Where the world has become confusing, art can also be staged in the same way: as organized confusion. Report from the Donaueschingen Music Days in 2025.
Thomas Meyer
(translation: AI)
- Oct 22, 2025
Installation by Félix Blume. Photo: Thomas Meyer
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.
The Orchestra della Svizzera italiana (OSI) celebrated its ninetieth anniversary on October 16 in Lugano with a festive concert and the publication of a book.
Max Nyffeler
(translation: AI)
- Oct 20, 2025
Festive concert of the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana. Photo: Max Nyffeler
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.
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)
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
Last Saturday, October 11, 2025, the President of EPTA Switzerland, pianist Tomas Dratva, passed away following an operation.
EPTA Switzerland
(translation: AI)
- Oct 15, 2025
Tomas Dratva. Photo: Roger Stöckli, rsfilm.ch
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)
Theater Jungbrunnen brings stage experiences to people who can no longer go to performances. It is currently on the road with "The Merry Widow".
Pia Schwab
(translation: AI)
- Oct 03, 2025
Presentation on September 24, 2025 with Graziella Contratto, Katharina Willi and Eric Müller (from left). Photo: Pia Schwab
Towards the end, the faces are more animated, the applause less hesitant than at the beginning. Around thirty people here at the Langgrüt Health Center for the Elderly in Zurich have just watched the hour-long musical theater based on Franz Lehár's operetta The merry widow followed. Now they leave the room, which is immediately transformed back into a cafeteria. The mood is not exuberant. "We really enjoyed it," explains a couple who give way to the walking frames and wheelchairs on their way out. They are both only 89, but many of the visitors in the hall have passed the hundred mark. "Even if they are often no longer able to show it: The joy of such an experience is profound. We used to go to public performances at the theater and opera, but now our health no longer allows us to attend a performance." They are very happy about performances right here in the house.
Katharina Willi and Eric Müller, who had just been singing and acting on stage, confirmed that they could feel the audience absorbing the action and being grateful. Olivier Tambosi, artistic director of the Jungbrunnen Theater, has rewritten the operetta, actually a "big box" with many soloists, choir, ballet and a large orchestra, into a chamber play in which the catchy tunes are performed as solo pieces or duets, melodies that this generation knows, if not from their own visits to the theater, then at least from the radio: the folkloric Vilja song, which you can hum along to, "Da geh' ich ins Maxim", "Lippen schweigen" or the "Weibermarsch", which is brought into the present day with a newly texted counterpart: "Ja, das Studium der Männer ist leicht ..."
It's not really true that the singers are "on stage". There is neither a platform nor special lighting, just two chairs. In a newly conceived framework, the two have placed the necessary props and costume pieces in a trolley case in front of the audience themselves. From time to time, the pianist intervenes in the action with a commentary or stands up briefly and plays along. Today, Graziella Contratto, who has reduced the lush piano score to rather chanson-like accompaniments, has to deal with a somewhat out-of-tune instrument. The room is also actually too low for the voices. But that simply doesn't matter here. It's the proximity to the audience that counts.
The Theater Jungbrunnen has been bringing theater and music to people with reduced mobility for almost 70 years. It tours the whole of German-speaking Switzerland, but most often makes guest appearances in the canton of Zurich. The canton contributes a lot to the funding, as does the city of Zurich. The offer is in demand, says Sinikka Jenni, the administrative director. Although she writes to institutions, many approach her of their own accord and she cannot consider them all. Such ideas are valuable building blocks in the activation efforts of health and retirement centers. And indeed: here on Langgrütstrasse, memories have just been evoked, ears have been caressed and eyes have been turned outwards a little more.
Social mirror of Switzerland
The Swiss Association of Musicians was founded 125 years ago. A brief outline of its eventful history up to its dissolution eight years ago.
Thomas Gartmann
(translation: AI)
- 02 Oct 2025
The Swiss Association of Musicians (STV) has been central to the development of contemporary music in Switzerland since it was founded in 1900. With annual Tonkünstler festivals, magazines, recordings and prizes, it shaped the canon and discourse until its dissolution in 2017. Its activities have been reflected in an archive, which has recently been made accessible, and were made possible thanks to a recently completed research project of the Swiss National Science Foundation at the Bern University of the Arts reappraised. The activities of the STV as well as its functioning point to developments, continuities and breaks. Today, eight years after its dissolution, the club's history can be read from the back. What brought STV to its downfall after 117 years of functioning? Did it successfully make itself redundant or have times simply changed?
When the STV celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1975, it was at the height of its national reputation. The fact that the long-serving Honorary President Paul Sacher sounded out whether the Federal Council in corpore The self-assessment shows that the company would not be invited. Nevertheless, Federal Councillor Hans Hürlimann gave a speech, promised more subsidies and also wrote a contribution to the commemorative publication.
Failed reforms and internal strife
President Klaus Huber brought movement to this time-honored association. Initially, he initiated many reforms. The Tonkünstlerfest 1982 in Zofingen was a first, albeit clumsy, attempt to soften aesthetic fronts and integrate improvised music. The increased participation of women and foreigners was important to Huber. However, he was so tactically inept in the implementation that both failed for the time being. The sixty-eight-year-old saw all of this as a contribution to participation. But his conduct of meetings was time-consuming. A lack of availability and disloyal behavior led to conflicts, which Honorary President Sacher tried to settle in a court of arbitration. Hans Ulrich Lehmann said that Huber wanted to be democratic, but was authoritarian, and Jean Balissat said: "Our President has a strong personality, but this is hardly transferable to the office of President." (1)
Eric Gaudibert was shocked by Huber's unauthorized leave of absence, which revealed contempt and egocentricity as well as a breach of ethics. Urs Frauchiger denied him any suitability for the office: "A president must be a manager, have organizational skills and time at his disposal. He therefore asked him to resign from office." (2) In his last presidential address, Huber took stock of the situation: The STV was in "urgent need of renewal". He identified a "trench instinct" and warned against a "secession".
Dissonance and a breath of fresh air
The following president, Jean Balissat, also caused glaring disharmony with a targeted attack. At the 1986 Tonkünstlerfest in Fribourg, where Balissat also enjoyed a high social status as conductor of the official brass band, the association magazine Dissonance a reckoning by Jürg Stenzl. A re-reading of the polemic and its accompanying documents shows superficially the regret of a musicologist who sees himself as progressive in the face of an allegedly regressive development of the composer. However, the criticism of a short piano piece reveals the whole malaise: unease at the accumulation of power and disdain for contemporary music from the Suisse romande.
The conflict drove a wedge between the cultures of German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland. The storm in a teacup turned into an uprising of the young against the authorities, of the avant-gardists against the traditionalists. Above all, a different understanding of the task of music criticism became apparent. While Stenzl in the Swiss Music Newspaper lines such as those between traditionalists and avant-gardists and between western and German-speaking Swiss, Keller took up the Dissonance The magazine anticipated the debate: the emancipation of women, the perception of improvisation, the reappraisal of the association's past. This defiant attitude earned the magazine the disparaging title of "party organ".
A new wind was blowing under Daniel Fueter. The new beginning was staged programmatically: For the federal jubilee year 1991, Fueter outlined a utopia inspired by the national poet Gottfried Keller: "At last, we could dream of culturally interested, lateral-minded state writers or publicly funded, politically active artists who deal with current creative work within and beyond the country's borders." The fact that Fueter drafted this manifesto in the very year that Switzerland was reflecting on itself was explosive and heralded the further opening of the association to improvisation, women and foreigners, who were now integrated into the festival for the first time.
Composer prizes as aesthetic guidelines
The composers' prizes were highly prestigious. Their dignified presentation reflected the STV's self-image. The slow change in discourse over the years can be seen above all in the awards. In the beginning, traditional and national values were emphasized, and supposedly typically Swiss qualities such as masterful craftsmanship were stressed. In the post-war period, a deliberate discourse of differentiation from the avant-garde can be observed in awards and the selection of award winners that tended to look backwards. It was only later that criteria such as innovation, originality, internationality and communication skills became important.
Picture: STV archive
As late as 1981, Jürg Wyttenbach's laudatory speech for Jacques Wildberger caused a stir with jury president Paul Sacher because of its unusual political tone: "On a second reading, I am disturbed by the 2nd paragraph, 3rd line: 'condemned as degenerate'. As National Socialism fortunately never came to power in Switzerland, we should not quote it here either. I would therefore ask you to delete these three words. I also don't particularly like the beginning of the third paragraph on a second reading. I think there are still a great many composers who think about the position of the artist in society!"
The conflict arose years later: names were discussed, Rolf Liebermann and Peter Mieg, who were immediately eliminated, as well as Armin Schibler and Julien-François Zbinden: "Mr. Sacher is of the opinion that both should receive the prize in 1987." (3) Aurèle Nicolet objected and demanded that no one be honored - or else Hans Ulrich Lehmann. The decision was postponed. Sacher probably sensed that his influence was waning. He made a compromise and dropped Schibler, who had since died, in favor of Lehmann: "Gentlemen, you know that a malaise is spreading in French-speaking Switzerland. Small gestures in intellectual and artistic circles are particularly noticed. For these reasons, I would like to return to our decision and urge you to award our prize this year to Mr. Lehmann and Mr. Zbinden. In doing so, I would like to make an attempt to contribute to the improvement between French- and German-speaking Switzerland."
To emphasize how important this was to him, Nicolet wrote a detailed letter on his tour of Norway, playing on his rhetorical skills and charming empathy to ensure that Gaudibert (and Lehmann) were awarded the prize instead of Zbinden: "Of course, like everyone else, I feel the musical malaise in Switzerland. [...]. This malaise is also not the 'exclusive' Switzerland's privilege, but it is necessarily felt more deeply in a country that is neither willing nor able to question itself and only clings to the values of the past. This guarantees it material prosperity, but increasingly isolates it spiritually and culturally from the rest of Europe and the world. To come back to the problem you mentioned, I very much doubt that the awarding of the STV prize to J. F. Zbinden will in any way ease the situation of Swiss music in general and that of the STV in particular. Do you want to put up both the goat and the cabbage? That's a reflexive attitude that is not justified in our 'good old' country was learned and acquired. If it is right to choose a Romand, I will give my vote to E. Gaudibert. But a Lehmann-Zbinden ticket only seems to me to document our confusion, whereas the choice of the Lehmann-Gaudibert tandem expresses a taste and an attachment to musical values that we want to defend and promote."
Balance and culture shocks
The STV endeavored to maintain the fragile balance between the language cultures and promote mutual interest. Presidents changed in rotation, there was guaranteed minority representation on the board, and attempts were made to strike a balance in the magazine, festivals and CDs. According to former President Nicolas Bolens, there were hardly any conflicts: "There was certainly an unease that we all felt. It was more at the level of the functioning of the board than at the level of aesthetics." He felt that bringing people together was an important task: "The positions could be very different, but it's also about learning respect. The ways of thinking and working are not the same, which forced us into a dialog, into cultural encounters. Cultural encounters, yes, cultural shocks, which these festivals were, which the STV made possible. And I think that's important for national cohesion. That's what makes the moments of dialog, of encounter."
Foreigners, women and improvisers as minorities
Foreign composers and musicians were initially treated on an equal footing with their Swiss colleagues. In a broad arc, there were then increasing tendencies towards exclusion in a changing political context, but also due to fear of competition, until the last few decades saw a gradual reopening. Protectionism and later integration took place in autonomous succession, partly in parallel with the political amendment of laws, partly delayed.
According to the statutes, women had equal rights, de facto However, they were largely kept away from power, honor and pots of money for a long time. Here, too, the development took place parallel to the emancipation of the state. However, denial or non-recognition of the gender imbalance can still be observed in recent times. All the more important are the personalities who drove these developments forward, from the appointment of board members to the handling of applications, selections and specific topics.
Improvisers were also excluded for a long time. It was only in tentative steps that they were recognized and taken into account, having previously not been taken seriously due to a lack of professional training or measured against inappropriate criteria. The controversy surrounding a negatively received article by Thomas Meyer in Dissonancewho ultimately gave the improv scene a new impetus - not least at Pro Helvetia, where Meyer, who was under attack, was a member of the Board of Trustees.
Sound carrier production with unclear objectives
Even if the purpose of the self-produced recordings was never explicitly defined, certain intentions can be read from the actual practice: The aim was to document contemporary musical life in Switzerland. For the composers and performers represented, it was a calling card, an honor and a PR tool. Swiss radio stations were able to fulfill their cultural mandate, while foreign stations were able to satisfy musical curiosity and the need for information. Alluding to previous practices, Pierre Sublet posed the fundamental question: "Do we want to launch someone or make someone happy, do we want something more representative?", to which Roman Brotbeck responded with his own radicalism: "You have to ask yourself what you would like to hear in New York, for example."
Saved to death or survived?
In 2017, the Federal Office of Culture cut the subsidies for the STV. As a result, it merged with other associations to form the professional association Sonart. At first glance, the reasons seem clear: political pressure and financial bleeding. However, an examination of the association's documents combined with interviews with contemporary witnesses shows that the end had a variety of causes and was announced early on: expensive association structures, an opening up of content as a culture of outsourcing, whereby the sovereignty of discourse was relinquished. The context was neglected: the STV had become one of many players. Its significance faded; contemporary music organizers were now to be found all over Switzerland. The Tonkünstlerfest was absorbed into other festivals, which more than made up for the absence of its own audience, but its unique profile disappeared.
The same applied to the CD series, which the orchestra was less and less able to shape itself and eventually gave up, along with many other activities from soloist to composer prizes, from writing residencies in the Ticino working residence Carona to the musicians' agenda. The core of the former profile was lost and older members were scared away. For a long time, it insisted on its cultural mission and neglected the understanding of service required by the federal government.
Did this disappearance mean a negligent or even willful destruction of musical structure? Looking back, only an ambivalent answer is possible. They excluded themselves, were also a little arrogant about it, they were preoccupied with themselves for too long, and although they were aware of the political weather light, they didn't react enough and tactically missed opportunities. But the end can also be interpreted positively: The STV has successfully fulfilled its mission. It has made itself superfluous because the situation has changed. And it survived itself in new services, which were extremely important during the Covid crisis, offered by the successor organization Sonart, in cultural activities that were taken up elsewhere, and in the collective memory, numerous documents and reflection on them.
__________
Notes: (1) Minutes of the extraordinary meeting of the STV Board of Directors on January 18, 1981, pp. 2-6. (2) Ibid. (3) Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Trustees on February 2, 1986, p. 1.
__________
As part of the Lucerne Festival Forward, events on STV will take place on November 22 and 23 at the Kultur- und Kongresshaus KKL: An exhibition, a panel discussion and the vernissage (Nov. 22, 4 p.m.) of two anthologies :
At the center of developments. The Swiss Association of Musicians 1975-2017, ed. by Thomas Gartmann and Doris Lanz, Zurich: Chronos 2025.
Music discourses after 1970ed. by Thomas Gartmann, Doris Lanz, Raphaël Sudan and Gabrielle Weber, with editorial assistance from Daniel Allenbach, Musikforschung der Hochschule der Künste Bern, vol. 19, Baden-Baden: Ergon 2025.
Thomas Gartmann led the SNSF project on STV at the Bern University of the Arts, where he is responsible for research.
Classical music festivals outside the centers
The Othmar Schoeck Festival in Brunnen is artistically and academically dedicated to the composer who lived there. "Beleuchtungen", a festival organized by Oberaargau Classics, appeals to new audiences with works with regional references.
Christoph Geissbühler
(translation: AI)
- Oct 01, 2025
Surprises are rare in the established classical music festival business. It can happen that a pianist of the caliber of Jean-Efflam Bavouzet complements his program in Verbier with personal anecdotes and relevant analyses of the works played, the entertainment and insight value of which at least doubles the concert enjoyment (2019). More often, it is unusual combinations that one would not have expected in the respective setting. Chilly Gonzales, for example, was recently invited by program director Igor Levit to perform at the piano festival in the large hall of the KKL, which worked surprisingly well, and not just in terms of sound. Fortunately, the concert was as good as sold out. Obviously, when it comes to programming like this, the gain for an all-round harmonious festival is more important than the risk.
Christian Gerhaher, Heinz Holliger and the Basel Chamber Orchestra performed Othmar Schoeck's "Elegy" at the Seehotel Waldstätterhof. Photo: Charlotte Waltert
Artistic excellence and science in fountains
However, one is amazed at younger festivals, which are usually set up far outside the established structures, are not yet on everyone's lips and can therefore operate more freely. The Othmar Schoeck Festival took place for the seventh time this September in Brunnen SZ. After being founded in 2016, it has only been possible to continue it annually since 2020. In addition to Villa Schoeck, the composer's birthplace and frequent place of work, as an exceptional location and other special venues in the beautiful landscape on the northern shores of Lake Uri, it is above all the festival program that stood out.
Versatile concerts with international and highly specialized musicians - a performance of the Elegy op. 36 under the baton of Heinz Holliger as the highlight -, a master class for Lied duos and a careful mediation project guaranteed an intensive musical experience over three days of performances. A lecture by Ulrike Thiele, a musicologist from Zurich, also featured prominently in the program. She shed light on the life and work of Werner Reinhart, patron and passionate amateur musician from Winterthur, who had supported Othmar Schoeck in his compositional work for decades. These and other musicological formats characterize the entire festival series just as much as the purely artistic content.
Ulrike Thiele talks about Werner Reinhart in the studio of the Künstlervilla. Photo: Charlotte Waltert
For Alvaro Schoeck, the initiator and artistic co-director of the festival, it was central from the outset that a comprehensive historical reappraisal of Othmar Schoeck's life and contemporaneity should be carried out at the same time as the promotion of his work - and the revival of the Villa Schoeck. After his death in 1957, he was rarely performed until the 1980s, and the subsequent rediscovery was accompanied by trepidation about his connections to the Third Reich. The artistic positioning of his multifaceted oeuvre proved to be difficult, there was a lack of scholarly research in the narrower sense and, last but not least, practical performance problems arose, as his work often demands top performances from the interpreters.
Alvaro Schoeck (center) introduces the Masterclass Liedduo under the direction of Cornelia Kallisch and Edward Rushton. Photo: Charlotte Waltert
The festival weekend from September 19 to 21 provided an impressive demonstration of how far this reappraisal has already progressed. The performers played Schoeck's works with such skill and uncompromisingness that no restraint or ambiguity shone through. The general atmosphere also contributed to this impression: Even in the studio space of the Villa Schoeck, which was bursting with private history, one perceived nothing that could have been associated with any kind of conceit. It is to be hoped that the great commitment of all those involved will continue to lead to such successful festival years and that the project succeeds in establishing itself in the long term. This would be highly appropriate for Othmar Schoeck's significance for the region and beyond.
New audiences and world premieres with a regional focus in Langenthal
The Grenzklang Baroque Orchestra performs at Theater 49 in Langenthal. Photo: Marcel Masi Marti
Two professional ensembles from Langenthal BE, the birthplace of Heinz Holliger, the Grenzklang Baroque Orchestra and the Camerata 49 Orchestra, have been working together for several years and, with the Oberaargau Classics, form one of the most important cultural institutions in the western Mittelland. With the first four-day festival "Beleuchtungen" from September 4 to 7 the organizers have now taken a major step forward in their efforts to raise the profile of classical music in the Oberaargau region. In addition to stylistic diversity and a love of experimentation, the organizers were also keen to attract new audiences of all ages with unusual venues and a flexible pricing model, thus creating a new kind of exchange.
The fact that this worked straight away was particularly evident on the second evening of the festival in the Kunsthalle on the Porzi-Areal under the motto "Portrait of composers". Numerous children and young people were among those present to listen to a program that ranged from new children's pieces by Heinz Holliger to three world premieres by composers with a connection to the region, performed by the excellent Camerata 49 quintet. These larger compositions with a local connection were one of the highlights of the festival and gave a hint of the great potential that lies in local music with a classical focus.
The Camerata 49 applauding in the Kunsthalle. Photo: Marcel Masi Marti
After the festival, co-initiator and artistic director Sabina Weyermann was very satisfied with the result. For a first-time event, the four evenings were very well attended and the response from the audience was consistently positive. This contrasts with the enormous effort that she and her team had to make to plan and carry out the events successfully. At the same time, she emphasized that she had received sufficient support in all important areas and therefore did not agree with the widespread view that there was not enough support for projects of this kind.
Concert at the Ruckstuhl carpet factory with the Grenzklang baroque ensemble and percussionist Philipp Läng. Photo: Marcel Masi Marti
Both festivals - as different as their orientations are - each provide a genuine enrichment of musical life in Switzerland in their own way. Langenthal not only attracts new audiences and carries out important educational work, but also puts excellent composers from the region in the right light. And in Brunnen, not only do they pull out all the stops for a successful festival at the cutting edge, with the Othmar Schoeck Festival they also carry out long overdue academic work on one of the most important figures in recent Swiss music history.
Transparency note: The Swiss Music Newspaper is media partner of the Othmar Schoeck Festival
A new start at the crematorium
A utopia in an unusual place: Katharina Rosenberger's new performance installation "The Gap" was shown in Geneva and Zurich.
Thomas Meyer
(translation: AI)
- Sep 30, 2025
Archive: Performance string trio&turntables. Members of the Ensemble Contrechamps: Maximilian Haft - violin, Ingrid Schoenlaub - violoncello, Noëlle Reymond - double bass. Photo: Betina Kuntzsch
A blinking monster with blue teeth in the quiet of the evening: this is how the Old Crematorium presents itself between the trees of Sihlfeld cemetery. A strange place for a concert, but the building has long been used only as a funeral hall and for cultural events. Nevertheless, it has a reverent and eerie atmosphere. This is how it might once have been when the Habsburg family went to the Hofburg Chapel on Good Friday to listen to an oratorio for the Holy Sepulchre of Emperor Leopold I. As in the Azione Sacra, this time it was also about, if not a world redemption, then at least a new beginning, a "loophole in time", the "gap" of which the title of the work speaks. Is someone trying to escape an ominous present?
Dream and wonder
Katharina Rosenberger's "performance installation" premiered at La Bâtie in Geneva at the beginning of September, while the Zurich premiere took place on September 28 and 29 - quite appropriately - in Sihlfeld. For there is a quiet, albeit respectful provocation in the choice of this location, where Ash Wednesday is realized. We enter the building through the main entrance. In the central hall, named Salle d'écriture, a soft musical prologue can be heard. The introduction is accompanied by texts by Franz Kafka and Hannah Arendt. Kafka's "He" is beset by two forces, one pushing him forward from the source, the other holding him back. At some point - according to his dream - he will have to rise above his struggling opponents. Arendt's vision, on the other hand, speaks of "miracles" in the political sphere and of hope in the acting human being. You can also answer questions on pieces of paper: What experience would you like to take with you to another galaxy? Why is a new beginning so difficult?
Magnificently equipped gap
Then three large side rooms open up. On the left is the "Transience" room with a large, primordial animal-like structure, whose metallic percussion instruments are played by Brian Archinal. To the right is the "Archive" full of mothballed exhibits, an antique cabinet of curiosities; you can listen to vinyl records on record players. In a third room, where the incineration hall used to be, you can experience a "Time Machine", a pink-violet electronic theater of eternal music, a nirvana.
TransienceBrian Archinal, member of the Collegium Novum Zurich (concept instrumentation, improvisation). Photo: Betina Kuntzsch
These beautifully designed and color-saturated, almost baroque rooms are explored by the audience. It is impressive what the composer has put together with director Matthias Rebstock and a dedicated multimedia collective - real teamwork. The Ensemble Contrechamps from Geneva and the Collegium Novum Zurich have once again successfully joined forces here, and this also reflects the composer's biography. The Zurich-based composer, co-director of the Sonic Matter festival, teaches composition at the Haute école de musique in Geneva.
Hardly redeemable construct
However, one wonders where the connections between all these impressions may lie and hopes for the final act, when everyone has gathered again in the Salle d'écriture. There one hears an expansive, drone-like music, full of inner pathos, melodious and yet pervasive. Is this the "gap", the "secret portal to other worlds", is this the "new beginning"? It is the crux of such installative, post-dramatic music theater productions that they often lack coherence and inevitability. The end and the new beginning do not consistently emerge from the four rooms. A textual-musical-scenic construct is stretched out that seems overloaded and whose search ultimately leads nowhere. Aesthetically, too, we find ourselves in a clinch: what sense of community does this new beginning require? How beautiful should it sound so that it doesn't immediately reek of New Age? So you leave the building with many unanswered questions. But certainly also: it is something deeply human to believe in miracles, hope dies last.
In mid-September, "Macht Musik - Ein Festival über die Freiheit der Kunst in Diktaturen" took place at the Stadtcasino in Basel. It offered revealing insights into musical life in the Soviet Union.
Daniel Lienhard
(translation: AI)
- 26. Sep 2025
Vladimir Jurowski conducted the opening concert. Photo: Jonas Tschopp
Music in dictatorships is an almost inexhaustible field. The Basel festival on this topic focused on the Soviet Union. Works by Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev, the two best-known Soviet composers, were performed, as well as works by composers (no female composers) who are never heard in concert in this country.
A highlight at the beginning with Shostakovich
The fact that the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) could be brought to Basel for a concert was an absolute stroke of luck. Under the direction of Vladimir Jurowski, an outstanding conductor who brings the music vividly to life, the first part of the concert featured works with topical political references to the period in which they were composed. Lidice by Bohuslav Martinů is a harrowing homage to the village in the Czech Republic that was razed to the ground by the Nazis; with the Meditation on the old Bohemian chorale St. Wenceslaus Josef Suk wanted to support the efforts to establish a Czechoslovak state; Arnold Schönberg wrote the Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte In 1942, while in exile in America, he set a diatribe by Lord Byron on Napoleon to music with obvious references to the current situation at the time.
After the interval, we heard the monumental 11th Symphony by Shostakovich, which lasted over an hour. It was played with extreme commitment and discipline. First performed in 1957, this symphony subverted the regime's expectations of a significant piece for the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution, with the composer thematizing the 1905 uprising in St. Petersburg, where the Tsar had had a starving, unarmed crowd shot at.
It does not take much imagination to see the work as a reminder of all violently suppressed attempts at rebellion, such as the Hungarian uprising in 1956. Although the composer outwardly fulfilled the norms of "socialist realism", the quotations - which were not recognized by the authorities - mean that the symphony can certainly be understood as critical of the regime. In his depiction of the massacre, Shostakovich goes to the limits of what concertgoers' ears and the acoustics of a concert hall can bear; it gets under your skin. This concert was a first, long-lasting highlight of the festival.
The following evening, the Belcea Quartet, well known in Basel, and the excellent pianist Yulianna Avdeeva played the well-known piano quintets by Shostakovich and Mieczysław Weinberg.
Ukrainian composers in the Soviet era
The three works by Ukrainian composers in the concert with the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Oksana Lyniv were perhaps not beyond all doubt. The simplicity of the Triple Concerto by Maxim Shalygin (born 1985), who now lives in the Netherlands, was the least captivating. The fate of Vasyl Barvinsky (1888-1963), on the other hand, is touching: ordered by the authorities to agree to the destruction of his manuscripts, he spent 10 years in the Gulag and spent the remaining years of his life trying to reconstruct his works. His Ukrainian Rhapsody is a relatively lightweight piece in the tradition of Dvořák and Smetana. The Heroic symphony by Yevhen Stankovych, a now 83-year-old composer who also suffered from censorship, is not an absolutely satisfying work as a whole, but contains remarkably orchestrated passages.
Cloudy thoughts instead of regime conformity
After a brilliant interpretation of Sergei Prokofiev's 6th Piano Sonata (1939/40), the outstanding Ukrainian pianist Alexey Botvinov played the 3rd Piano Concerto Hail Mary (1968) by Alemdar Karamanov (1934-2007) in his own arrangement for solo piano: a work characterized by strong religiosity that captivates the audience with its expressiveness, although it was composed with very old-fashioned means at the time of its creation.
Very important in the festival context was the performance of Shostakovich's 14th Symphony op.135 for soprano, bass and chamber orchestra from 1969. This work, dedicated to his friend Benjamin Britten, revolves around death in its very different manifestations in settings of poems by García Lorca, Apollinaire, Küchelbecker and Rilke. The composer, inspired by his orchestration of Mussorgsky's Songs and dances of deathno longer attempted to compose music that was compatible with the ideals of the Soviet state, but instead gave expression to gloomy thoughts of lack of freedom, resignation and death. The performance, conducted by Heinz Holliger and featuring Evelina Dobračeva (soprano), Michael Nagy (baritone) and the Basel Chamber Orchestra, was enthusiastically applauded by the audience.
Backgrounds in lectures and discussions
Artistic Director Hans-Georg Hofmann, who until recently worked for the Basel Symphony Orchestra, made sure that the festival program was rounded off with numerous introductory lectures, readings and panel discussions with important background information. Among other things, the audience learned how diverse Soviet music was and that only a fraction of it is known in the West. Also that the image of Shostakovich has constantly changed in the 50 years since his death: Was he now a dissident, a figurehead or a Faustian figure who had made a pact with evil? It is often forgotten that Stalin, who appears to us as the embodiment of evil itself, had a keen interest in music. Mikhail Shishkin's memory of Véronique Lautard-Shevchenka (1901-1982), a French pianist who disappeared for years in the Gulag because of an ill-considered statement and who touched many people with her piano playing after her release despite the most adverse circumstances, was particularly harrowing.
In view of these mediation efforts, it is a shame that the audience was only given a brochure with rudimentary information about the program without movement titles, years of composition and biographies of the composers. And perhaps even more people would have been tempted to visit the festival if it had had a more meaningful title instead of the ambiguous "Macht Musik".
50 years of the Swiss Youth Music Competition
On September 13, the SJMW celebrated its anniversary at the Tonhalle Zurich. Many alumni took part, including as soloists in the world premiere of SJMW commissions by Richard Dubugnon and Daniel Schnyder.
Katrin Spelinova
(translation: AI)
- Sep 24, 2025
World premiere of the new work by Richard Dubugnon. Photo: SJMW
The Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich has special ties to the Swiss Youth Music Competition (SJMW). Its chief conductor at the time, Gerd Albrecht, initiated the founding of a music competition for children and young people in 1975. The aim was to identify potential young professional musicians at an early stage and promote them accordingly. Over the years, the disciplines tested have multiplied. Categories such as jazz, pop, experimental music and composition have been added to the classical instrumental subjects. Today, the SJMW stands for broad-based promotion and support for young musicians. The aim is to promote personality.
Transporting the joy of music
Valérie Probst, SJMW Managing Director until February 2025, has been instrumental in shaping and developing the competition for 18 years. She conceived and organized the anniversary event in a three-year process. Thanks to the support of the Tonhalle Zurich and funding from the Förderstiftung Musik Zürich for the publication, the Hirschmann Foundation and the Ruth and Ernst Burkhalter Foundation for the soloists, the Ruth Burkhalter Foundation for the promotion of young musical talent for the children's concert, the Mobiliar Jubilee Foundation and SRF 2 Kultur, the event could be realized at all. Many active and former competition participants could be seen in various performances: making music on stage, as part of a sound installation or sensitively portrayed in photographs in the anniversary book.
Frank Martin: " Concerto pour sept instruments à vent, timbales, batterie et orchestre à cordes ". Photo: SJMW
The highlight was the anniversary concert in the large hall of the Tonhalle Zurich with the two world premieres. Brahm's Academic Festival Overture opened the program in a striking manner. Festive, full, virtuosic and joyful sounds dominated the evening. In Richard Dubugnon's commissioned work Helvetia III - Le feu de la jeunesse Eight former first prize winners were heard as soloists in Frank Martin's Concerto pour sept instruments à vent, timbales, batterie et orchestre à cordes seven and in Daniel Schnyder's new composition Quadruple Concerto for Trumpet, Horn, Trombone, Bass Trombone and large Orchestra four. The joy of making music could be felt everywhere - in keeping with the spirit of the competition, where the focus is not on competition, but on the shared joy of music.
World premiere of Daniel Schnyder's new play. Photo: SJMW
Othmar Schoeck Festival 2025: "Investment Culture"
The 7th Othmar Schoeck Festival will take place in Brunnen from September 19 to 21 under the title "Investment Culture". The highlight is the performance of "Elegy" with Christian Gerhaher and the Basel Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Heinz Holliger.
PM/SMZ/ks
(translation: AI)
- 15 Sep 2025
Impression of the first festival in 2016: view of Lake Lucerne from the garden of the historic Villa Schoeck, where the composer was born in 1886.
Under the title "Investment Culture", the Othmar Schoeck Festival the complex topic of financing compositional creativity in the period between the First and Second World Wars. A particular focus is placed on the Winterthur industrialist Werner Reinhart, who as a patron of the arts was instrumental in supporting the work of numerous composers, including Igor Stravinsky, Alban Berg and in particular Othmar Schoeck.
Rarely heard works
The Opening concert on September 19 is dedicated to those composers whose work was made possible by Werner Reinhart's support. In addition to works by Stravinsky and Berg, Schoeck's "Wandersprüche" op. 42 will be performed, complemented by a world premiere by the American composer Jeremy Gill, who worked at Villa Schoeck for several months in 2023 as part of an artist residency.
The highlight is the Final concert on September 21 at the Seehotel Waldstätterhof with Christian Gerhaher and the Basel Chamber Orchestra under Heinz Holliger. They will perform Schoeck's "Elegy" op. 36. The traditional hotel has a special family connection to Othmar Schoeck: his mother Agathe was the daughter of the former owners of the Waldstätterhof.
Further program items include a master class Liedduo with Cornelia Kallisch and Edward Rushton in collaboration with the Lucerne School of Music, a lecture by Ulrike Thiele on Werner Reinhart and a new educational project for schoolchildren.
Significance for cultural heritage and regional development
The Othmar Schoeck Festival makes an important contribution to the preservation of a cultural heritage of local, national and international importance. The thematic concept, originally planned for ten years, enables a lasting and in-depth examination of the work of the composer, who was born in Brunnen in 1886. The festival also specifically conveys his music to younger generations, be they children and young people from the region or music students.
By engaging top-class international artists, high-quality musical experiences are created that radiate far beyond the region and at the same time strengthen the tourist appeal of Schoeck's birthplace. Some events take place in the historic Villa Schoeck, where the composer created some of his great works and which today serves as a genuine venue for encounters with his artistic oeuvre.
New financing strategies for a sustainable festival future
In view of the challenging financial situation, the festival is developing new strategies for planning security. The royalties from performances of Schoeck's works in the years 2025 to 2027 will be made available to the festival by the two communities of heirs of Schoeck's daughter Gisela (1932-2018) in Germany and Switzerland, for which the association is very grateful. In addition, the aim is to build up a private circle of patrons.
These measures have become necessary as the festival relies heavily on support from private foundations. Their financial possibilities also depend on the general economic development and the stock markets.
The Schweizer Musikzeitung is a media partner of the Othmar Schoeck Festival.
50 years of change: Willisau Jazz Festival
In 1975, Niklaus Troxler founded the Willisau Jazz Festival, which soon became one of the most important events on the contemporary scene's agenda. In August, the series, which is now directed by Arno Troxler, celebrated its anniversary.
Michael Gasser
(translation: AI)
- 09 Sep 2025
For example, the Willisau Jazz Festival used to be advertised in this way. Posters: Niklaus Troxler
The Willisau Jazz Festival was born in 1975, but that is only half the story: Niklaus "Knox" Troxler, founder and long-time director of the event, has been organizing concerts in Willisau, his place of birth and residence, since 1966. "I started with older jazz because I first had to awaken an interest in new things in this area," explains the graphic designer and poster designer in an interview with the magazine Jazz.
Under the sign of free jazz
Little by little, Troxler (born in 1947) is confronting his audience with experimental jazz, which sometimes disturbs older music fans, but encourages him as an organizer. For the first edition of his new festival, he hopes for an open-minded audience. A wish that is also reflected in the very first poster. Like all the others up to and including 2009, it was designed by Niklaus Troxler himself and shows the pop art-inspired silhouette of a head with a huge red quiff forming an oversized ear. The effect is modern, fresh and rebellious and captures the spirit of the free jazz of the time, which characterized the first festival edition with artists such as Archie Shepp and Cecil Taylor.
Six years later, on the occasion of the 7th edition, Troxler makes it clear that the event has not only established itself, but is now in its prime. The program continues to focus on free jazz and improvisation, but now increasingly seeks its fortune with US stars, such as the Pharoah Sanders Quartet or guitarist Pat Metheny. The festival poster presents itself accordingly self-confidently, with an abstract, neon-colored trumpet player as its motif - which has a strong rhythmic, moving and energetic effect.
The essence of jazz
16 years later, Troxler's poster for the 23rd festival edition is radically reduced. It shows a group of figures dancing and playing instruments - almost as if they had been scribbled on with ink. A minimalist setting without any gimmickry - reminiscent of the essence of jazz between sound, body and moment. The line-up, which is themed "Jazz Around the World" and features acts such as the French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê and the Egberto Gismonti Group from Brazil, is also fitting. And emphatically demonstrates that Willisau hardly knows any stylistic boundaries any more.
In 2009, the festival faces an unclear future. The only certainty is that the 35th edition will be founder Niklaus Troxler's last. In June of the same year, however, it becomes clear that it will continue - within the family. From 2010, nephew Arno (born 1979), a trained drummer, will take over the sceptre. For his very last festival poster, Niklaus Troxler opts for a calmer, more organic design, a deliberate retreat from the dynamic motifs of the past. The music program also follows his preferences once again - from Africa to blues to avant-garde.
A visual departure too
In 2010, the anxious question is: What will the "new guy" do with this traditional event? The answer: Arno Troxler keeps his promise and brings continuity to the Willisau Jazz Festival, but also knows how to set new accents. He does this by bringing genres such as electronic music and rock to the stages of the small Lucerne town for the first time, bringing artists such as electric bassist Meshell Ndegeocello and Norwegian singer Sidsel Endresen. The new momentum is also noticeable in the poster design for the festival: The poster created by Annik and Paula Troxler, the founder's daughters, combines clear typography with color dynamics, structure and graphic elegance - and marks the departure to new creative shores.
To mark the 50th anniversary, Paula Troxler and Kleon Medugorac designed 50 different posters. Each one features a face made up of elements from previous posters, without appearing nostalgic. The four festival days prove to be no less playful with artists such as the Kali Trio, which presents post-genre sounds, or the Savannah Harris Trio, which explores the boundaries between improvisation and songwriting. Festival director Arno Troxler is happy to sum up: "2025 was characterized by fantastic concerts, audience growth and a peaceful, happy atmosphere." He is correspondingly optimistic about the future.
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.
The white tower above Mulegns
It has permanently changed the cultural landscape of Graubünden. Now the Origen Festival is celebrating its 20th birthday - with a spectacular building.
Thank you, Peter Hagmann
The eminent music critic shaped the NZZ arts section for many years. He was interested in the fullness of life in music. He died on June 5.
In concert with hearing impairment
The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra allows the audience to get very close for an experience with all the senses.
Strategic marketing for choirs
Many choirs are struggling with a lack of young talent and falling income. Instead of cutting back on advertising, they should invest in professional marketing, as every additional ticket sold helps to cover costs.
Singing, signing, dancing at the EJCF: a celebration of joy
The European Youth Choir Festival took place in Basel and the region for the 14th time. Over 60 children's and youth choirs from 13 countries received an enthusiastic response from an estimated 40,000 visitors.
Experienced a lot at 13 youth choir festivals
Since 1992, Arvo Ratavaara and his wife have looked after and hosted youth choirs from Estonia to Ukraine in Basel. He remembers impressive encounters and touching voices, police escorts and improvised fast food and, in particular, young people singing their hearts out.
Prizes awarded to Hedi Young, Antonio Gaggiano and Hortense Airault
The two musicians accepted the Fritz Gerber Awards 2025 at the Lucerne Festival.
Max Nyffeler
(translation: AI)
- Aug 28, 2025
Award ceremony on August 24 in Lucerne. Photo: Max Nyffeler
The Chinese percussionist Hedi Young, the Italian percussionist Antonio Gaggiano and the French cellist and composer Hortense Airault have been honored with the Fritz Gerber Award 2025 (the SMZ has reported). The prizes are endowed with 10,000 Swiss francs each and also enable participation in the Lucerne Festival Academy. The certificates were presented on August 24 at the Lucerne Festival by Regula Gerber, Vice President of the Fritz Gerber Foundation and former director of the theaters in Bielefeld and Mannheim.
At the award ceremony, the three winners, who have also studied or are still studying at Swiss music academies, presented themselves with exposed works of modernism: with Spins and Spells for cello solo by Kaija Saariaho, with a four-part etude for marimba solo by Pius Cheung and with Clash Music for a pair of cymbals by Nicolaus A. Huber.
Established in 2015, the Fritz Gerber Award is presented annually to three highly talented young musicians. It is closely linked to the Lucerne Festival and focuses exclusively on the interpretation of contemporary works. This year's jurors were Michael Haefliger and Heinz Holliger.
Successful string quartet promotion
The European Merita program for young string quartets completed its first three-year edition in August 2025. Swiss ensembles are also involved.
PM/SMZ/ks
(translation: AI)
- Aug 26, 2025
Screenshot of the Merita platform with the present Swiss ensembles
Merita stands for Music cultural heritage talent. Under the direction of Le Dimore del Quartetto, the international platform for chamber music funded by Creative Europe supported 38 quartets with 152 musicians from 28 nations for three years. Innovative concert formats were created in 40 residencies in historic houses, reaching over 10,000 listeners in 198 performances between March 2024 and August 2025. From Switzerland, the Protean Quartet, the Moser String Quartet and the Modulor Quartet are present.
The platform combines chamber music with cultural heritage and social inclusion. From September 2025, a second edition will be launched until 2029, which will support 56 ensembles - string quartets and piano trios.
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