The festival has announced that Jacqueline Keller will be stepping down from her role as Director of Murten Classics after 20 years at the end of this year's festival. For the 2024 festival, however, she will still be in charge of the production part, i.e. working with the artistic director and taking care of artist engagements and support. A successor has been lined up and will be announced in due course.

The media release from Murten Classics

How the World Youth Music Festival (WJMF) it offers competitions at the highest level for orchestras in harmony, brass band or big band formations. Other competition disciplines include parade music, the indoor show competition and tambourine competitions in various categories. Youth music formations with members up to the age of 25 can take part (three joker members who are older are permitted).

The jury is made up of renowned musicians from Switzerland and abroad. Trumpeter and Mnozil Brass founder Thomas Gansch is a festival ambassador, while Erich Zumstein, Director of the Zurich Conservatory of Music, is the festival director.

Registration deadline until October 31, 2023

Clubs from Switzerland and abroad can submit their applications via the website until October 31. Register participation. Anyone who has already left adolescence behind them but would still like to be actively involved can register as a helper. Among other things, we are looking for people to support the clubs from Germany and abroad.

World Youth Music Festival

The World Youth Music Festival Zurich (WJMF) was founded on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Jugendmusik Zürich 11 and has since developed into an international festival for amateur musicians between the ages of 9 and 25. Since 1985, between 2,600 and 4,500 young people from all over the world have traveled to Zurich for each festival to meet like-minded musicians from other clubs around the world, to make music with them and to compete with them in various categories. Over the past 33 years, a total of 250 orchestras from around 50 countries have come together for a fascinating musical competition. The last WJMF took place in 2017. The 2021 festival did not take place due to the pandemic.

www.wjmf.ch

The Youth Classics Swiss International Music Academy (SIMA) is a private initiative to promote young musical talent. During the summer vacation period, this year from July 14 to 23, the Academy offers intensive, high-quality musical training to musicians who are studying at a music academy or aspire to study music in the future. 96 musicians from 24 countries - around a third of them from Switzerland - are taking part in the 13th SIMA on the music island of Rheinau.

Individual lessons, rehearsals and special insights

Lecturers from renowned music academies such as the Zurich University of the Arts, the Bern University of the Arts, the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin and the Berlin University of the Arts work with the participants during the Academy as part of the solo lessons. In addition to individual lessons, there are rehearsals with accompaniment and chamber music lessons as well as various special events. For example, the participants build a violin as a team in a violin making workshop under the guidance of renowned violin maker Stefan-Peter Greiner and improve their own practicing and performance skills in the workshop "The path to mental strength". Various special and sponsorship prizes will also be awarded.

International encounters at all levels

The participants and teachers from all over the world live in one place during the Academy on the music island of Rheinau. This further promotes the exchange of ideas with important music teachers and like-minded musical talents. As a special highlight, the leading international violin soloist Julia Fischer will give an insight into her work as an artist as part of a special master class.

Public concerts

To various public concerts the young musical talents show off their skills. Some selected musicians will perform at the final concert on July 23, 2023 in the large concert hall of the Zurich University of the Arts in Zurich.

Presentation of the participants of the 13th Swiss International Music Academy 2023
Thursday, July 20, 2023 / Friday, July 21, 2023 - 7.30 p.m. in each case
Mill hall, Klosterinsel 2, 8462 Rheinau
Admission free - collection

Final concert of the chamber music groups
Saturday, July 22, 2023, 2 p.m.
St. Nikolaus mountain church, 8462 Rheinau
Admission free - collection

Closing concert of the 13th Swiss International Music Academy 2023
Sunday, July 23, 2023, 5 p.m.
Zurich University of the Arts, Great Concert Hall, Toni-Areal,
Pfingstweidstrasse 96, 8005 Zurich
Admission free - collection

The fifth Othmar Schoeck Festival after 2016, 2020, 2021 and 2022 will focus on the composer's place of origin and the environment in which Othmar grew up with his three brothers Paul, Ralph and Walter. How have the cultural conditions there changed since the beginning of the 20th century? And what is the current state of culture in the canton of Schwyz?

Motto

"Le plus beau pays du monde?"
Like his colleague Alfred Schoeck (1841-1931), Othmar's father, the landscape painter Alexandre Calame (1810-1864) had studied under François Diday (1802-1877) in Geneva. He was fascinated by the view of Lake Uri and the snow-covered Alps. He described these surroundings as "the most beautiful stretch of land on earth".

The Othmar Schoeck Festival puts a question mark behind Calame's quote, which still adorns a stone in front of the long since burnt down Hotel Axenstein. How were the four Schoeck brothers able to pursue their artistic inclinations there at the time?

Music

Schoeck's songs can be heard in Cornelia Kallisch's master class: how they are first polished and then how they sound when performed.

In concert with the Swiss Symphonic Wind Orchestra, Schoeck's Prelude op. 48 will be performed. The program also includes works by his contemporaries Hindemith and Weill as well as current pieces by Oliver Waespi and Stephan Hodel. The Othmar Schoeck Festival has honored the versatile Swiss composer Stephan Hodel commissioned a work: Information overload will be premiered on September 2 in the Werkhalle Dettling. The Swiss Symphonic Wind Orchestras plays under the direction of Niki Wüthrich.

The former park around the artists' villa and the Hotel Eden invites you to linger each evening from August 31. An installation with light and sound transforms the grounds into a "Garden of Eden".

Discussion

Cultural policy issues from the past and present are at the center of both Heidy Greco-Kaufmann's lecture on Oskar Eberle as well as on the podium Cultural issues under the direction of Bruno Steiner.

Details on the program under this link: https://schoeckfestival.ch/2023-le-plus-beau-pays-du-monde/

 

The Swiss Music Newspaper is a media partner of the Othmar Schoeck Festival.

The mathematical root sign is the theme of this year's Bern Music Festival program. Some people will initially think of mathematical operations, but at the same time imaginary (numerical) spaces and further questions and associations open up behind it. Where do our origins lie, how deep do our roots go: biologically, culturally, musically, biographically? How do we deal with this? Especially today?

The themes that the Bern Music Festival adopts every year are ambiguous and leave a wide range of meanings open. Previous years have been entitled "Irrlicht", "Schwärme" or "unvermittelt". Musicians from the city and canton of Bern are invited to submit their project proposals. The four-member board of trustees, which is responsible for the artistic direction of the festival, selects several concepts, supplements them with its own ideas and uses them to create a program. The scope ranges from concerts with improvised and composed music and music theater to installations, performances, films and discussion events. Communication plays an important role in this.

Root year 2023

Each project takes up the theme in its own way: In the root year 2023, for example, there is the ensemble Mycelium, which already has the mushroom in its name and has already enriched previous festival years in an unmistakable way. The root serves it "as a metaphor for our current rootedness in the (real and virtual) world, we use it as (edible) matter (root vegetables), we eavesdrop on its connections and connections in the communication network of plant ecosystems and we use it as a mathematical component in experimental sound processing".

The vocal ensemble SoloVoices explores the origin of species and therefore also of mankind in L'origine des espèces of the Greco-French composer Georges Aperghis, who was a long-time lecturer at the Bern University of the Arts and played a key role in shaping théâtre musical in Switzerland. Other concerts explore "Back to Bach" or local roots, such as the artist Meret Oppenheim, who once discovered her rebellious side at school here.

Numerous important Swiss composers come from Bern and once studied here with Sándor Veress, including Heinz Holliger, Jürg Wyttenbach and Roland Moser. His Brentano fantasies are the focus of the "Roots in Bern" concert. Moser has also been commissioned by the festival to set a text by Mani Matter to music. Half a century after his death, the chansonnier from the Swiss capital, who died young, is still a shining light on the local cultural scene.

Several epochs

Another important figure on the Bernese scene will be featured in the Arditti Quartet's concert: Daniel Glaus, composer and, until a year ago, cathedral organist. He will be performing a new string quartet. World premieres are therefore an essential part of the Bern Music Festival. However, it is not just a festival for new music, but always brings several epochs into play. For example, Mahler's Song of the earthin the chamber orchestral version by Reinbert de Leeuw. Peter Rundel conducts a collective ensemble.

The Bern Music Festival is thus strongly rooted locally and regionally, but at the same time seeks international comparison and charisma beyond the narrower area. To this end, the French composer Éliane Radigue was chosen as the composer in focus: Her unique, reduced music, which reaches to the fundamentals of sound, will be heard in four concerts at the festival. The Belgian vocal ensemble Graindelavoix, which has found radically revolutionary approaches to the music of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, is a guest ensemble in residence in Bern.

Music and science

The Bern Music Festival thus attempts a balancing act: the direct experience of sound and the communication of extremes. Communication with the audience plays a decisive role in this. A series in which music and science meet can also be seen in this context: Aspects of the festival theme - this year, for example, the Woodwideweb or birth - will be picked out and discussed. A short scientific presentation is artistically complemented by a new piece or performance; both sides then enter into conversation with each other. This always leads to a stimulating exchange of experiences.

The Bern Music Festival " √ " takes place this year from September 6 to 10. Tickets and info: musicfestivalbern.ch

The Ticino Milo Ferrazzini (Munich University of Music and Performing Arts) won first prize and the Guy Fallot Special Prize. Pascale Fallot, the daughter of the famous cellist, presented him with the prize. Ferrazzini's interpretation of works by Dieter Ammann, Ludwig van Beethoven and Nadia Boulanger impressed both the jury and the audience.

The two other finalists in the competition, Clara Schlotz (Conservatoire de Lausanne) and Axelle Richez (Zurich University of the Arts), both won a 2nd prize ex aequo.

One of the special features of the Concours d'Interprétation Musicale de Lausanne is the award for piano accompanists. This year, Guy Fallot's family also donated this prize. It went to Yukiko Tanaka, piano accompanist at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne.

The jury was made up of François Guye (President), Sonia Wieder-Atherton, Ophélie Gaillard, Nicolas Chalvin and Christian Favre.

Schlaefli will be responsible for artistic planning together with the young orchestra members. As an expert, he will accompany the auditions and strategically develop the orchestra.

The sudden death of the long-standing chief conductor Kai Bumann in June 2022 was a great personal and artistic loss and presented the SJSO with challenges behind the scenes. The current appointment of Schlaefli will enable a fair and transparent search for a chief conductor with the necessary lead time. The advertisement will be published in the fall of 2023, and after rehearsals and tours, the selection is expected to take place in May 2026.

Ideal cast

Johannes Schlaefli is Professor Emeritus of Orchestral Conducting at the Zurich University of the Arts and a permanent guest professor at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts.

He is in great demand internationally as a conducting teacher. Invitations to the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Aspen Music Festival and music academies in Vienna, Berlin and the Juilliard School in New York bear witness to his strong charisma. He is head of teaching at the Conducting Academy of the Menuhin Festival Gstaad.

Johannes Schlaefli was at the helm of the Serenata Basel (now the Basel Chamber Orchestra), the Bern Chamber Orchestra, the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim and the Collegium Musicum Basel. He has appeared as a guest conductor with many orchestras worldwide. In Zurich, he has also been known for decades as the conductor of various academic orchestras.

As an alumnus of the SJSO, with his immense experience and his artistic and human qualities, he is an ideal choice for the artistic direction of the SJSO.

Talent factory

The Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra SJSO is one of the few cultural institutions in Switzerland. It has been Switzerland's symphonic talent factory since 1969. Talented young musicians aged between 15 and 25 from all parts of the country delight audiences from Geneva to Rorschach in two tours a year. Former members now play in renowned orchestras in Switzerland and abroad.

Dates

• Fall tour 2023: Mahler 7 with Christoph-Mathias Mueller
• Spring tour 2024: Firebird with Modestas Pitrėnas
• Autumn tour 2024: Sibelius violin concerto with Johannes Schlaefli
• Next audition for new orchestra members: January 2024 (dates from fall under www.sjso.ch)
• Applications for the position of Principal Conductor of the SJSO can be submitted from the fall via www.sjso.ch be submitted.

The Unite Classics association organized this year's Steinway Piano Competition Switzerland together with Musik Hug. Stefan Szypura, Jonathan Ng and Alexander Sahatci were awarded first prizes in the three age groups thanks to their outstanding musical performances. Alexander Sahatci also emerged as the main winner. This gives him the opportunity to perform at the international Steinway final concert in Hamburg in mid-September.

The jury consisted of Jun Kanno (Japan/France), William Fond (England) and Benjamin Engeli (Switzerland). It was chaired by Tamara Kordzadze (Switzerland/Georgia) and praised the high standard of the young participants. The jury president is convinced that the competition motivates young pianists to discover and develop their full potential.

 Master classes, during which participants were able to benefit from experienced artists, complemented the competition.

In addition to the main prizes, Unite Classics also awarded special prizes to recognize exceptional achievements in various areas. For example, "The best teacher" prize went to Arta Anricane and Fernando Viani in recognition of the crucial role teachers play in the artistic growth of young talents.

A particular highlight of the competition was the use of the Steinway Spirio-R grand piano, which combines the world of classical music with cutting-edge technology. The Steinway Piano Competition Switzerland was the first piano competition in the world to use this technology in 2020/21 and again this year. High-resolution recordings of the performances were made at the preliminary rounds, allowing the jury to evaluate participants in unprecedented sound quality, whether they were performing live in Zurich or in a digital preliminary round. The recordings, combined with high-resolution video recordings, were transmitted digitally to the jury. This approach can contribute to the modernization of international competitions and has proven to be extremely useful, especially during the pandemic two years ago.

The next Steinway Piano Playing Competition Switzerland will take place in spring 2025. Initial information can be found at https://www.uniteclassics.com/steinway

The new Brugg Festival is to take place every year. It complements Sebastian Bohrens Concert series Stretta Concertswhich regularly invites orchestras such as the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana or the Festival Strings Lucerne and artists such as Daniel Hope, Heinz Holliger, Cristian Macelaru or Emmauel Tjeknavorian.

At the Brugg Festival 2023 Andreas Haefliger, Julia Hagen, Maximilian Hornung, Reto Bieri, Dmitry Smirnov, Sarah Christian, Valentine Michaud and the Georgian Chamber Orchestra as well as the Chaarts Chamber Artists will be among those performing. 450 primary and secondary school pupils will also take part in educational projects ("echo") related to the festival.

Lionel Pointet completed his Master's degree at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève at the age of 22. Since then, he has continued his education at the ZHdK (orchestral conducting, music education) and in master classes.

While still studying for his master's degree, he earned the position of second horn at the Philharmonia Zurich, which he still holds today.

Lionel Pointet has a wide range of practical performance experience, particularly in historical performance practice. He is a sought-after soloist with orchestras and festivals, a sought-after chamber music partner and is involved as a coach and expert at competitions and auditions.

Table of contents

Focus

It's about what the mountains awaken in me
Interview with the cellist and composer Sara Oswald

The mysterious path of the transverse pipe to Valais
Drummers and pipers in Val d'Anniviers

Alpine landscape musicians
Ernst Krenek Travel book from the Austrian Alps and Othmar Schoeck's Hike in the mountains

Favorite places for festivals at altitude
Examples from the cantons of Valais and Jura

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

 

Critiques

Reviews of recordings, books, sheet music

 

Echo

Lola Blue in the green
Smashing Kreisler show on the Moosegg

Radio Francesco - Dragons

Une édition anniversaire
Piano à Saint-Ursanne fête sa vingtième édition

The "Reger pianist" Hermann Wiebel
His time as principal clarinettist with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra

Kurt Widmer
A universally informed singer

Mario Venzago
The conductor as composer

Filigree sounds
Lucerne Guitar Concerts

Young choirs, great class
13th European Youth Choir Festival Basel

"Vergegeigt - Opera"
An opera gone wrong at the Stadttheater Basel

A walk through Zurich's music history
Audiowalk by Simona Ryser and Roger Nickl

Countering Parkinson's symptoms with music
Research in concert

Comment donner l'envie de découvrir ce que l'on ne connait pas ?
Médiation musicale

 

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)

CHorama

Swiss Society for Music Medicine (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)

 

Mountaineering with orchestra
Puzzle by Michael Kube

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Order issue for CHF 8.- (+ CHF 2.- shipping costs)

The sheet music mostly dates from the 18th century. According to the research carried out so far, the find is a specifically Swiss repertoire, although there is also evidence of interest in international music.

Outdated sheet music was often reused for binding or page reinforcement of manuscripts, thus preserving the music notated on it for posterity.

However, the approach taken by craftsmen from Menzingen (canton of Zug) was somewhat more unusual: They "papered" an entire wall with sheet music as a primer for a cladding, which has now reappeared in the course of renovation work. Here, music is literally a link between past and present.

The manuscripts, which have since been detached and processed, will be presented at Scientifica 2023 on the occasion of the What holds the world together will be shown and explained on September 2 at 2 p.m. in Zurich. Musicology students will also perform the music notated on it.

https://scientifica.ch/

A short version of the article appeared in issue 7_8/2023 The "Reger clarinettist" Hermann Wiebel by Harald Strebel (page 30 f.).

The detailed 20-page PDF version can be downloaded here. This PDF document was created by the editors of Swiss Music Newspaper not edited and is published in the original version by the clarinettist and freelance musicologist Harald Strebel.

The "Reger clarinettist" Hermann Wiebel - Download

 

As a young enthusiastic musician, Zahia Ziouani founded the Divertimento orchestra in the Paris agglomeration. "I wanted to realize a musical project that resembled me, a young woman named Zahia from Stains," she said in a recent interview. As a conductor, she wanted to show that classical music is not stuck in the past, but is open to everything and everyone in the world.

Ziouani studied with Sergiu Celibidache for a year at the age of seventeen. After his death, she consistently pursued her path as a conductor.

Director Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar drew inspiration from Ziouani's real life to create the film. Divertimento - an orchestra for everyone inspire. It shows how Zahia and her twin sister, the cellist Fettouma, have been fascinated by classical music since early childhood and how Zahia, as a woman with Algerian roots and from an underprivileged Parisian suburb, has to fight hard to make her way as a conductor in the mid-1990s.

In French-speaking Switzerland Divertimento since the end of January. The film will be released in German-speaking Switzerland on June 29.

Info and trailer

In the beautiful fir forest on the Moosegg, you might be more likely to suspect Little Red Riding Hood than Georg Kreisler. It was certainly the right decision to give the latter a chance. Four years ago Simon Burkhalterthe artistic director of the Moosegg open-air theaterto the songs from Kreisler's Tonight: Lola Blau and decided to perform this musical on the Moosegg. As he wanted to play the title role himself, he turned the main character, a young Jewish actress, into a drag actress. However, the publishing house was opposed to this idea. It was only after the rights had been transferred to another publishing house that Burkhalter was given the green light.

When vocal student Burkhalter started his job at Moosegg in 2017, he was just 23 years old. He had previously managed the Gymnasium Kirchenfeld theater troupe for three years. Burkhalter comes from the Emmental: "I grew up down there on the mountain and my grandmother lives right next door. I played up here a lot as a child."

Right next to the hotel is the small, enchanting open-air theater. Popular theater with amateurs has been performed here for 25 years. The young director gave the tranquil stage a new lease of life. He adapted the concept and since then, in addition to folk theater, has put on a musical theater production (mainly operettas and musicals) every year. He directed the productions himself and often also designed the sets. Increasingly, he also takes on singing and acting roles. He has adapted many of the plays and written some of them himself. Last year this was Micheli's bridal show (comedy based on Gotthelf) and this year will be Money and spirit by Gotthelf, adapted from Franz Schnyder's film (premiere July 7, 2023).

"They just want to play"

The villages down in the valley gleam in the evening light. In front of the mighty fir trees stands a wooden stage set with various levels and platforms, which illustrate the changing time periods and locations of the play. They are played in rapid succession. The flags of the countries that Lola Blau is forced to visit on her escape are hoisted on a flagpole. Her first engagement in 1938 at the Landestheater Linz fails due to Austria's annexation by Hitler's Germany. The landlady of the Viennese Pension Aida (delicious: Stefanie Verkerk) gives her the devastating news and Lola immediately flees to Switzerland. She performs at the Cabaret Fondue in Basel and the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich with limited success. As her stay in Switzerland "did not meet any needs", she was expelled by the immigration police. She is welcomed in America and becomes famous.

Many Jewish artists fared similarly to Lola Blau during the Nazi era. Kreisler himself can be seen as the alter ego of his protagonist, as there are similarities both in the time of his escape and the places of refuge. Like Lola, he too only wanted to play and entertain people, but had to realize that this was not enough in an existentially exceptional situation: "The actors, they wait in the hallways. They don't want to do anything, they just want to play," he rhymes in the song There's nothing going on in the theater. At the beginning Lola sings enthusiastically "There's something going on in the theater", at the end she distances herself from the dehumanized, superficial theater business: In the song Too quiet for me she laments the lack of impact of the entertainer: "So I'm still stuck here singing songs and remain ineffectually intoxicated by my own sound."

Light-footed and profound

Martin Schurr's production is entertaining and light-footed. He gives the evening a continuous pulse with revue-like scenes but also thought-provoking moments. A dancer and a dancing choir provide lively show interludes. Bruno Leuschner leads and accompanies from the piano in a highly musical and stylistically confident manner.

Highlights of the production include the funny Jewish scene on the ship to America (She is a beautiful woman) and the fast-paced dance number with Stefanie Verkerk to Cole Porter's Too darn hot. The director himself slips into various roles. With "Schmidt", the ever-same German spitfire, he creates a real showpiece.

Simon Burkhalter plays the title role with its twenty songs deftly and agilely, in a charming chanson style and with a natural grandeur without any artificial drag posturing. His elegant understatement works well with Kreisler's lyrics: the sarcastic texts, overflowing with intellectual hooks and virtuoso word acrobatics, can stand for themselves and have an effect on the audience. Burkhalter is convincing in the fast-paced numbers, but also in the quiet, biting songs such as I have forgotten you and Too quiet for me he has strong moments.

 

Lola Blau will be performed on the Moosegg until June 28, 2023.