03 in the binomial model)."

In order to verify the assumptions based purely on observation, the portrait was finally examined using biometric facial recognition in comparison with the four paintings mentioned above. The aim was to prove that the picture did not depict Mozart.

In summary, the image detective concludes: "The probability of a match is between 82 and < 85 percent, depending on the question. There is a very high match in the invariant facial features: Eye position, eye color, eyebrow shape, lip and chin shape as well as in the clothing and hairstyle-specific typology of the late 1760s. The average linear deviation in the distance between the eyes and the Grassi oil portrait is only 3.7 percent of the bipupillary distance and is therefore below the typical 5 percent threshold, which is considered an 'identical resemblance' in forensic image anthropology. Minor discrepancies (e.g. underdeveloped nasal length of the child or rounder cheeks) can be explained by ontogenetic growth processes and do not contradict the identity. The nose grows postpubertally by approx. 1.3 mm/year (anthropometric longitudinal data). A child portrayed at the age of 7.8 years therefore has a significantly shorter nasal bridge than the 26-year-old adult."

It was therefore not possible to support the hypothesis that the portrait does not depict Mozart (Popper's falsification criterion).

Conclusion

The iconography (image description) of the visual representations of sound artists is an extraordinarily broad field: musicology and art studies, psychology, sociology, medicine, neurobiology, style and costume studies all overlap here.

It may come as a surprise that all of the above-mentioned disciplines were involved in the research on Edlinger's Berlin painting ("Man in a Green Skirt", Mozart) and the newly discovered youth portrait, but musicology was unfortunately absent! Yet it can be assumed that the cooperation of all specialists would be of the greatest common benefit. For example, biometric facial recognition could be used as a starting point or as conclusive evidence for controversial questions of identity. In the case of Mozart, for example, this would be the question of whether Mozart is really depicted in the very popular Verona picture or in the strange portrait of Josef Hickel:

These questions should also be able to be answered objectively and conclusively in close cooperation with all the disciplines involved and with the aid of in-depth biometric investigations.

Notes

1 On Mozart's life situation at the end of October 1790, see Ueli Ganz on  https://mozartweg.ch/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Wie-Mozart-nicht-aussah.pdf

2 To the Michaelis/Braun report on procedure and conclusions http://www.neuroscience-of-music.se/ormen/Edlinger%20Mozart.htm

3 https://dieterdavidscholz.de/ausstellungen/j-g-edlingers-letztes-mozart-bildnis.html

4 Michaelis Rainer, The Mozart portrait in the Berlin Picture GalleryPreussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin 2006, ISBN-13: 9783886095292

5 The author of this article (UG) knows the full name of the picture detective.

6 Available on: https://bilddetek.hypotheses.org/2096

7 Eva Gesine Baur: Mozart, Genius and Eros - A Biography C.H.Beck, 2014; (to the legend of the endpaper before page 86 VI/1771)

Table of contents

Focus

Statistics will never lead to something like composition
Interview with the composer, music and media scientist Michael Harenberg and an artificial intelligence

AI as a creative partner
With their artistic projects, Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst are looking for ways to retain control over their own creative work.

The time is ripe for the AI artist
The enormous advances in technology require a new self-image on the part of music creators

AI recognizes Mozart's facial features

(italics = summary in German of the original French article)

Critiques

New releases Books, Sound carrier, Websites, Notes, Movies

Echo 

There is not enough space in the printed edition for all the texts, so they are listed here and linked to the corresponding online articles. Most of these were published before the printed edition appeared.

A sense of sound, historical awareness and a farewell
Francesco Piemontesi

About money and the world
The podcasts from Aeneas Humm and the Árvore Foundation

Un lien indéfectible avec la Suisse
Nicolas Dorin and Pierre-Michel Menger talk about Pierre Boulez.

First season with Esther Hoppe
The violinist took over as artistic director of the Camerata Zürich a few weeks ago.

Bells on instruments and mouths
Thilo Hirsch and the Ensemble Arcimboldo teamed up for the project rough and tumble 2025-1898 together with a school class.

A mythical creature explores folk music instruments
The Musikkollegium Winterthur presented Barboza and the ringing tree by Howard Griffiths.

In the labyrinth of labyrinths
Donaueschingen Music Days 2025

 

Base

Articles and news from the music associations

Swiss Federal Orchestra Association (EOV) / Société Fédérale des Orchestres (SFO)

Konferenz Musikhochschulen Schweiz (KMHS) / Conférence des Hautes Ecoles de Musique Suisse (CHEMS)

Kalaidos University of Music / Kalaidos Haute École de Musique

Swiss Music Council (SMR) / Conseil Suisse de la Musique (CSM)

Swissmedmusica (SMM) / Association suisse de Médecine de la Musique (SMM)

Swiss Musicological Society (SMG) / Société Suisse de Musicologie (SSM)

Swiss Musicians' Association (SMV) / Union Suisse des Artistes Musiciens (USDAM)

Schweizerischer Musikpädagogischer Verband (SMPV) / Société Suisse de Pédagogie Musicale (SSPM)

SONART - Musicians Switzerland

Swiss Youth Music Competition Foundation (SJMW)

Arosa Culture

SUISA - Cooperative Society of Authors and Publishers of Music

Swiss Association of Music Schools (VMS) / Association Suisse des Écoles de Musique (ASEM)

 

Baroque AI
Puzzle by Michael Kube

________________________________________

Order issue for CHF 10.- (+ CHF 2.- shipping costs)

The fifteen string players in the small hall of the Tonhalle Zurich (with the exception of the cellists) confidently play standing up, while the artistic director coordinates the musical action from the first podium. Esther Hoppe gives a brief explanation before each of the four works played. While the homogeneous string sound of the Camerata Zürich can be admired in the introductory Schubert dances and Franz Schreker's Intermezzo op. 8, Hindemith's Four temperaments and Haydn's Piano Concerto in G major Ronald Brautigam as a versatile pianist. However, Hoppe's performance could be a little freer, and the position of the grand piano, where you can only see the pianist's back, is not very audience-friendly.

The selection of works for this second subscription concert is typical of the Camerata's program: contemporary (in the broadest sense) mixed with classical music, rarities combined with repertoire pieces. If you look at the season as a whole, you will notice that Swiss composers also play an important role. Esther Hoppe's debut concert in September featured Othmar Schoeck's Summer night opened. Since the ensemble was founded in 1957 by Räto Tschupp, contemporary and Swiss music have been among the constants of the programming. In terms of the repertoire, Hoppe is therefore following in the Camerata's tradition. When it comes to contemporary music, she takes particular care to ensure that it is well integrated into the rest of the program. In the fifth subscription concert, for example, Alfred Zimmerlin's Tides of time Mendelssohn's "Swiss Symphony".

Closer to the audience

The moderation of the concerts by Hoppe himself and selected members of the ensemble is a remarkable innovation: the orchestra wants to step out of anonymity and have a face. The newly created podcast series on the website, which aims to establish a relationship between the ensemble and the audience, aims in the same direction. The appointment of an artist in residence is not entirely new: this season it is Ronald Brautigam, one of the few pianists who play both the modern grand piano and the fortepiano. Hoppe also forms a piano trio with Brautigam and her husband Christian Poltéra. There are also new developments in music education: Following the Saturday subscription concerts, there will be children's concerts for four to ten-year-olds on Sunday mornings, where Evamaria Felder will playfully introduce the kids to one of the works performed. The "Camerata@School - Vivaldi Recomposed" project runs throughout the season, in which a school class from the city of Zurich performs one of Vivaldi's works. Four seasons develops and performs a concert program.

Making music on your own responsibility

Esther Hoppe was born in Zug, but is not (yet) so well known in this country because a large part of her career to date has taken place abroad. After an initial phase in Switzerland, including with the Tecchler Trio, which she founded, she became first concertmaster of the Munich Chamber Orchestra in 2009. Since 2013, she has held a professorship for violin at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. She also performs internationally as a soloist. What Hoppe likes about her new role with the Camerata is being able to create programs that suit the orchestra. The ensemble is also a manageable size.

Even under Hoppe's predecessors Thomas Demenga and Igor Karsko, the Camerata practised the model of non-conducting artistic direction: "Without a conductor, everyone in the orchestra has to know exactly what their role is. It is music-making that is oriented towards chamber music." Hoppe accepts that this model requires a little more rehearsal work because it promotes the members' personal responsibility.

Limited resources

And what about the competition with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, which plays a dominant role in Zurich and has an internationally renowned violinist in Daniel Hope as its conductor? Esther Hoppe takes a relaxed view: "I don't see the two orchestras as competitors. The Camerata Zürich has a very clear artistic profile and deliberately moves away from the classical mainstream. In their differences, the two ensembles complement each other and enrich the city's musical life." Financially, however, the stakes are not the same. The Camerata's annual budget is in the mid six-figure range. Nevertheless, self-financing has increased to 40 percent in recent years. Subsidies from the city of Zurich currently amount to 380,000 francs. It is remarkable that, with these limited resources, the Camerata's artistic profile is still quite ambitious.

Three children shout "Hello" and wave to the audience. They are standing in the middle of a music machine in Basel's Tinguely Museum. Their bright voices stand out from the dark, groping, metallic-colored sounds with which the ten-piece Ensemble Arcimboldo plays Mauricio Kagel's composition 1898 for children's voices and instruments. With trumpets, trombones and tubas, three brass instruments are included. The string instruments also have a metal funnel instead of a resonating body. These are so-called straw instruments, which were used for orchestral recordings at the beginning of the 20th century.

Maurizio Kagel had 1898 for the 75th anniversary of Deutsche Grammophon in 1973. He wanted a "vocally untrained school class" to take part in this work. The children were to bring a spontaneous, even slightly anarchistic element into the adult world. For the concerts in Basel, the choice fell on class 5a from Niederholz elementary school in Riehen, who now stand on the stage ramp in full size and react to the music with laughter, cooing and sometimes hissing. A pupil sticks a cheeky drawing on the conductor Thilo Hirsch's back.

Straw instruments

The musical director of the Basel ensemble Arcimboldo came up with the idea for this unusual project entitled rough-sch-end 2025-1898which is sponsored by the Ernst von Siemens Foundation. Hirsch has long been fascinated by the Stroh instruments, named after their inventor Johannes Matthias Augustus Stroh. At various online auctions, he was able to acquire several bell instruments, all of which are in use, including a violin, a cello, a stroviol, a fono fiddle and a fonoukulele. The instruments Kagel used for the premiere of 1898 The instruments that were built are now owned by the Paul Sacher Foundation, but are no longer playable.

As the children only get to play short passages, Hirsch commissioned another work from the composer Abril Padilla. Together with Naja Parejas, she also led the workshops that were held with the pupils over a period of two and a half months. Including final rehearsals for the three concerts on October 25 and 26 at the Tinguely Museum in Basel, the work took around 40 hours.

Tinkering and listening

Padilla has already worked on previous projects such as the Resonance box worked together with Hirsch. "In the beginning, our workshop was about concentrated listening. Kagel's music was initially quite foreign to the children." They practiced the differences between sincere and artificial laughter, as Kagel describes it in the score. The children discovered their voices through play. For their newly written composition EN‧MO sound funnels were made. "These amplifiers helped individuals to become more courageous," says Padilla. The children's rights addressed in her work were chosen together.

The concert evening begins EN‧MO directly after Mauricio Kagel's Old/New for solo trumpet. A few children put their bells to their ears so that they can listen even better to Jonathan Romana's torn-off sound figures. Then they imitate the sounds of the trumpet - creating a dialog between the musician and the children. The sounds become words: "Clean water", "Fire", "No more racism". Speaking rhythmically, they chant: "Environmental protection is important, environmental protection is good." Maria Luisa Pizzighella gives the words even more power on the drums. EN‧MO is more designed text than music, but a short vocal interlude by a boy is also part of the work.

Laugh and rustle

The varied, dramaturgically tight program also includes Kagel's virtuoso performance of Lanet Flores' Shadow sounds for bass clarinet solo, a tango for straw violin (Juan María Braceras) and piano (Helena Bugallo) by Igor Stravinsky and two further world premieres for fonofiedel (Thilo Hirsch) and gramophone: Charlotte Torresʼ Jungle Jazz Suite and Abril Padillas 78 RPM. The concert ends with a group improvisation led by the children with signs, in which the audience takes part alongside the musicians distributed around the room. The program brochure is folded into a bell. Then it starts with laughter and noise, glissando up and down - and all mixed up. Even the large Tinguely machine behind the stage is set in motion.

When we talk to them after the concert, the children are bursting with information. They think it's great to have been on stage and to have seen the instruments up close. "There were long waiting times during rehearsals, but in the end it was all worth it," says one girl. "We always had to listen carefully and remember when to go on stage," says a boy. Making the bells and using them on stage was also a lot of fun. The two teachers Manon Siebenhaar and Fabian Leuenberger are also satisfied with the project: "The pupils were able to rely on each other. It also strengthened the class community."

Howard Griffithsʼ musical stories awaken childrenʼs imaginations and tell of wondrous things. This time it's about the tradition of Swiss folk music: the hammered dulcimer, alphorn, Schwyzerörgeli and yodeling. But the instruments are not simply introduced. Barboza, the lively mythical creature from the Alps, discovers them on his journey through Switzerland.

When the musicians of the Winterthur orchestra come on stage with the conductor, the children applaud only timidly. Griffiths is not happy with this: "You probably don't know that this is a great orchestra and I am a famous conductor. So please give me a big round of applause! Even louder! I want it to be heard as far away as Zurich." The children clap vigorously, and lo and behold, from now on they always do it that way.

 From singing tree to sounding wood

Barboza loves the cold winter, but sleeps in his cool cave all summer long. But this time he wakes up, steps outside and gradually thaws out in the sun. First he wants to visit the magical tree in the forest that can talk and sing. But, oh horror, the tree has been felled!

Together with the boy Ole, Barboza sets off in search of the wooden parts that were used to make the instruments: They travel by post bus and train, go to a dulcimer concert (Nayan Stalder), meet an alphorn player (Lisa Stoll) and get to know the virtuoso playing on a Schwyzerörgeli (Kristina Brunner). All the instruments are made from the magical wood. And when the yodeler (Franziska Wigger) Det äne am Bärgli the children join in.

The lively illustrations that Andrea Peter drew for the book of the same name can be seen large on the screen. The children love Barboza with his shaggy white hair and root for him. The story is grippingly told by Fernando Tiberine, with music by Fabian Künzli.

 Close to history with stylistic breadth

What appeals to Künzli about composing for young ears? "Children are open-minded, open to new things and very honest," he says. "When they get bored, they just get loud." For Barboza He has been able to use a broad stylistic palette: modern folk music, impressionistic soundscapes, contemporary, theatrical and also rock and pop.

Fabian Künzli sets the story to music close to the text. The music is harmoniously woven into the narrative flow, the formal parts are self-contained and easy to grasp. The Musikkollegium plays with touching dedication, but the volume is problematic. On the one hand, the dulcimer soloist is barely audible, and when Tiberini has to speak into the music, he is difficult to understand.

 Folk music instruments are in vogue

Griffiths produced the Barbosa story in Salzburg at the beginning of the year. More than 2000 girls and boys from 20 elementary school took part. The performances took place as part of the "School Concert Week", which the Mozarteum Orchestra organized for the second time. "We want to give children low-threshold access to classical music during this concert week," it says. "The offer is free - the crowds are very big - the performances are fully booked."

A recording of this Salzburg production is available as audio. This makes reading the story an acoustic experience for all those who cannot get to know Barboza in a performance. The book also contains an appendix with a factual section that introduces the Alpine instruments in a child-friendly way. Griffiths thus picks up on the trend that many young people want to learn to play the hammered dulcimer etc. Barboza and the ringing tree offers a contemporary and entertaining approach to folk music.

 

Howard Griffiths: Barboza and the ringing tree. A musical journey through Switzerland, music by Fabian Künzli, illustrations by Andrea Peter, Edition Hug 11817, Hug Musikverlage, Zurich 2024, ISBN 978-3-03807-145-7

 

Audio on Youtube:

 

Fortunat Frölich, the artistic director of "choR inteR kultuR", has been realizing intercultural choir projects since 2012. There will be two in 2026: "i nostri vicini" in Matera in the fall and "Wind of Change" in Switzerland in August. Both will be presented and sung at the Stok Theater in Zurich on 17 November.

Wind of Change

In this Israeli-Palestinian choir project, the Swiss choir sings together with the Jerusalem Knights Choir from Palestinian East Jerusalem and the Israeli ensemble Sonora. Guest conductor Maayan Baram will lead the Palestinian-Israeli-Swiss program. According to the announcement, the project will take place exclusively in Switzerland. After a 5-day retreat with joint rehearsals, "the three choirs will embark on a short Swiss concert tour."

Information and registration: https://www.chorinterkultur.com/

Bremen-based composer Younghi Pagh-Paan was presented with the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte on October 29. The South Korean ambassador was also present at the ceremony in Bremen City Hall.

The Bremen Senate writes about the award: "Professor Pagh-Paan's merits lie not only in her artistic standing and her innovative contributions to the development of new music, but also in her commitment to intercultural dialog and the promotion of young artists. She is also committed to a female perspective on history and society and is a formative personality in Korean-German cultural exchange."

The composer, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and will be eighty years old on November 30, thanked Bovenschulte for the prestigious award "with words that came from the heart".

At the first concert of the Lucerne Festival in summer 2025, I performed with the new Y-Pipa for the first time, together with saxophonist and composer Daniel Schnyder and a mixed ensemble at the KKL. Since 2024, I had already used this instrument, which I developed with the Swiss guitar restorer Matthias Pulfer, in numerous classical chamber music formations - with success.

The electronic module used in the traditional Chinese pipa preserves the original sound character of the instrument and at the same time opens up new dimensions of the wave movement of the sound in space through electrical transformation. The tonal texture of the acoustic solo instrument is preserved, while at the same time the plasticity of the sound is enhanced.

The players can adapt the sound to the respective acoustic situation at any time during the live performance, be it in the concert hall, in the theater or outdoors. Collaboration with ensembles of different styles is also effortless. At the same time, the Y-Pipa can unfold the timbres of different historical epochs. The instrument can also neutralize the pipa sounds, so that it not only sounds good solo, but also supports other instruments.

Waves - the invisible network of sound transmission

In physical terms, sound is nothing more than vibrations in the air. As soon as a string is plucked, its energy is transformed into continuous pressure waves of air via the wooden resonating body. We call them sound waves - a physical and emotional phenomenon at the same time: invisible, untouchable and yet they instantly fill the room, penetrating the ear and even the heart.

Sound waves have a period, frequency and amplitude. The frequency determines the pitch, the amplitude determines the volume and the waveform determines the timbre.

The strings of the pipa produce a complex network of overtones in the fleetingness of a finger strike. Each wave spreads from the point of attack in all directions. In the Y-pipa, this wave is transmitted through the electric module, frequencies can be adjusted and timbres can be specifically designed.

But as soon as the sound unfolds into the room, it is no longer alone. It hits walls, domes, windows and the bodies of the listeners, is reflected and refracted. The architecture of the room becomes a "second instrument". The electronics of the Y-Pipa can amplify the delicate waveforms and transform them into more powerful vibrations, so that the "second instrument" resonates more intensely.

 Tone colors - the qualities of the individual tone

Today's living and listening environment is completely different from when traditional instruments were created. But modern technology enables us to find new forms of expression and at the same time relive old worlds of sound.

The Swiss-Chinese Y-pipa can emphasize the layering of individual notes in old pipa compositions particularly clearly. I myself once studied the art of tone color formation with the famous Chinese virtuoso Wang Fandi (1933-2017): how the angle of the right finger at the string attack or the vibrato technique of the left hand can shape the finest nuances. With the expanded electro-acoustic possibilities available today, the quality of a single note can be developed even more intensively: The differentiations become clearer, the cultural-philosophical depth more precisely audible.

Music - an art perfected by listening

In musical practice, the performance format, stage structure and concert hall size are the external framework conditions. A concert hall is designed to be as neutral as possible, with the emphasis on optimal acoustics. The musicians bring the art of music to the audience. Within the walls of large and small rooms or beyond the walls in nature, where the environment, plants and wind "play along", it gives the artists and the audience intense sensory and spiritual experiences.

The Y-Pipa is the fruit of decades of my stage practice and reflection. It makes me freer and happier both in performance and in rehearsal. Whether in the KKL Lucerne with a large orchestra or in a small theater in Zurich in dialogue with a piano: the Y-pipa always maintains the tonal balance. It not only expands the expressive possibilities of the pipa, but also opens up new ideas and working methods for composers and concert organizers. This makes the Y-pipa not only a tool for playing, an instrument, but also a medium of space and time. It allows the vibrations of music to continue to flow between the present and the future - rich in layers, colors and emotions.

 

Concerts from October 29 to November 2, 2025 in the Framework of the "Days for music between worlds - letting go" at Zurich's Stok Theater.

 

Wolfgang Böhler interviewed Yang Jing for the Swiss music magazine Schweizer Musikzeitung in 2019. Download PDF

 

Six vocalists and a violist tell us something, in a suggestive and purely musical way. Without any comprehensible words, this music could seemingly run through time forever, but sometimes it does speak, of love and loyalty and the like. This is nothing new, but it forms a rich network of relationships in the mind. "The listeners have the freedom to make their own way through this labyrinth." Thus the composer Georges Aperghis, whose Tell Tales with the British vocal ensemble Exaudi and Tabea Zimmermann was the highlight of this year's Donaueschingen Music Festival. The labyrinth is wonderfully clearly formed, but we don't know where the music, this Ariadne thread, will lead us.

Turning in on itself

The labyrinth may, not for the first time, be seen as an expression of our era, in which many things have become confusing. Although we are now all networked, we are all on different strands of this network. "Everything has already been done, but not by everyone!" said music critic Eleonore Büning in her speech to mark the occasion, as Südwestrundfunk SWR has been a leading contributor to the festival for 75 years. The Anglo-Iranian turntablist Mariam Rezaei mixed concert recordings from all these decades, drawing inspiration for the organization from ancient Chinese gongshi, bizarre scholars' stones. Even such wild labyrinths of quotations require complex organization.

A labyrinth is not chaotic, but on the contrary: highly elaborate and well-structured, albeit in an unexpected way. The original labyrinth of the Cretan king Minos required the greatest master builder of the time: Daedalus. This could be traced in several pieces. In his orchestral work The deepest continuity is paradoxically that which continually restarts or renews itself the German Laure M. Hiendl incessantly played a few bars from Ralph Vaughan Williams' Seventh, with the rhythm and orchestration constantly varying. It was all clear and easy to follow so far, but as time went on, the auditory senses began to become distorted. Mirela Ivičević mixed in Red Thread Mermaid love songs from the former Yugoslavia into a nostalgically alienating collage.

In Philippe Lerouxʼs orchestral piece Paris, Banlieue the orchestra stands for the big city of Paris and the electronics for the suburbs that drive in every day. The labyrinth becomes tangible in a sensual way. The Frenchman, who lives in Montreal, received the SWR Symphony Orchestra Prize for his work.

 Guided by the thread

However, we will also remember the spatial experience of the third kind that Hanna Eimermacher created in her semi-theatrical piece Aura staged. And so on: further pieces wandered through such seemingly labyrinthine worlds, with world-dividing and world-connecting themes being addressed again and again - and linked as if by Ariadne.

The cable would also be such a means of networking, a somewhat outdated but still visible one. In her sound installation Labyrinthic Explanation of Knowledge Norwegian artist Ewa Jacobsson wired up a hodgepodge of curiosities, from cute everyday objects to macabre plasticine, creating a surrealistic connection between the impossible that sounded unusual but also seemed somewhat arbitrary. For his installation, the Frenchman Félix Blume took Ao Pé Do Ouvido In Rio, he recorded conversations in which fifty people told him about their life dreams - a personal, altogether roaring polyphony of small escapes and visions, which he presented as a wired structure. The ear had to get very close to the speakers to understand anything. Here, too, it made its own way.

From the winding to the net

What was missing in Donaueschingen were the provocations with which some neo-conceptualists and discourse composers controversially brought a breath of fresh air ten years ago. That would sometimes have pulled you out of the labyrinthine rotation. Instead, most of the music here was very solidly composed. Skillful, but little new, as some criticized.

It should be noted, however, that a lively young generation has long been attending the festival. Most of the concerts were sold out. And finally, for some time now there has also been the forward-looking accompanying project "Next Generation", which is organized by the universities of Basel, Bern and Trossingen and in which students from all over the world can participate. They are introduced to the festival and new music. In a sound lab this year, some of them worked under Bernese guidance on a Composition performance of half an hour, not as a collection of individual pieces, but as a collaboration. It was a work of learners, certainly, but it was wonderful to observe how a network of listening attention for and to each other was spun in the room.

Donaueschingen Music Days, October 16-19, 2025

On the Program four works with a close connection to the Orchestra: The overture Campo Marzio (1937) by Ernst Krenek, named after the district in Lugano where the radio was based at the time, a classical divertimento by the conductor and composer Otmar Nussio, who was chief conductor of the orchestra from 1938 to 1968, and the world premiere of the smart Divertissement Mélancomique - a home-made work composed by violinist Duilio Galfetti and orchestrated by his orchestra colleague Katie Vitalie. The concert concluded with a brilliant interpretation of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which opened the orchestra's first concerts in 1935. Under the direction of Enrico Onofri, an Italian specialist in early music, the orchestra was in top musical form.

In his speech, the President of the Orchestra Foundation, Mario Postizzi, emphasized the important cultural function that the OSI has for Italian-speaking Switzerland. It is the only symphony orchestra in the canton of Ticino and is based in the LAC (Lugano Arte e Cultura) cultural center, which opened in 2015, but also gives guest performances in the Ticino regions and in the neighbouring Italian-speaking part of the canton of Graubünden. With its social commitment, says Postizzi, it makes a significant contribution to the cultural identity of the canton of Ticino. The canton is often only perceived as a tourist destination and still has to find its place between Italy and German-speaking Switzerland.

Conducting composers

The OSI can look back on many years of collaboration with important composers as conductors of their own works, including Ernst Krenek, Pietro Mascagni, Artur Honegger, Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. Unfortunately, many of the early recordings are no longer available; they are said to have been "disposed of" when the radio moved to the new buildings in Lugano-Besso in 1962. The more recent past, however, is well documented, such as the Progetto Martha Argerich, founded in 2002, in which the OSI played a central role with conductor Diego Fasolis.

Marc Andreae was chief conductor after Nussio for thirty years from 1968. After that, the position of "direttore principale" was established for a limited period, most recently held by Markus Poschner. Other guest conductors with longer-term engagements have included Serge Baudo, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Ashkenazy and currently Krzysztof Urbański. The CD released by ECM with works by Alfred Schnittke and Paul Hindemith and with soloist Anna Gourari (conductor Markus Poschner) won the prize in the Mixed Recordings category at the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) in 2025.

Anniversary book

RSI separated from the orchestra in 1991. A state foundation with a broadly based supervisory body was established. The OSI thus took on the aforementioned role as an identity-forming institution in Italian-speaking Switzerland, which it has since fulfilled with great ingenuity in both musical and organizational terms. A small Book by Lorenzo Sganzini Il respiro dell'orchestra (The breath of the orchestra)which has now been presented to the public at the anniversary concert, traces the orchestra's path and its current activities in great detail.

www.osi.swiss
Streaming of the anniversary concert: https://www.rsi.ch/cultura/musica/I-primi-90-anni-dell%E2%80%99OSI–3206238.html
Lorenzo Sganzini: Il respiro dell'orchestra, Edizioni Casagrande, Bellinzona, 2025  www.edizionicasagrande.com/libri_dett.php?id=2978

 

Table of contents

Focus

Interview: Teaching the brain to re-evaluate
Anke Grell, a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy, treats musicians of all ages for psychosocial difficulties.

A network of support services is emerging
Swiss music academies offer or develop prevention programs and treatment services.

Chatting about ... methods of staying mentally healthy in the music business
Joana Aderi and Manuel Oswald exchange ideas.

Teaching exceptional children
Percussion and accordion teacher Sarah Perruchoud-Cordonier talks about her experiences.

(italics = summary in German of the original French article)

Critiques

New releases Books, Sound carrier, Websites, Notes, Movies

Echo 

There is not enough space in the printed edition for all the texts, so they are listed here and linked to the corresponding online articles. Most of these were published before the printed edition appeared.

Concerts spontanés et flash mobs pour Gaza
Plus de cent musiciens et musiciennes jouent pour Gaza

La colère devient manifeste
Manifeste des musiciens romands

La musique pour prendre soin et créer du lien
Groovy Park est un jeu vidéo qui favorise le bien-être à travers la création musicale

125 years of the Swiss Association of Musicians
Social mirror of Switzerland

Classical music festivals outside the centers
Othmar Schoeck Festival in Brunnen and the "Beleuchtungen" festival in Langenthal

Sensuality is back
Bern Music Festival

50 years of change
Willisau Jazz Festival

Close your eyes and listen
Beat Gysins Movements I

Open End in Lucerne
The farewell to Michael Haefliger marked the end of an era at the Lucerne Festival

Participate, even in old age
The Theater Jungbrunnen on the road with the Merry Widow

A new start at the crematorium
Katharina Rosenberger's performance installation The Gap 

Of censorship, rebellion and death
The festival Makes music in Basel

Base

Articles and news from the music associations

Swiss Federal Orchestra Association (EOV) / Société Fédérale des Orchestres (SFO)

Konferenz Musikhochschulen Schweiz (KMHS) / Conférence des Hautes Ecoles de Musique Suisse (CHEMS)

Kalaidos University of Music / Kalaidos Haute École de Musique

Swiss Music Council (SMR) / Conseil Suisse de la Musique (CSM)

Swissmedmusica (SMM) / Association suisse de Médecine de la Musique (SMM)

Swiss Musicological Society (SMG) / Société Suisse de Musicologie (SSM)

Swiss Musicians' Association (SMV) / Union Suisse des Artistes Musiciens (USDAM)

Schweizerischer Musikpädagogischer Verband (SMPV) / Société Suisse de Pédagogie Musicale (SSPM)

SONART - Musicians Switzerland

Swiss Youth Music Competition Foundation (SJMW)

Arosa Culture

SUISA - Cooperative Society of Authors and Publishers of Music

Swiss Association of Music Schools (VMS) / Association Suisse des Écoles de Musique (ASEM)

 

Madness
Puzzle by Pia Schwab

________________________________________

Order issue for CHF 10.- (+ CHF 2.- shipping costs)

Tomas Dratva was an enthusiastic piano teacher and well-known pianist with numerous recordings. President of EPTA Switzerland, the Swiss section of the European Piano Teachers Association, since 2019, the training and further education of piano teachers was very close to his heart. The EPTA Switzerland remembers Tomas Dratva with great gratitude and deep sadness and will commemorate him at the conference on November 8, 2025.

For the Executive Board: Verena Friedrich (Managing Director)

www.epta.ch