According to Website the Hofgesangsverein was founded in 2005 by creative artists and private individuals who want to promote «social integration by upgrading inner and back courtyards as living spaces». In the press release of April 7, initiator and overall project manager Andreas Diethelm writes that three-quarters of the «inner-city courtyards have mutated from workplaces to parking lots» in recent decades. The association invites all stakeholders to enter into a dialog in order to «jointly seek ways and means of designing and using these valuable remaining spaces in a way that is suitable for living».

An important project in this process is the project that takes place in even-numbered years Court song. Choirs, ensembles and individual singers are invited to make Zurich's courtyards resound. You can register your participation until the end of April at hofgesang.ch register. Court singing be the The chance to meet young singers.

The project first took place in Zurich twenty years ago. In the interim year 2009, the first Bernese court song, which has now established itself. The fifth Berner Hofgesang is planned for 2027, this year there will be a June 12 and 13 Court singing in Biel.

The traditional Good Friday concert by the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana under Diego Fasolis in the Chiesa Collegiata in Bellinzona featured the Requiem by the English composer John Rutter and Giuseppe Verdi's magnificent late work Stabat Mater A new composition by the Ticino composer Francesco Hoch for four-part choir will also be premiered.

The voices are strongly chromatic and sometimes in wide leaps, with mild dissonances dominating the harmony. The short text, broken down into its phonetic components, reads: «Io sono qui. Noi siamo qui. Io sono ancora qui. Noi siamo ancora tutti qui.» («I am here. We are here. I am still here. We are all still here.») These are the words with which Ukrainian President Selenski - Italian: Zelensky - responded to US President Biden's offer of asylum shortly after the Russian invasion of the country. This also explains the title Z versus Z.

The coded political statement caused frowns here and there in the run-up to the sacred concert, but was not perceived as such by the audience, who did not know the background to the text. The piece, which received warm applause and was conducted by Liga Liedskalnina from Latvia, who works in Lugano, marks the beginning of a six-part composition that will be performed at the Bern Music Festival on September 4.

There are competitions for piano, violin and singing - dozens of them worldwide. For oboe and bassoon, however, there are practically none. Except in Muri. Every three years since 2013 The Muri Competition the world's only international competition that specializes in these two instruments at the same time. The qualification of hundreds of applicants is anonymous - the preliminary jury listens to every recording submitted without knowing who is playing and decides who will be among the 50 or so participants per instrument and who will be allowed to travel.

It was founded by three musicians: Murian oboist Renato Bizzotto, bassoonist Matthias Rácz and oboist Martin Frutiger - the latter two are soloists in the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and professors at the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK. The oboe jury will also be chaired by Martin Frutiger in 2026. He will be joined on the jury by Francesco Di Rosa from Italy, Simon Fuchs - solo oboist at the Tonhalle Zurich - and former Muri winner Kyeong Ham from South Korea. The bassoon jury will be chaired by Matthias Rácz, solo bassoonist at the Tonhalle Zurich. He will be assisted by the renowned Italian bassoonist Sergio Azzolini, the Englishwoman Rachel Gough and the American Whitney Crocket - a total of jurors from ten nations.

Career springboard

The fact that Heinz Holliger, conductor, composer and one of the most famous oboists in music history, is coming to Muri in person and is a patron, gives the competition added weight. Holliger chooses the best interpretation of the contemporary compulsory pieces and awards the Heinz Holliger Prize named after him. On Saturday, April 18, he will also hold a public master class for the semi-finalists.

The Muri Competition is more than just a competition. Winning here opens doors. Enrico Bassi won first prize in the bassoon class in 2023 at the young age of 21 - today he is principal bassoonist of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg. Bassoonist Andrea Cellacchi won in 2016 and is now principal bassoonist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and teaches as a professor at the Conservatory of Italian-speaking Switzerland in Lugano. The winners receive scholarships, performance opportunities, special prizes and prize money of CHF 15,000 each for first place. However, all participants actually win at this event, which, in addition to the high musical standards, also aims to promote young people. In Muri, the young musicians can expand their network; doors are opened to them and they make new (professional and private) connections.

Connecting effect

The Muri Competition is not just about separating the very best from the very best: Rather, the music and the passion for the two instruments should create new connections. Among the musicians, but also beyond their circles.

The patronage committee also includes people who are familiar with the pursuit of excellence from a different perspective. The national team footballer Alayah Pilgrim or the national handball player Daphne Gautschi, who was not only born in Muria but is herself an oboist who was once taught by artistic director Renato Bizzotto. An unusual combination of top-class sport and classical music.

Accommodation serves as another unifying element. The participants are not accommodated in hotels. Instead, the majority of them live with volunteer host families in Muri and the surrounding area for around two weeks. This should not only ensure lasting impressions or even lifelong friendships for all participants, but also for the hosts. It will also reduce the burden on the budget and lower the threshold for participation in Switzerland, which is not exactly inexpensive for young professional musicians who have traveled a long way. In addition to an entry fee for the competition, they also pay the travel costs themselves.

The audience will also have the opportunity to experience first-hand how professional musicians compete: All auditions in the first three rounds are open to the public and free of charge - anyone who wants to find out how difficult not only the participants« work is, but also that of the jury, can try their hand as a »member of the jury out of competition".

The competition runs over ten days with four rounds. The first round runs from April 10 to 12 in the refectory and the Pflegidach. In the semi-final and final on April 17 and 19, the argovia philharmonic under Georg Köhler will accompany the soloists. Only the final on Sunday evening costs CHF 50.00 admission.

 

The Juno Award 2026 for the best classical album in the «Large Ensemble» category went to the recording by the Ukrainian War Requiems by Benedict Sheehan. The Swiss conductor Michael Zaugg conducted for this recording the Axios Men's Ensemble and the tenors and basses of the Pro Coro Canada. Benedict Sheehan is a multi-award-winning composer. He is one of the leading voices of religious classical music in the 21st century.

According to a press release, the requiem combines old Ukrainian prayers, Latin texts and Jewish melodies to create a haunting confession. The recording was released on February 21, 2025, the third anniversary of the Russian invasion, on the Cappella Records/Naxos label.

Michael Zaugg studied choral conducting and school music in Basel. He worked as a conductor in north-western Switzerland for several years, including as assistant to Thüring Bräm in the Regiochor. He was the first Swiss to be accepted into the postgraduate program for professional choral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. Zaugg emigrated to Canada in 2004. Since 2012, he has been Managing & Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Pro Coro Canada in Edmonton, one of Canada's leading professional chamber choirs.

Surprisingly, of the dozen or so events, even those featuring exclusively contemporary music were very well attended. Despite generous support from Novartis as the main sponsor, the Interfinity Festival naturally depends on income. This is why some of the concerts in the first half of the festival featured very well-known artists - such as recorder player Maurice Steger, the Latvian Radio Choir, the 12 cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and organist Iveta Apkalna - who also filled larger halls. Nevertheless, they made reference to the festival theme in their programs. Lukas Loss, founder and director of the festival, can claim to be more consistent than other organizers in focusing on a specific theme, this year space, and presenting works and people that would otherwise not necessarily have been heard in Basel's cultural life. It was particularly interesting for the audience that several events took place in rooms that are otherwise used for other purposes or are not open to the public at all.

Galactic volume

In a former silo on the Franck Areal, where the coffee substitute product «Franck Aroma» or the coffee extract «Incarom» used to be produced and where the Tanzhaus Basel now has its home, the Supramodal Parser for a female singer, electric guitar, saxophone, percussion and electronics by the German sound artist and composer Alexander Schubert. In the words of the festival program, an immersion into «the inner cosmos of man: into ecstasy, sound and light, into the unconscious». Everyone will have felt differently whether they actually «dived deep into the subconscious and encountered desire, dreams and the ».

In any case Supramodal Parser, created for Ensemble Nikel and premiered by them in Vienna, is a Gesamtkunstwerk of music, fog, light and electronics that tests all boundaries. Its incredible volume, which you can physically feel despite the hearing protection provided at the entrance, is reminiscent of a crazy techno party. The text («twenty four hours, forward, bridge, circle, line, open, twitch, heavy drag, align the moths, feathers hit embrace, the froth» etc.) adds an additional sound rather than another layer of meaning. The performance by Mona Steinwidder (vocals), Paulina Pitenko (saxophone), Miguel Garcia (percussion, Denis Linnik (piano), Ruben Mattia Santorsa (electric guitar), Nika Schönfelder (lighting) and Alexander Schubert (electronics) was met with great enthusiasm.

Sky-wide sound spectrum of the electric guitar

The electric guitar was once again featured in two concerts with Israeli musician Yaron Deutsch, professor of contemporary music at the Basel University of Music since 2021. In the first, again at Tanzhaus Basel, but in a different silo on the extensive site, with Uli Fussenegger (double bass) and a small instrumental ensemble, works were performed that emphatically demonstrated the potential of the electric guitar. It fascinates with a spectrum ranging from great delicacy to sounds reminiscent of the engines of a jet taking off, produced thanks to various pedals or additional devices that act directly on the strings. All four works by Elena Rykova, Clara Iannotta, Tristan Murail and Catherine Lamb were convincing, with ondes martenot, primitive electronic instruments with a very specific timbre, providing an additional attraction in two of them. Lamb's Shadow/Line for eight instruments (2011) is a microtonal sound continuum from which individual colors emerge again and again, into which one likes to immerse oneself.

The second concert with Yaron Deutsch, now at the Gare du Nord, Basel's well-known venue for contemporary music in the former waiting room of the Badischer Bahnhof, featured violinist Irvine Arditti, one of the most legendary performers of contemporary music. The works performed, all written in the last eight years, did not impress with their spectacular virtuosity, but rather with their finely tuned sonority. Kelley Sheehans Hot Guts and Sarah Nemtsov's EMP, both for violin and electric guitar, were the most interesting pieces of the evening, with Deutsch once again eliciting astonishing sounds from his instrument. It was astonishing that Zeynep Toraman's Days that last forever, which was also a duo, created an almost sacred atmosphere reminiscent of César Franck. In this setting, the two solo pieces Tiding for electric guitar by Lisa Illean and Breath for solo violin by Rebecca Saunders is not so convincing: one is too selective and the other too introverted.

From Baikonur to the exoplanets

Various lectures and panels explored the festival theme in greater depth. The documentary film shown in the Novartis Gehry Auditorium was extremely interesting Space Tourists.  Swiss director Christian Frei, who was awarded the director's prize at the renowned Sundance Festival 2010, was present in person. The elaborately researched film depicts both the departure of wealthy tourists into space from Baikonur in Kazakhstan and the recycling of rocket scrap by the local population. A spectacular broadening of horizons!

A new type of instrument, developed by Fabrizio Di Salvo and Roberto Maqueda, was presented in the bricklaying hall of the Gewerbeschule Basel: Le Slie's. It is based on the physical principles of the Leslie loudspeaker of the Hammond organ. Metal sound disks were distributed in a circle in the hall and were centrally controlled electronically and supplemented by reactive AI, reminiscent of a cosmic constellation. Each loudspeaker led its own life and the sounds wandered through the hall. Acoustically, however, this was not particularly interesting and, apart from a few quiet points, very aggressive, as if iron bars were being banged together. It remained a nice - if brutally loud - gimmick. This instrument might have sound potential. But it has not yet been fully exploited.

The last concert in the large Hall 1 of Messe Basel was the most unusual in terms of the outward appearance. The Basel Symphony Orchestra played the work in semi-darkness under the direction of Taiwanese conductor Lin Liao Exoplanets by British composer Robert Laidlow, with a spoken text by Henry Legg, which familiarized the audience with the world of exoplanets, the planets outside our solar system. This was accompanied by a light installation by Nick Verstand with lasers, light objects and thousands of reflections, as well as the reverberations of the huge exhibition hall.

All in all, an impressive spectacle. Laidlow's music bubbles, steams and billows. This is how one imagines the formation of celestial bodies and the cosmos, where there are apparently also planets that are glowing hot on one side and icy cold on the other, where it rains iron or quartz crystals swirl through the atmosphere in storms. Towards the end of the work, underscored by striking trumpet sounds, the music takes on a major key and is no longer very far removed from Richard Strauss’ Zarathustra removed. In addition to the trumpets, the strings, especially the violins, can also be heard well, as well as the varied percussion; the woodwinds hardly come into their own.

Interesting is the AI-based instrument Stacco, invented by Laidlow and played by him, which contributes «artificial» sounds. The audience Exoplanets, played with aplomb by the orchestra, was very well received, certainly also because of the multitude of acoustic and visual impressions. Whether the work - a composition commissioned by Interfinity and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) - can exist musically without «staging» seems questionable to me. However, the world premiere in a symphony concert by the LPO in London last November was certainly well received. In Basel, the work helped Interfinity 2026 to a crowning finale.

 

 

Table of contents

Focus

«Artists have become the cultural patrons of society»
Interview with Estelle Revaz. She is the first professional musician in the National Council, politicizes for the Geneva Social Democrats and at the same time pursues her international career as a cellist.

The flirt between pop and populism
Politicians like to use catchy musical messages, sometimes against the will of the artists. It becomes populist when someone presents themselves as a rebel and floats on the mainstream.

Customs and politics
In central Valais, brass bands are not just about music. For a long time, they also referred to a certain party-political stance, which contributed to their success.

Music history with white spots
The political stance of the greats of Swiss musical life in the 20th century has by no means been fully investigated. Time and again, inglorious revelations are made, particularly about the years of the Nazi dictatorship. This also applies to Werner Reinhart, a leading patron of the arts.

Chat
Silke Gäng and Fiona Stevens chat about how a cultural institution can show attitude, both internally and externally.

(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.

Opening a gateway to the world
Daniel Schnyder has always been fascinated by the interfaces between musical styles and traditions far beyond Europe. In the Hirschmann master classes, he shares his insights with the next generation.

100 years of Caspar Diethelm
To mark the anniversary, pianist Patrizio Mazzola is joining forces with other musicians to commemorate an outstanding artistic personality and his work.

Quand le classique décoiffe
Bouillonnant écosystème culturel, la série M Classics se montre plus audacieuse que jamais avec un virage à 180°. Entretien avec son directeur artistique, Mischa Damev.

Hommage musical aux victimes de Crans-Montana
It was at the Rosey Concert Hall in Rolle that a concert was held on January 29 to pay tribute to the victims of the tragedy that occurred in Crans-Montana at the beginning of the year. 

Curriculum fulfilled?
How are music lessons actually taught at primary level? Bernhard Suter, mentor and lecturer in music didactics at the Zurich University of Teacher Education, conducted a survey.

The energy of an orchestra
The Basel Chamber Orchestra sent a trio to the Tinguely Museum to reflect on sustainability. «Unter Strom» provided a speed run through music history, lots of questions and few answers.

Saving in the fog
At the meeting of the Parliamentary Group for Music on March 4, the possible effects of the «relief package 27» on the music industry were discussed. The package, which places a burden on music professionals, was put together in great haste with unclear consequences.

Focus on America at the Lucerne Festival
Sebastian Nordmann has presented his first summer program. The festival wants to become more relevant, but wants the controversial topic to be understood in purely musical terms.

Jerusalem in the center
The five-day Mizmorim chamber music festival in Basel at the end of January focused on intercultural encounters. Renowned artists and ensembles such as the Gringolts Quartet, clarinettist Reto Bieri and flautist Ariel Zuckermann provided musical excellence.

The desperate desire for the apocalypse
The Zurich Opera House shows Monster's Paradise. Together with Elfriede Jelinek, the Austrian Olga Neuwirth has created a highly topical opera in which she unleashes the monsters of the present on each other.

A festival is rebuilt
The new Ascona Music Festival was unveiled in Locarno at the end of January. No stone is left unturned: Francesco Piemontesi's artist festival Settimane musicali will become the cultural event «classicAscona».

 

Base

Articles and news from the music associations

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

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)

 

Upright and deaf
Puzzle by Pia Schwab

________________________________________

Order issue for CHF 12.- (+ CHF 2.- shipping costs)

 

The centenary of this important Swiss composer's birth should be an occasion to pay tribute to him here and help keep his memory alive. It is possible that he is no longer known to younger people, although he enriched the Swiss composer landscape in a worthy manner. Switzerland is generally too modest artistically and therefore too little proud of its artists of the past and present compared to many other nations. Before discussing Diethelm's artistic characteristics and achievements, a selection of individual external landmarks in his life will serve as a framework.

Vita
31. 3. 1926	born in Lucerne
from 1944	Pupil at the Lucerne Conservatory and Church Music School Private lessons in composition with Johann Baptist Hilber and Albert Jenny
1946-50	Conducting lessons with Ernst Hans Beer, Lucerne, and Alexander Krannhals, Basel
1946-79	Professional activity as land registry administrator, tax official etc. in Sarnen, political activities there
1948 - 1952	Courses with Hindemith and Honegger, as well as participation in the Darmstadt Summer Courses
from 1958	Conducting (Zurich Radio Orchestra, rehearsing his own works)
1960	Marriage to Brigitte, née Ullrich, three daughters: Esther, Jutta, Irene
1963-93	Teacher of music history, theoretical subjects and chamber music at the Lucerne Conservatory
1969	Art Prize of the Canton of Obwalden
1985	Art Prize of the Canton of Lucerne
1. 1. 1997	died in Lucerne

Not just a «musician»

I was able to accompany Caspar Diethelm musically and personally for 25 years. The initial mutual underestimation of our artistic abilities soon turned into a great appreciation for each other. Initial skepticism is nourished almost exclusively by ignorance and lack of knowledge. This is reminiscent of the original saying in the Sarner Aula Cher, where it is (probably still) written in large letters: «Mänge macht sich Gedanke aber dänkt nid derbiä.» This pithy sentence in the original Obwalden dialect could well have been written by Diethelm (or was it even his own? - who knows ...). He «parried» statements with a quick wit and liked to give his works appropriate titles. For example, the piano concerto he wrote for me with Yggdrasil which derives from his reading of the Old Norse Edda-texts, which always made a great impression on him. The word is Old Norse for «world ash tree», the tree of life as it were (everything is connected to everything else). Other work titles include Menhir, a towering (Breton) stone block, The wheel of life (after a Buddhist mandala), Mandala symphony, Maya (according to the Four Buddhist Truths). These few examples already show which phenomena and fields of knowledge accompanied Diethelm throughout his life. Philosophy (he read «ancient Greeks» such as Plato or Aristotle in the original), biology, botany, mushroom science (at a professional level as a cantonal mushroom inspector!) and his activities as a local politician should also be mentioned, although I will limit myself here to selected examples. His education was therefore very varied, even comprehensive, as far as a human being can be. He was therefore not a «mere musician», similar to Robert Schumann in this respect.

Artistic independence

However, as I am outlining Caspar Diethelm here primarily as a composer, the characteristics of his style should be explained here: Stylistically, I believe he originally comes from the German Romantic tradition, which may come as a surprise. Some of his ancestors come from further back in Germany. Diethelm has incorporated this German Romanticism - both the «traditional» style of Brahms, Bruch or Reger, for example, and the «special» styles of Bruckner and Mahler - into his extensive oeuvre. He has, as it were, transferred them into a more modern tonal language of the 20th century. In this he is comparable to Bartók, Stravinsky, Martin or Honegger. All this without being a dependent epigone, but with great independence. In addition, like Debussy and Ravel, he occasionally has a penchant for both «Balkanisms» and Far Eastern influences (also extra-musically).

Diethelm told this anecdote about Bruckner: when asked whether he was a «Brahmsian» or a «Wagnerian», Bruckner replied: «I'm an Aner (one) myself». And I also remember something about Honegger: spontaneously switching on the radio without knowing which work was being played, I thought to myself that Honegger, whom I suspected here, was even more brilliant than Diethelm, only to find out afterwards that it was the Mandala symphony of Diethelm ... Indeed, Diethelm was «Aner himself», to return to Bruckner.

It is to be hoped that Switzerland will remember its important son Diethelm in the future, revive him through his music and carry him out into the world as a great ambassador of little Switzerland.

__________________________________

Further materials and information on Caspar Diethelm

A self-positioning by Caspar Diethelms, probably created at the end of the seventies

"In his works, Caspar Diethelm tries to find a statement that suits him without committing himself to a particular school or style. On the one hand, there is a strong rootedness in tradition, in the landscape of his canton, where he has lived and worked since birth, and in the emphasis on a Swiss uniqueness. On the other hand, there is his preoccupation with all styles from dodecaphonic music to the avant-garde since Webern. Insofar as they can be seen as enriching the composer's expressive possibilities, influences from all these areas can be found more or less clearly. In contrast, »atonality', whatever this may mean in concreto, is avoided; instead, the music is structured and shaped according to centers of gravity, i.e. according to the tonality levels in Hindemith's sense. In addition to an independent harmony that does not avoid the simple in addition to extremely complex sounds, and an idiosyncratic and occasionally aggressive rhythm with a preference for compound time signatures, the composer's particular devotion is to the element of melody, and increasingly so. Even in the earliest works, echoes of elements of folk music cannot be ignored, although there are never any quotations, only formations that are intended to evoke a Swiss or even original Swiss sound. In addition to the great masters of the past, the composer's role models are Paul Hindemith and Bela Bartók, as well as the Swiss composers Arthur Honegger, Othmar Schoeck and Frank Martin."

Events and publications for the anniversary year

In addition to various concerts from the end of March, two CD productions are planned. In October, the Toccata label will release the world premiere recordings of the concertos op. 210, 285 and 211 with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie under the direction of Rainer Held. Soloist in Yggdrasil is the dedicatee Patrizio Mazzola, who is now premiering the piano concerto after Esther Diethelm published it in 2024. The solo part in the violin concerto Anubis Sibylle Tschopp, who rehearsed the work with Caspar Diethelm and premiered it in 1996, is responsible for the production. In the Concerto Hiemalis Finally, Kilian Herold, solo clarinettist with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, can be heard. The launch of this CD will take place on November 29 in Lucerne.

The second CD will also be released in November on the Toccata label and features five first recordings of chamber music works.

Further details on CDs and concerts can be found in this document (link to PDF). A newsletter for the anniversary year can be ordered via caspardiethelm.com. https://www.caspardiethelm.com/aktuelles.html

Review in the Schweizer Musikzeitung

Caspar Diethelm: Symphonic Works, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by Rainer Held.
Guild GM3CD 7808

 

The Grand Guignol, this pompous Punch and Judy show from France, tends towards the monstrous, the unreal and the surreal, although it has long since been overtaken and overtaken by reality. The Théâtre du Grand Guignol in Pigalle, which opened in 1897 and shocked audiences with torture, rape and bloody murder, closed on January 5, 1963 on the grounds that it could not compete with Buchenwald. Art does not come close to reality. The two artists who have now created a new «Grand Guignol Opéra» are well aware of this.

Their starting point is the futility of the enterprise; nevertheless, they try and send two vampiresses in their own image out into the world: to perhaps save it after all or at least eliminate the worst tyrant, a «king-president» whose real-life likeness we see on the news every day. They fail miserably; the president, after all, is eaten by another monster, the resurrected Gorgonzilla. However, the end of the world cannot be stopped in this way; a deluge sweeps everything away. At the end, we see the two vampires, playing Schubert's F minor Fantasy on a Bösendorfer, sailing towards the sunset in the ocean.

Gap between text and music

The opera Monster's Paradise, which premiered at the Hamburg State Opera on February 1st and is now being shown in Zurich, takes us on a lustfully apocalyptic ghost train into the abyss. With lots of spectacle and flailing. This makes the dystopia fun. The artistic abysses lurk elsewhere: not in the monstrous, of which there could certainly be a little more, but in the theatrical pace, which is often slowed down by resignation and well-intentioned statements. «We are no longer in demand,» sings one vampire right at the beginning. «Come to me, all who are peaceful and want to stay that way!» are Gorgonzilla's first words. This is not the way to make exciting and aggressive art. But you immediately wonder whether that's what the two authors want at all, whether they're not allowing us to be led astray.

The composer Olga Neuwirth came up with the idea for this musical theater; she managed to persuade her long-time librettist, her friend Elfriede Jelinek, who had long been weary of opera, to write a joint text. But it is precisely with this text that there is a problem. He rambles and lectures, rambling, sometimes lecturing, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes flat. The words block. The first scene, for example, doesn't get off the ground. One may concede that such platitude is part of the genre, as an anti-quality that counteracts good taste. However, the music sounds far too rich, lively, refined, colorful, jazzy-drivish, funny. The orchestra of the opera house under Titus Engel plays thrillingly.

Long and cumbersome like the end of the world

As a result, the levels often drift apart. Added to this is the colorful and yet sometimes unimaginative scenic design. Director Tobias Kratzer and his team sometimes struggle to get the banter going, but they manage to create magnificent images at the climaxes. The battle of the monsters with Gorgonzilla (Anna Clementi) and the President (excellent: Georg Nigl) becomes a larger-than-life shadow theater. The final scene in the sea floods the eye and ear thanks to the skillfully employed cinematic means that Neuwirth loves so much. There is so much to experience, almost too much, because all the scenes, even the really successful ones, are too long and too cumbersome. The play could be cut down by a good third. The only thing that would be lost would be the precarious non-quality that characterizes the work to some extent.

But at this moment, the critic begins to suspect that he is once again trying to differentiate far too much and is losing sight of the end of the world. That may be. - Big (not monstrous) applause.

Zurich, Opera House; Premiere on March 8, 2026; co-production with Hamburg and Graz. Further performances until April 12

41 works by 49 composers from 23 countries were selected for the 11th Ars Electronica Forum Wallis Call for Acousmatic Works. 24 works made it into the Concert Selection. There was a Special Mention for a further 17 works. 157 composers from 42 countries and all continents submitted a total of 182 works. The jury consisted of Kotoka Suzuki (JPN), Jaime Oliver La Rosa (PER), Reuben de Lautour (TUR/NZL) and Javier Hagen (Festival Director Forum Wallis).

The concerts will take place this year on June 5 and 6 and on July 3 and 4 as part of the Festival for New Music Forum Wallis at the MEbU (Münster Earport) in Goms.

The Forum Valais is an annual international festival for new music in Switzerland. It is run by the Valais chapter of the International Society for New Music (IGNM-VS). Since 2006, it has co-produced over 350 world premieres and presented works by over 500 composers from all over the world. Regular guests of the festival include ensembles such as recherche, Zafraan, UMS'nJIP, dissonArt, Steamboat Switzerland, Cod.Act, Arditti String Quartet, Klangforum Wien, ensemble für neue musik zürich, Contrechamps and Ensemble Modern

http://forumwallis.ch

The winners of the Concert Selection

(in alphabetical order)

Bai Boyi (CHN) - Take me back to Indonesia
Bernard Bruno (FRA) - lune(s)
Blackburn Manuella (GBR) - Train of Thought
Borrel Stéphane (FRA) - La Grenouille de Lycie

Cho Youngjae (KOR) - narthex
Delap Gordon (IRL) - An Insect that Shuns the Light
Duchenne Jean-Marc (FRA) - On a Changing Sky
Eghdami Pierre (FRA/GER) - Fulgurite

Harrison Jonty (GBR) - Chamber music
Hayashi Kyohei (JPN) - Butterfly Garden
Karkatselas Theodoros (GRC) - Quarks
Kokoras Panayiotis (GRC) - Useless box
Kulari Daniel (ALB/ITA) - Variations and Disintegrations on a Theme by Çesk Zadeja

Lund-Jensen Pascal (CHE/DEN) - Building the Anthropocene
Moyers Jr. Timothy (USA) - Heliosphere
Noiseau Etienne (FRA) - Jardins d'Épicure
Otani Yasuhiro (JPN) - Thresholds of Presence
Prod'homme Lucie (FRA) - Espèces de gros sons

Stollery Pete (GBR) - Bosque
Totaleee (ITA, Giuseppe Pisano, Andrea Laudante, Paolo Montella) - Non è un atlante di traiettorie algo-siderali
Vanderburg Kyle (USA) - Tempest in a Teakettle
Yağlı Berk (CYP/TUR) - False Awakening on a Mediterranean Island
Yang Wei (CHN) - Rain contained, rain contains
Zouning Anne Liao (CHN) - Dust Storm

 

Awarded with a Special Mention

(in alphabetical order)

Alsina Tarrés Ariadna, Andrić Andreja, Bermúdez Chamberland Diego, Bravo Benard Hector, Carcassi Daniele, Casolino Alessandro, Harper Nathan, Kishore Varun, Lampropoulou Magda, Laudante Andrea, Lewis Andrew, Li He, Montella Paolo, Naylor Cameron, Oliveira João Pedro, Parisse Mattia, Parry Jake, Pastorino Paolo, Scott Richard, Sismann Valentin, Snapir Jonatan, Tesorini Riccardo, Zaiceva Sofia

 

How the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts - Music announces that the three people will take up their posts in the fall semester 2026/27. The HSLU writes about the musicians' careers:

Fabre Guin studied violin, harpsichord, organ and composition (including harmony, counterpoint, formal theory, instrumentation and harmonization on the piano) at the conservatoires in Nancy, Saint-Maur-des-Fossés and Paris, as well as musicology at the Sorbonne. He initially taught écriture at the Conservatoire d'Aubervilliers and has been teaching at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris since 2018 in the areas of écriture, analysis musicale and culture musicale appliquée active. He is also titular organist at the Sainte-Geneviève church in Paris and regularly gives concerts

Johanna Kulke completed a Bachelor's degree with a double major in piano and violin as well as a Master's degree in violin and music theory at the Lucerne School of Music. She has been teaching violin, piano, music theory and composition at the Oberaargau Music School in Langenthal and Herzogenbuchsee since 2018 and is also active as a violinist, conductor and composer.

Sanne Lorenzen studied church music at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. This was followed by a bachelor's and master's degree in music theory at the Fribourg University of Music and a master's degree in organ at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. She has been teaching music theory at the Pre-College of the Lucerne School of Music since 2022 and is Senior Lecturer for Music Theory and Aural Training at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. She also works as an organist for the reformed church in Sursee.

 

The traditional Settimane musicali di Ascona are history. Founded in 1946, the oldest classical music festival in Switzerland alongside the Lucerne Festival (1938) and the Braunwald Music Week (1936) has been radically restructured in its eightieth year and is now called classicAscona. The transformation process was implemented by the new artistic director, cultural manager Christoph Müller, in collaboration with the local authorities. With Sindaco Giorgio Gilardi on the podium and a large number of local representatives in the hall, they were prominently represented at the media conference. A clear indication of the importance Ascona attaches to the festival in the future. It is to become an economic factor in the region, which means promoting cultural tourism and attracting an increasingly affluent audience to Lake Maggiore. The event period from mid-September to mid-October is ideal for this; the popular summer festivals have come to an end and the sunny early autumn in Ticino does its part. In addition to Ascona and Locarno, the Brissago Islands, Monte Verità and churches in Ronco and the lower Maggia Valley are picturesque venues.

From artist festival to cultural event

The drastic changes range from the new, somewhat cool-looking company logo to the marketing, audience strategy and program structure. The artists' festival, led for 13 years by pianist Francesco Piemontesi, at which the artistic director also performed as a soloist and chamber musician and gathered an illustrious group of like-minded people around him, has thus become a cultural event in which economic considerations and artistic planning are closely intertwined.

Basel-born Müller, a cellist and former member of the Basel Chamber Orchestra, can draw on a wealth of experience as an event organizer. Before his appointment to Ascona, he directed the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad for 25 years, where he increased the annual attendance from 13,000 to around 28,000 - a fact that was noted with great interest in Ascona. He also founded the Lucerne Chamber Circle and, together with Sol Gabetta, the Solsberg Festival in northern Switzerland. Recently, he has also become the director of the Klosters Music Festival. A musical multi-entrepreneur who now wants to make his business model, which he knows how to adapt to local conditions, fruitful for Ascona too.

Media presence, celebrities and artists in residence

Success is to be ensured through improved advertising - Müller speaks of 30,000 e-mail addresses - new program content and an opening to new audiences. And last but not least, the appearance of international celebrities, where Müller can draw on the artist contacts he has built up over the years. The most precious trophy he has now announced for Ascona is Cecilia Bartoli. Her guest appearance in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, The opera is performed semi-staged by the Musiciens du Prince from Monaco, but with tickets costing between 95 and 275 francs, it is not for the average person. With a budget that has doubled to 1.7 million francs, the ticket prices are quite reasonable, even for the concerts of the three «artisti in residenza», soprano Julia Lezhneva, violinist Vilde Frang and cellist Sol Gabetta, who also give master classes. Only guest orchestras such as the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen are a little more expensive.

Academies of all kinds

The educational programs are a new and important part of the festival: the classicAscona Academy, the Choral Academy with the London Tenebrae Choir and the Baroque Academy with the ensemble Il Pomodoro and flautist Maurice Steger. In the final concerts, young musicians can present themselves; they are entitled «Next Generation» and are free of charge. Collaboration with the Conservatorio in Lugano and regional schools is also planned. All these measures are intended to arouse the curiosity of the local public for the paid concerts. International music business, the promotion of young talent and the development of new audiences: an interesting mix. In September, we will see how it all comes together.

 

 

The original version of this text was first published with many pictures on viewswitzerland.ch

 

When Franz Josef Raff (1789-1861) fled from Empfingen-Wiesenstetten in southern Germany to Switzerland in 1810 on the advice of his father, he had no idea that his future son Joseph Joachim would have a world career as a composer ahead of him. The Napoleonic wars, in particular the preparations for the Russian campaign and the early death of a brother in the war, ultimately lead to his escape to Wettingen Abbey. After working as a tutor in Lucerne, the musically gifted Franz Josef came to Lachen, the district capital of Märchl, as a teacher and church musician in 1817. Progressive circles from the village's revolutionary liberal elite had already founded an elementary school together with the parish, alongside the Latin school, and Father Raff acted as a strict pedagogue who also excelled in church music.

Katharina's marriage to the daughter of the neighbouring, politically rebellious ox farmer and Landammann Franz Joachim Schmid decisively politicized the mood in the Raff family. Schmid was one of the ringleaders who opposed the domination of the powerful noble families and patricians in Schwyz and, together with the Märchler doctor Melchior Diethelm, wanted to establish an independent canton of Ausserschwyz. Melchior Diethelm would later become one of the architects of the Swiss bicameral system. Joachim Raff was born on May 27, 1822 in the old 16th century Sust. This «multi-purpose building» serves as a commercial and industrial building as well as a school and arsenal. It also had to accommodate the teacher's apartment.

Early giftedness of Joachim

Throughout his school years in Switzerland until 1840, Joachim stood out for his diligence, musicality, multiple talents, maverick nature, ambition and even a desire, expressed to his mother, to achieve something very special in life. His strict father taught him to play the violin, piano and organ. He mastered Latin early on and at the Jesuit College in Schwyz, which he attended from 1838-1840, he was repeatedly top of his class in a wide range of subjects. Throughout his life, he would continue his self-taught education and develop into one of the most recognized music historians and composers. Early influences and an excellent genetic make-up are decisive for his success.

His early politicization at his grandfather's pub table, the awareness of being the son of an exposed political refugee and thus belonging to a minority, but also his great sensitivity, his strong mind and also his striking personality accompany Raff throughout his life.

Early Raff compositions were sung by him, together with his fellow students, at the «Pannerfest» for the banner lord Theodor Ab Yberg (1795-1869) in Schwyz in 1840. He was also impressed by the visit of the Schwyz Landsgemeinde on May 3, 1840 in Rothenthurm.

Joachim Raff is enthusiastic about the political customs, the corresponding democratic rites, procedures and elections in this politically very uncertain time of transition from a confederation of states to a federal state and thus to the foundation stone of Switzerland.

He also wrote about this in May 1840 in the then well-known Catholic-conservative newspaper «Sanct Gallischer Wahrheitsfreund». Early on, he developed his own identity based on justice and equality. There are indications in his biography of early bullying, ostracism due to his giftedness and impressive, very personal conflict management regarding his strict father (he goes on hunger strike against him).

Throughout his life, he defined himself with conviction and an explicitly equal consciousness as someone who came from Switzerland, his motherland, and with Germany as his homeland.

All this can be read in the biography of her daughter Helene Raff, the writer and painter, about her father (Bosse, Ravensburg 1925).

First professional experience and years of travel

Although Joachim Raff wanted to become a professional musician against his parents' wishes, he gained his first professional experience as a teacher in Rapperswil from 1840 to 1844.

An expert opinion from the then already well-known musician Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) attests to his above-average musicality, which finally triggers his risky career change to become a freelance musician in 1843. This courageous, adventurous step, which he took against all odds, not only drove him away from his family, but also into homelessness on the Platzspitz in Zurich.

Thanks to a somewhat desperate attempt to make contact with Franz Liszt (1811-1886), then celebrated as a star pianist, at the Casino Basel in June 1845, he received a promising promotion.

After their first joint project, the inauguration of the Beethoven monument in Bonn in August 1845, Liszt arranged various work opportunities for him in music houses in Cologne, Stuttgart and Hamburg. Many more or less successful compositions for piano were written during this time. Above all, however, Raff learned a great deal through self-tuition, was in contact with musicians and published in various international specialist journals. It was in Stuttgart that Raff met and came to appreciate his most important friend and lifelong patron, Hans von Bülow (1830-1894).

Profiling in Weimar

Joachim Raff took the step towards assisting Franz Liszt in the transition from 1849/50. Although the composer from Lachen also felt somewhat exploited by Liszt (many instrumentations, orchestrations, correspondence, organization of trips and music days, negotiations with publishers, journalistic activities), he was also supported by him (help with his own compositions, performances of Raff's works at the piano, conducting Raff's works, offering various relationships, etc.). However, his progressive emancipation from his patron was also unstoppable due to stylistic differences.

From the very beginning, Raff has consistently followed the path of processing the most diverse stylistic elements from music history, from which he is constantly inspired. He is not familiar with the passionate disputes over style that took place in the 19th century.

At the same time, however, he is careful to follow his own path, his own music, with ultimately his own style. Above all, his contrapuntal mastery, the colorfulness of his instrumentation and the complexity of his treatment of the themes became his trademark.

Raff expands his compositional activity. Songs, chamber music works and even an opera («King Alfred») are the focus of his further musical development in his younger years. Successes, but also repeated failures, occurred in parallel.

His network of contacts expands significantly. He met Richard Wagner (1813-1883), the violinists Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), Edmund Singer (1831-1912), Alexander Ritter (1833-1896), the cellist Bernhard Cossmann (1822-1911), but also representatives of the Weimar court such as Grand Duke Carl Alexander (1805-1863). He was able to talk to the composers Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), Robert Franz (1815-1892), Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) and Louis Spohr (1784-1859) personally and on an equal footing. He also regularly exchanged ideas with progressive literary figures such as Peter Cornelius (1824-1874) and August Heinrich von Fallersleben (1798-1874).

The Wagner question

The charisma and success of Richard Wagner in particular challenged Raff. The radical reorientation of opera as a total work of art inspired him. In his book «The Wagner Question» (1854), Raff takes an in-depth but also critical look at the star of his time. Raff attempts to counter Wagner's leitmotif technique, the role of the orchestra and the expansion of harmony with his own interpretation. With the fairy-tale epic «Sleeping Beauty» (1856), he tackles this in a practical way.

The music drama «Samson» (written between 1851 and 1857) should actually have been his doctorate on the one hand, but also a work on a par with Wagner (Lohengrin). Raff also wanted it to qualify him for a position as a secretary at the Goethe Foundation or as a curator at the Weimar library (music department). This example impressively demonstrates Raff's three great potentials, which were already apparent in his early youth: an academic career, a career as a composer and, what remains to be described, his career as a university teacher and university director. Various reasons prevent the performance of the completed tragedy. It was not until 2022, the 200th anniversary of Joachim Raff's birth, that the successful world premiere took place at the German National Theater in Weimar. And in 2023, the World premiere recording at the Theater Bern under the overall project management of Graziella Contratto (Label Schweizer Fonogramm).

Breakthrough in Wiesbaden

It was also in Weimar that Joachim Raff met his future wife, the actress Doris Genast (1827-1912). She worked at the theater in Wiesbaden and the hundreds of pages of mutual letters from their long-distance relationship between Wiesbaden and Weimar fortunately still exist and form the basis for future research on the «Silver Age of Weimar». The touristically and culturally diverse spa town of Wiesbaden was therefore also the place that Raff chose in 1856 as the future center of his work and life until 1877.

As if the floodgates were opening, Joachim Raff plunged into his most fruitful, productive and successful creative period as a composer.

Sophisticated piano suites, his first concerts at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, which he conducts himself, the 1863 award ceremony at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna with his first symphony «An das Vaterland», demanding large sonatas for piano and violin, many other chamber music works (trios, quartets, quintets, sextets, octets), songs and choral works, successful symphonies (e.g. the 3rd Symphony op. 153 «Im Walde» in 1869, or the 5th Symphony, op. 177, «Lenore»), which are performed worldwide, characterize this period. For example, the 3rd Symphony op. 153 «Im Walde» in 1869, or the 5th Symphony, op. 177, «Lenore»), which were performed worldwide, characterize this period. New operas were also written (e.g. "Die Parole"; "Dame Kobold").

Joachim Raff's private life also changed. In 1859, he married Doris Genast, the daughter of the Weimar director and actor Eduard Genast (1797-1866), who was still working with Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) at the court in Weimar.

In 1865, the couple's only daughter, Helene, joined them. She was brought up and educated in a progressive and equal manner by the couple, who were avant-garde at the time and had artistic and professional careers on both sides. She studied the same school subjects as her male counterparts and was one of the pioneers of the women's movement in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century.

Joachim Raff receives various honors, knight's crosses and medals of merit from various duchies in Germany, Luxembourg and Italy. In 1872, together with Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner, he was made an honorary member of the New York Philharmonic. He dedicates a piano concerto to his friend Hans von Bülow and honors the then leading cellist Friedrich Grützmacher (1832-1903) with the Concerto for Cello, op. 193. Another world-class instrumentalist, the Spanish violinist Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908), takes on Raff's extensive violin works and disseminates them almost worldwide.

Director of the Dr. Hoch'sches Konservatorium in Frankfurt am Main

It was a great satisfaction and honor for the self-taught Joachim Raff to be asked to become the first director of the newly founded Dr. Hoch'sches Konservatorium in 1877. Personalities such as Johannes Brahms and Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901) were also under discussion. The Frankfurt lawyer Dr. Joseph Hoch (1815-1874) bequeathed a considerable fortune to the city to enable the foundation of this conservatory.

Raff enthusiastically puts together an important teaching staff and quickly develops the school into an internationally recognized music academy. He himself teaches composition. Franz Liszt and many other important musicians visit the institute several times.

As a special feature, Raff employed the top pianist and composer Clara Schumann (1819-1896). A woman as a professor at a university is unusual and again testifies to the innovative director's progressive understanding of gender equality. Raff also went his own visionary way by creating a separate class for female composers. In his inaugural speech on September 22, 1878, Raff's Samson studies are mentioned and «he gives an outline of music history in a concentrated form and sophisticated diction that is rarely found.» (Cahn P., Das Hoch'sche Konservatorium, 1878-1978, 1979).

Joachim Raff also continued to compose well-known works. Symphonies, an opera, orchestral preludes, a cantata, a vocal cycle and, above all, his most important sacred work, the oratorio «Welt-Ende Gericht Neue Welt». This opus 212 is one of his last works. Raff's daughter, Helene, mentions in her biography of her father that he was often haunted by premonitions of death towards the end of his life. In 1881, he completed the comprehensive work and the following year, on June 24, 1882, Raff died of cardiac paralysis in Frankfurt am Main.

To mark the 200th anniversary of his birth in 2022, the aforementioned oratorio will be impressively and worthily performed by the Gewandhaus choirs and the Capella Lipsiensis under the direction of Gregor Meyer in the parish church of Lachen, his birth church and in the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and recorded on CD.

A lasting legacy

Raff's legacy is twofold. Firstly, there is his music. Since the 1970s, it has enjoyed an astonishing renaissance. Raff's work is once again present in research (several dissertations, master's theses, research projects in various countries), recordings (around 150 CD productions on 55 labels), countless important concerts all over the world, publications, podcast productions, presence in the electronic media and exhibitions.

It is probably in this context that the music makers responsible also recognize Raff's personality. At a time when provocations, divisions, egoism, fake news, radicalization and nationalism are having an increasingly negative impact on world events, Raff's work, which is based on harmonizing, connecting, coherent, well-founded knowledge and thus respectful and appreciative insights, takes on a new dimension.

Many musicologists recognize the value of the «synthesis» with which they characterize the work of Joachim Raff. Raff could often be harsh in his arguments and pursue his goals with a certain stubbornness; he even came into conflict with the law as a result of his occasional debts. But with his music and his social views, he wanted to unite and not divide. He conveyed values and reduced tensions. As a «counterpoint», his view of mankind and the world fit well into the 21st century.

List of sources

Books

- Cahn, Peter: The Hoch Conservatory 1878 - 1978, Frankfurt am Main, 1979

- Dörffel, Alfred: Die Gewandhauskonzerte zu Leipzig 1781 - 1881, reprint of the 1884 edition,

Leipzig, 1980

- Genast, Eduard: From Weimar's classical period, Stuttgart, 1903

- Kolb, Severin: «The Wagner Question» - Joachim Raff's Confrontation with Richard Wagner in Weimar (1850 - 1856), Raff-Studien Volume 2, Wiesbaden, 2026

- Kolb, Severin and König, Stefan: (eds.), Synthesen. Conference on the opening of the Joachim Raff Archive, Lachen 2018 (conference report), Raff-Studien Volume 1, Wiesbaden, 2026

- Kolb, Severin: Years of upheaval - Joachim Raff in Stuttgart (1847 - 1849) in Musik in Baden-Württemberg, Marbach am Neckar, 2021 / 2022

- Marty, Res: Joachim Raff - Life and work, Lachen, 2014

- Marty, Res: Anniversary publication, 50 years of the Joachim Raff Society, Lachen 2022

- Marty, Res: Lines & Sound, Documents & Stories from the Joachim Raff Archive, Lachen 2025

- Raff, Helene: Leaves from the Tree of Life, Munich, 1938

- Raff, Helene: Joachim Raff, a biography, Regenburg, 1925

- Schäfer, Albert: Chronologisch-systematisches Verzeichnis der Werke Joachim Raff's, Wiesbaden, 1888

- Thomas, Marc: The Music of Joachim Raff, An illustrated catalogue, Stuttgart, 2022

Documents

- Walter Labhart Documentation Library, Endingen AG

- Joachim Raff Archive / Marty Collection, Lachen

 

This text was first published with many pictures on viewswitzerland.ch

February 24, 2026 marks the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. With a concert tour through Switzerland and Liechtenstein, refugees, local partner organizations and the population are jointly commemorating the victims of the war - and sending a signal of solidarity. The tour is organized by the Ukrainian Cultural Association Prostir Lucerne and Ukrainehilfe Zentralschweiz, in close cooperation with numerous local partners.

As part of the tour, the chamber orchestra of the Ivan Karabyts College Bachmut for Culture and Art (currently in exile in Kamjanez-Podilskyj, Ukraine) will perform in several cities. The program includes short works by Ukrainian composers - as an expression of Ukraine's independent cultural diversity: culture as resistance and hope.

Bachmut - a city that no longer exists

Bachmut, once a city of around 80,000 inhabitants, became the scene of one of the most brutal battles of the 21st century and is now considered uninhabitable. The college from which the orchestra originated was destroyed in 2022, instruments looted, classrooms vandalized and the concert hall bombed. Nevertheless, the young artists continue to make music - under makeshift conditions, with salvaged archives and a few surviving instruments.

The orchestra uses the concerts to collect donations and draw international attention to the situation in Ukraine. At the same time, making music together sends a strong signal: for dignity, cultural identity and the future.

Concert dates - Tour Switzerland & Liechtenstein

Thursday, February 19, 2026 - 18:00 | Schaan (LI)
Parish Church of St. Laurentius, Reberastrasse 17, 9494 Schaan
Local organization: SKS Integrationshilfe association

Friday, February 20, 2026 - 19:00 | Zug
St. Johannes Zug, St.-Johannes-Strasse 9, 6300 Zug
Local organization: Catholic parish of the city of Zug

Saturday, February 21, 2026 - 17:00 | Olten
Christkatholische Stadtkirche, Kirchgasse 2, 4600 Olten
Local organization: KALYNA Ukraine Network Olten Region

Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 09:00 | Basel
Thomaskirche Basel (service followed by a concert),
Hegenheimstrasse 229, 4055 Basel
Local organization: Worldwide Church
Donations: Ukrainian aid with a heart

Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 17:00 | Zurich
Grossmünster Zurich, Zwingliplatz 7, 8001 Zurich
Local organization: Grossmünster Zurich
Donations: HEKS

Monday, February 23, 2026 - 19:00 | Lucerne
Lukas Church Lucerne, Morgartenstrasse 16, 6003 Lucerne
Local organization: Ukrainian Cultural Association Prostir & Ukrainehilfe Zentralschweiz

Tuesday, February 24, 2026 - 18:30 | Bern
Bern Minster (peace prayer and concert), Münsterplatz 1, 3000 Bern
Local organization: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Christliche Kirche in der Schweiz (AGCK)

Wednesday, February 25, 2026 - 19:00 | Geneva 
Geneva Espace Madeleine / Temple de la Madeleine Rue de la Madeleine 15, 1204 Genèvee
Local organization: Permanent Mission of Ukraine in Geneva (in coordination)

 

Admission free - collection / donations

Admission is free. A collection / donation will be collected at the exit. The proceeds will always go to the Ukrainian Cultural Association Prostir Lucerne and Ukrainehilfe Zentralschweiz and will be used in full for Ukrainehilfe on the ground.

The concert tour itself is fully funded by grants - donations from the concerts therefore flow directly into specific aid measures, particularly in frontline regions such as Kharkiv, Donetsk/Donbas, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson. Both humanitarian aid (e.g. urgently needed equipment and supplies) and cultural aid (e.g. musical instruments for children and support for cultural institutions) are supported. Exceptions: In Basel, the collection goes to the «Ukrainehilfe mit Herz» initiative, in Zurich the donations go to HEKS (according to the local organization of the respective concerts).

It has been known for two and a half years that Sebastian Nordmann would succeed Michael Haefliger at the Lucerne Festival. The former director of the Konzerthaus Berlin officially took over as Artistic Director on January 1, 2026 and was invited to the media conference at the KKL to present the program. Although his predecessor had not planned anything in terms of content, the Foundation Board had set two clear guidelines: The Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival Academy were to be continued. In addition to ensuring artistic excellence, Nordmann is expected above all to make the festival more relevant. This was emphasized by Markus Hongler, President of the Board of Trustees, in his welcoming address.

Dreams without nightmares

The music festival should therefore have an even stronger impact on society. Against this backdrop, it was surprising how reserved Sebastian Nordmann was about this year's theme «American Dreams» - especially in view of the current political developments in the USA. At the media conference, the new artistic director deliberately stuck to the music. The motto emerged two years ago in a conversation with Riccardo Chailly, chief conductor of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, who wanted an American focus. As a result, the opening concert on August 14 will feature Charles Ives‘ Symphony No. 1 as well as George Gershwin's Concerto in F for piano (soloist: Frank Dupree) and orchestra. The program is complemented by Gershwin's Cuban Overture and Steve Reichs New York Counterpoint for eleven clarinets. But can the positively connoted «American Dreams» be left uncommented while many Americans are currently experiencing massive state violence as a nightmare? «We don't want to take a position on party politics or economic policy,» answers Nordmann in a personal conversation. «What is important to us are the American dreams that were expressed, for example, in the music of George Gershwin or in the minimal music of Steve Reich and John Adams.» The artists were invited because of their art - from Yo-Yo Ma and Hilary Hahn to the poet Amanda Gorman.

The music should speak for itself

He does not want to offer a forum for party politics, but rather remain in dialog and build bridges. According to Nordmann, the festival stands for democratic and humanistic values. But how can this claim be fulfilled without taking a clear political stance, when in the USA it is hardly about party politics anymore, but about the fundamental threat to democracy? Nordmann answers: «I think it would be wrong for cultural institutions to say what is right or wrong in terms of party politics. We want to be for something, not against something. Anyone who advocates hatred and violence will not perform with us. We want to support the orchestras and artists from the USA here. And show them that we hear and see them,» says Nordmann. American music should therefore stand for itself - and there is plenty of it this summer, from John Adams to Frank Zappa, from Leonard Bernstein to Aron Copeland. The artist-in-residence is Augustin Hadelich, who lives in the USA and will be performing four different programs, including the violin concertos by Samuel Barber and Ludwig van Beethoven as well as a Fiddle Night. Anne-Sophie Mutter, whose career began at the age of 13 at the Lucerne International Music Festival, celebrates her 50th stage anniversary with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Penderecki's 2nd Violin Concerto, among others, but also has an American program with André Previn's 2nd Violin Concerto.

Connections and innovations

Last summer, Jörg Widmann was introduced as the successor to the late Wolfgang Rihm as director of the Lucerne Festival Academy. With his conducting of Wolfgang Rihm's «monstrous» (Widmann's own words) orchestral work Tutuguri a link is made to its predecessor. The fragile music of composer-in-residence Mark Andre, which Widmann raves about, sounds completely different. There are innovations at the Lucerne Festival, which presents 20 symphony orchestras and 120 events, particularly in the area of communication. With the «Mittendrin» format brought over from Berlin, you can take a seat in the orchestra, and under the motto «Luege Lose Erläbe», a child or young person receives an accompanying ticket for 10 francs at every concert. Two free opening events at the KKL and open air on Europaplatz are designed to whet the appetite for the festival, which is two days shorter than last year. With «Orchestrating the moment», the festival has come up with an emotional claim. Will this be enough to make it more relevant?

«The word Jerusalem contains both the Jewish word »Shalom« and the Arabic »Salam'. Both mean peace. At the festival, we don't want to divide the different cultures, but to come together through music. Jerusalem is a city that brings us together as a society," says Michal Lewkowicz, founder and artistic director of the Mizmorim chamber music festival in Basel. Almost all concerts, readings and guided tours at the twelfth edition, which was held under the motto "Jerusalem", were sold out. Renowned artists and ensembles such as the Gringolts Quartet, clarinettist Reto Bieri and flautist Ariel Zuckermann provided musical excellence. Young talents such as the Arola Quartet from Bern, which was only founded in 2024 and emerged from the masterclass that took place for the first time in November, were also discovered at the festival.

So almost all the events revolved around Jerusalem. Lukas Landmann gave an insight into the 5,500-year history of the city, which was conquered 34 times, at the Jewish Museum of Switzerland. Heidy Zimmermann showed the unpublished composition created in 1967 at the Paul Sacher Foundation Jerusalem for solo singer, narrator, two choirs and orchestra by Roman Haubenstock-Ramati. The vocal ensemble Voces Suaves dedicated its program «Wenn ich Dein vergesse ...» psalm settings from the Renaissance to the present day, which the Israeli-Palestinian oud player Taiseer Elias juxtaposed with Arabic melodies in his solos. The opening concert «The Ties that Bind us» by David Krakauer (clarinet) and Kathleen Tagg (piano) already featured jazz and klezmer echoes with November 22 a work by the Syrian composer Kinan Azmeh.

From Bach to Feldman

The concert «Yerushalayim shel zahav» at the SRF Studio Basel combined western music by Johann Sebastian and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach with seven very different Jerusalem songs sung expressively by Hila Baggio, which showed the breadth of Judaism and its music: from Sephardic to Hasidic, from Yiddish to Yemenite. Marcelo Nisinman has written exciting arrangements for flute (Ariel Zuckermann), violin (Ilya Gringolts), harpsichord (Francesco Corti) and himself on bandoneon, which give each of the songs its own color.

Yerushalayim shel zahav in slow triple time, which became internationally known through the Israeli singer Ofra Haza, loses pathos in Nisinman's version and gains in complexity. His The silent wall The portrait of the city commissioned by the festival is surprisingly worldly and sounds like tango and joie de vivre. And conveys a good impression of the city's vibrancy and multiculturalism, which is the subject of lively discussion afterwards in the foyer over hummus, pita and beer.

Two concerts were dedicated to the Jewish American composer Morton Feldman, who would have been 100 years old on January 12. On the late-night date, the half-hour Why patterns? for flute, glockenspiel and piano (1978) on the program. Deep flute tones (Anja Clift) meet high, warm piano sounds (Dmitry Batalov). Christian Dierstein joins the lines on the glockenspiel. This is very tender, intimate music that makes time stand still and turns simple changes of tone into events. The closing concert «Jerusalem Syndrome» with the Mizmorim Festival Ensemble, which featured a number of Swiss premieres, spanned an arc in the Ackermannshof from the Jewish composer Stefan Wolpe (1902-1972), who fled Nazi Germany to the USA, to the Israeli Palestinian Samir Odeh-Tamimi, who lives in Germany and whose trio Li-Umm-Kámel combines Arabic music with European compositional traditions. Another intercultural encounter at this festival.

Radio SRF 2 Kultur will present a cross-section of the program of this year's Mizmorim Festival on 19.3.2026 from 8 to 10 pm in the program «Im Konzertsaal».