"Who is Frank Zappa?" asks an elderly lady in the row behind me at Basel's Gare du Nord. That's her right. After all, the rock icon, who swaggered in the New York avant-garde, has a lot to say with "Tehillim", the motto of this year's Mizmorim Chamber Music Festival, only marginally. The percussionist Christian Dierstein had just performed in the concert 150 + 1 Psalms in an impressive set-up of tubes, plates and percussion instruments. He performed Peter Eötvös' solo piece Psalm 151 In memoriam Frank Zappa from the year 1993. Eötvös describes his necrology as a "psalm". The "Tehillim", the Old Testament Psalter, is known to contain 150 psalms. The 151st psalm therefore does not exist there.

This programmatic deceit is reflected in the strategy for the tenth edition of the festival from January 24 to 31. Since 2015, the festival has been placing what points beyond the framework of its own Jewish culture and has become an inspiration for musicians of other religious backgrounds in aesthetically and historically exciting contexts: "Mizmorim" means "Psalms" in Hebrew and is therefore a generic term that refers equally to source texts and their settings or other adaptations.

Jewish life and Jewish faith

Before this year's edition, Artistic Director Michal Lewkowicz, who had also performed as a clarinettist at previous festivals, and President Guy Rueff were able to hone the profile with the help of an academic advisory team. Together with the festive opening in the music hall of the Casino Basel, there were twelve concerts: solo pieces, songs, chamber music and, exceptionally, works on the cusp of larger orchestral and vocal ensembles. There were twice as many youth events, networking opportunities and commissioned compositions for the anniversary, and the festival was twice as long as usual.

"I'm delighted that the audience is finding its way to us," said Lewkowicz after the opening concert, but articulated fears about the warlike developments in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. Eight weeks before the start of the festival, she had sent out a clear message of welcome as a precaution. No one should feel excluded from the anniversary, especially with the cooperation between Mizmorim and the Beit Yosef Synagogue of the Jewish Community of Basel, which took two years to prepare. "The synagogue is not only a place of prayer, but also a meeting place. The latter is often forgotten," said Lewkowicz. "The festival office was sprayed with 'Free Palestine' and Rabbi Moshe Baumel was spat at," she told the Basler Zeitung a few days before the festival began.

For the first time, Mizmorim did not have a motto with a specific historical or theoretical point of reference, as in previous years, for example when a musical perspective on the movement for a Jewish nation state before the founding of the state of Israel was developed in the "Blue-White Project" in 2023. In the anniversary year, Jewish life and faith should be reflected in as many facets and colors as possible, including those of interest to outsiders.

A perfect example of the programmatic Mizmorim strategy was the concert Psalm geheim on Friday morning. A regular working day for a matinee is unusual and testified to the courage of the organizers. The Zunftsaal in the Schmiedenhof was well filled, although only one "Zugstück" (Biblical songs by the Catholic Czech composer Antonín Dvořák), the festival's calling card in terms of sound: Secret Psalm for violin solo by Oliver Knussen (1952-2018), as Swiss premiere The Eternal is my shepherd, Psalm 23, by Alexander Uriyah Boskovich (born 1954) as well as works by Aram Hovhannisyan, Victor Alexandru Colțea and Eleni Ralli, the winners of the first three Mizmorim composition competitions in 2018, 2020 and 2022.

Lots of music from the 20th and 21st centuries

"I love Mendelssohn very much, but other things are far more important today," said Lewkowicz. Without it being explicitly stated in the title, the festival is now one of the hotspots for new music in Basel. If you look back at the Mizmorim programs of recent years, you will notice a decrease in songs and a growing number of works with individually mixed instrumental and vocal ensembles. The performance of the Tehillim by Steve Reich with the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra with Tito Ceccherini standing in for Baldur Brönnimann, who was ill, was also Mizmorim's first collaboration with the Basler Madrigalisten. Another premiere was the live broadcast of Mizmorim Jazz with psalm improvisations by the Vein trios from the SRF radio studio. The audience - a total of 3200 visitors - responded to the novelties with open-hearted applause and enthusiasm for the technical challenges. Busy as a consultant and violinist was Ilya Gringolts.

Compositions in traditional chamber ensembles were performed by Alfred Schnittke, Frank Martin, Gideon Klein, Bohuslav Martinů and Arnold Schönberg; the opening concert also featured the world premiere of the commissioned work Mimma'amaqim for voices and ensemble by Helga Arias (born 1984). The concert Pro Pacem under the overall artistic direction of Jordi Savall in the Martinskirche Basel brought the festival to a close. The proportion of music from the 20th and early 21st centuries was exceptionally high. The special link to the 100th anniversary of György Ligeti's birth resulted from the exhibition Ligeti labyrinth at the Basel Music Museum. Curator Heidy Zimmermann - a close advisor to the Mizmorim Festival since its inception - pointed out that Ligeti, whose father and brother had died in concentration camps, had always regarded his Jewish origins as a private matter, not as an essential artistic theme.

There are many festivals that claim to be diverse and exclusive. In a phase of political escalation, in which parts of the Jewish population feel increasingly threatened even in Switzerland, the Mizmorim Chamber Music Festival proved its high caliber. It invited visitors to a showcase of works with roots in Hebrew and international cultures and presented adaptations from secular cultures. The genre of the psalm ("Mizmorim") and the anthology "The Psalter" ("Tehillim") were recognized as sources that transcend religious dimensions.

Next year the Mizmorim Chamber Music Festival from January 29 to February 2 in Basel.

 

Supplement on February 29, 2024:
Link to the broadcast of the opening concert on Pavillon Suisse 

The woman is omnipresent. She adorns coins and stamps, sits enthroned as a statue on the front of the Federal Palace and appears in the former national anthem: It is the allegorical figure of Helvetia, the protector and mother of the Swiss Confederation. Our national consciousness is largely based on myths. The stories of William Tell, the cradle of democracy, the nation of will and neutrality are also myths. In the post-war period, but especially in the wake of the Sixty-Eight movement, these myths were critically scrutinized in art and science and often dismantled with relish.

Identity-building action

"Myth-busting: painful & pleasurable"was the motto of the conference held on January 23 at Bern University of the Arts. The occasion was the presentation of the publication Musicking Collective - Encodings of collective identity in contemporary music practice in Switzerland and its neighboring countrieswhich was created at Bern University of the Arts (HKB) as part of a National Fund project. The editors are the composer, director and musicologist Leo Dick, the composer and interpreter Noémie Favennec and the performer and music researcher Katelyn Rose King. The editors share the thesis that the essence of music is not primarily rooted in compositions, but in the collective action of individuals, with the term "musicking", which was adopted from the American musicologist Christopher Small. The practice of music thus has an identity- and community-building effect.

The contributions in this anthology deal with contemporary music theater, primarily in Switzerland, from the perspective of the construction and deconstruction of "we" identities. Thick himself states in his essay The shadow of Mother Helvetia two settings of Jeremias Gotthelf's novella The black spider contrast each other. In Heinrich Sutermeister's radio opera from 1934, the author recognizes the affirmative reflex of spiritual national defence, whereas in Rudolf Kelterborn's television opera from 1984, the critical debate in the wake of the youth riots in various Swiss cities.

Social criticism and dreams of the future

The other presentations at the Bern conference did not always focus on music. Heike Bazak, head of the PTT archives in Bern, deciphered the connection between the various iconographic representations of Helvetia on Swiss stamps and the respective zeitgeist. Historian Noëmi Crain Merz spoke about more recent women's movements in Switzerland and their approach to gender roles.

The contribution by ethnomusicologist and filmmaker Lea Hagmann took us back to music. She presented her documentary film Beyond Tradition: the power of nature's voices (2023), which she realized together with Rahel von Gunten and producer Thomas Rickenmann (Red. see movie report by Wolfgang Böhler). The Appenzell natural yodel and two comparable foreign traditions are documented. The two filmmakers were interested in the question of how such traditions could be combined with innovative approaches. It turned out that both the main actor and the producer were afraid of a possible "myth-busting". Against the backdrop of the conflict between art and commerce, the film ultimately became less socially critical than Hagmann would have liked.

Institutions and publications can also become myths. The Gare du Nord in Basel's Badischer Bahnhof, which opened in 2002, has achieved cult status. The curated production and performance venue for the contemporary Swiss (and international) music scene will have a new artistic director in summer 2024 in the form of composer and performer Andreas Eduardo Frank. In an interview with Leo Dick, the nominee outlined his ideas: Generational change among artists and audiences, structural changes and a pluralistic artistic approach. Frank could not be persuaded to be more specific despite questions.

Dissonances and partisans

The magazine "post festum", which was launched in 2018, has also become a myth. Dissonance/Dissonancethe leading medium for contemporary Swiss music production. The reasons for its demise were financial difficulties and differences of opinion between the editorial team and the sponsors. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the online platform Partisan Notes a new medium. The music philosopher Christoph Haffter, co-editor of the platform, and the musicologist Jasmin Goll provided information about the orientation of the new organ. It is not a direct successor publication to Dissonance/Dissonance. Because Partisan Notes is internationally oriented and is published in English. The platform stands for independence, aesthetic pluralism and taking sides for contemporary music that wants to face up to criticism. In addition to essays on various topics, the platform offers reports from workshops that are held with different contemporary music organizers. At the workshops, critics, composers and performers come into conversation with each other and "enlighten" each other.

In the ensuing discussion, there were predominantly critical voices: The Swiss scene was losing importance due to the international focus. The English language has lost the Dissonance/Dissonance The online medium has displaced the prevailing Swiss bilingualism of German and French. With the online medium, the sensuality of a physical publication is lost. And Partisan Notes is too aloof.

As a reconciliation and to round off the evening Katelyn King in Cathy van Ecks In paradisum for performer and live electronics with a witty performance. In the context of the conference theme, the apple-eating Eva could also be interpreted as a feminist reinterpretation of Tell's apple shot.

Terms such as musical language, word music and body language indicate that language, music and body relate to each other and are even mutually dependent. Ideally - and not only stage artists know this - the three elements come together to form an artistic whole.

The symposium "Language Arts in Music Therapy" on January 26 and 27 at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) focused on "the transitions between language and music". Experts from the fields of literature, music, performance and therapy examined the umbrella topic from various perspectives in lectures and workshops. Beate Roelcke and Diandra Russo moderated the event.

Music and language are used in therapy in a responsible and scientifically sound manner, but also in an artistic and creative way. Michael Eidenbenz, Head of the Music Department at the ZHdK, said in his welcoming address: "Music makers have a responsibility to make good music. This is even more true in a therapeutic context."

Three keynote speeches covered the many different aspects: Sandra Lutz Hochreutener spoke about the scientific framework of music therapy under the title "Body, Music and Word Language in Trialogue" and illustrated her work with practical examples. Benjamin Hoeltje reported on "rap music therapy", which works well with "at-risk young people", and the well-known Swiss author, poet, performer and visual artist Jürg Halter proved to be the perfect person to demonstrate the importance of language in conjunction with music in artistic form.

Combining sense and sound

Jürg Halter has worked successfully as a poetry slammer and as the fictional character Kutti MC. At the beginning of his lecture "Please, I'm trying to speak", he immediately presented the title in a scenic way. Stammering and struggling for words, he made his way to the stage and discussed his understanding of language using many examples and quotes, some from his own poems. He wandered restlessly back and forth between two music stands, as if trying to gather his arguments. In fact, he spoke freely and improvised for long stretches. "When mind and body come together, language can emerge," he said and continued: "Sense and sound, I will unite you." The stringing together of words must always have a rhythm. He called this "word music". He not only quoted, but performed the text excerpts, clothed them in a peculiar chant and provided them with the cool forward movements of the arms familiar from rap.

No fear of failure

Improvising in music and language has a lot to do with self-awareness and self-expansion, Halter explained, thus linking back to the topic of the event. He consciously exposes himself to the fear of failure and never prepares for performances down to the last detail. He likes people who expose themselves to the risk of embarrassment. "However, the question is at what level you fail," he added with a grin. In preparation for an improvisation, he goes into a "state between absolute concentration and letting go".

He demonstrated his improvisational skills in an astonishing way with a spontaneous performance based on the term "ducks" given to him by the audience. After a short time, he found himself in a kind of trance. As if he was reading from an imaginary teleprompter, he recited a text that was perfect in its senselessness.

"Language is the attempt to make oneself understood," emphasized Halter, and yet the danger of being misunderstood accompanies him. The aim would be to find a common language in which misunderstandings could be largely avoided. Critical reflection on the medium of language is indispensable for thinking people.

Years ago, the Piano duo Soós-Haag two cadenzas by Felix Mendelssohn for Mozart's Double Concerto K. 365, which could finally be performed in Lindau, Liestal, Lutry and Boswil. Ivo Haag explains the research at the time: "In a letter to his family in Leipzig dated June 1, 1832, Mendelssohn wrote from London that he was playing Mozart's double concerto with Ignaz Moscheles that evening and that he had written 'two long cadenzas' for the occasion."

Thanks to a tip-off from Ralf Wehner from the Leipzig Mendelssohn Research Center, they learned that these "London" cadenzas are in the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel. Until then, they had only been known to a few specialists. Haag describes the moment of discovery as "magical": "I immediately saw that it was highly interesting material and was determined to put it into a performable form." As the manuscripts have only survived as fragments, the cadenzas have long awaited completion and performance.

In concert by Chaarts from January 20 at the Künstlerhaus Boswil Mozart's double concerto was embedded in works by Bach, Veress and a Mozart symphony. In Bach's Concerto in C major BWV 1061, originally planned for two keyboard instruments without orchestra, the Soós-Haag duo was able to demonstrate its qualities: the competition between the two equal partners in the first movement or the subtle Siciliano. The two pianos outshone the somewhat sluggish accompaniment of the Ensemble Chaarts.

In the Four Transylvanian dances but then turned it up a notch. Veress skillfully transformed the folk music from his homeland into a string orchestra work of great intensity. The composition was premiered by Paul Sacher in Basel in 1950. Veress' estate, like the Mozart/Mendelssohn cadenzas, is in the Sacher Foundation.

The dances are held in the good suite tradition. "Lassú" impresses with its romance-like gesture, followed by a jumping dance in "Ugros". The melancholy "Lejtös" begins with a sustained viola melody, while "Dobbantós" presents an energetic finale, in which conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy even jumps up on stage.

The interpretation unmistakably bore Chaart's signature, which became even more audible in Mozart's Symphony No. 29 in A major K. 201. Energetic, almost over-enthusiastic bowing, energy of the highest intensity with short phrasing. The Andante also matched this highly dynamic approach: according to the score, all the strings should play with mutes, which produces a soft, enigmatic sound. Was it intentional that some of the musicians were missing the mute? In any case, the prescribed sordino effect was lost. (cf. counterstatement by Andreas Fleck*)

Born out of improvisation

The focus of the evening, however, was Mozart's double concerto with the two unknown cadenzas. The Soós-Haag duo had succeeded in enlisting Robert David Levin to complete the find. It is extremely rare for manuscripts of cadenzas to survive, and so Levin, who has made a name for himself with reconstructions of Mozart works, was immediately interested. It is particularly exciting that there are original cadenzas by Mozart that are played "a tempo".

And with Mendelssohn? In contrast to Mozart, it is obvious that Mendelssohn's cadenzas were the result of improvisation, as Haag explains: "They are more loosely structured; Moscheles and Mendelssohn often liked to improvise together. The one for the first movement is more or less written out, except for one passage in the first piano, which is based on an unnotated improvisation by Moscheles. Robert Levin has completed this passage in a congenial manner. The sketch material for the third movement is very rudimentary." So Levin had to add more.

As a listener at the concert, I naturally wondered how this might sound: more like Mozart or more like Mendelssohn? The answer was striking in several respects. On the one hand, Mendelssohn opens the door wide to Romanticism, he is freer, bolder in his harmonies, and he gives the two soloists each a large part of their own. The piano duo Soós-Haag didn't need to be asked twice, skillfully playing out the peculiarities, agogically refined and quasi improvisando.

One regretted the brevity of the second cadenza; one would have liked to listen to the bass-heavy part and the Chopin-style garlands a little longer. The Chaarts Ensemble under Gábor Takács-Nagy mastered the balancing act between classical and romantic with a softer approach, longer phrasing and a melting oboe cantilena. The cadenzas enrich the repertoire and will probably be published.

 

* Counterstatement by Andreas Fleck, Ensemble Chaarts, dated May 8, 2024:

1. Mozart (as usual) only prescribes mutes for the violins (see screenshot of score below)
2. all violinists played with mutes and consequently the others (6) did not.
3. Here is the link to the recording, where the different sounds within the strings are clearly audible
   https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/track/2KOtCvJIDHl80h2hrqkETG?si=099d88c994154cfc
4. The recorded video shows (in the concert two days later) that all the violinists put on their mutes as a matter of course.

 

 

Editor's note: Amendment or addition executed on May 13, 2024

301 composers from 51 countries and all continents submitted a total of 327 works, more than ever before. It is remarkable that the proportion of works by female composers in the submissions is less than 20 percent, but amounts to almost 30% in the selected works. Compared to previous years, there was also a significantly higher proportion of selected works by composers from Latin American and Asian countries (45%).

Into the ranks of the Ars Electronica Forum Valais 2024 Concert Selection included a total of 23 works. In addition, there were 18 further pieces with Special Mention.

Concert Selection (in alphabetical order)

Gabriel Araújo, Saw (BRA)
Bariya Studio (Pratyush Pushkar & Riya Raagini), Delhi Polyphones (IND/IND)
Natasha Barrett, Impossible Moments from Venice 2 (NOR/GBR)
Beau Beaumont, No Input (GBR)
Sébastien Béranger, Superflu(x) (BEL)
Alex Buck, Otherness (BRA)
Mikel Kuehn, Unlocking The Keys (USA)
Léo Magnien, un relief suspendu par transparence (FRA)
Paolo Montella, Cairo Backwards (ITA)
Cameron Naylor, Spent (GBR)
Naxal Protocol (Piero Stanig), Microinsurrezioni (ITA/SGP)
Paul Oehlers, Automaton (USA)
Lucie Prod'homme, Tu es démasqué (FRA)
Luis Quintana, Junkyard Construction (PRI)
Francesco Santagata, Overthinking - listening to music and not talking is the best, I think (ITA)
Dimitris Savva, Tranglitchuilizer (CYP)
Bernd Schumann, Canon for 4 loudspeakers (GER)
Sylvain Souklaye, invisible body (FRA/USA)
Mehmet Ali Uzunselvi, Iklık Park (TUR)
Frida Vasquez de la Sota / Kathia Rudametkin, Climbing (MEX/MEX)
Jorge Vicario, Poltergeist II (ESP)
Bihe Wen, unfold (CHN)
Yunjie Zhang, Le Caméléon (CHN)

Special Mention (in alphabetical order)

Giuseppe De Benedittis, sottosuolo (ITA)
Manuella Blackburn, Cupboard Love (GBR)
Maria Fernanda Castro, Arbóreo (COL)
Mauro Diciocia, Rygerfjord (ITA)
Christian Eloy, Dans les jardins de Cybèle (FRA)
Juro Kim Feliz, Kinalugarán (PHL)
Nicole Fior-Greant, un-Form 3 (CHE)
John Fireman, Lacis (USA)
Mariam Gviniashvili, Free Flow (GEO)
Andrew Lewis, Two Lakes (GBR)
Yannis Loukos, 3D Meditation (GRC)
Manolo Müller, emblematic identities (CHE)
Rodrigo Pascale, Discontinuous Meditation I (BRA)
Lucie Prod'homme, Comme un malentendu (FRA)
Paul Rudy, From one drop an ocean (USA)
Nicolas Vérin, Méditation sur l'Ukraine (FRA)
Chen Wang, Cyberspace Paradox (CHN)
Otto Wanke, Cycling (CZE)

The pieces of the Ars Electronica Forum Wallis 2024 Concert Selection will be performed on March 8, 9 and 10 on the 16-channel accusmonium of the MEbU (Münster Earport) as part of the Festivals for New Music Forum Wallis was played by Simone Conforti (IRCAM Paris). The jury consisted of the Japanese Kotoka Suzuki (UTSC Toronto), the Peruvian Jaime Oliver La Rosa (Waverly Labs NYU New York), the New Zealander Reuben de Lautour (Canterbury University NZ) and the Swiss Javier Hagen (ISCM Switzerland, Forum Wallis, jury president).

The Forum Valais is the annual festival for new music organized by the IGNM-VS, the Valais chapter of the International Society for New Music. It will take place for the 17th time in 2024.

Andrea Bischoff completed her teaching and orchestral diploma with Louise Pellerin in Zurich and then obtained her concert and soloist diploma with distinction in Heinz Holliger's class at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg im Breisgau.

She has been principal oboist in the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra since 1997 and is frequently engaged as a guest solo oboist (including the Camerata Salzburg, Bern Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Zurich, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Philharmonia Zurich). As a chamber musician, she is a member of the Heinz Holliger Oboe Trio, among others. Solo performances with the St. Gallen Chamber Ensemble, the Zug City Orchestra, the Lucerne City Orchestra, La banda ANTIX, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Basel New Orchestra and the Zug Sinfonietta round off her artistic activities. She performs on period instruments with the Ensemble Corund and many other chamber music and orchestral formations.

Her many years as a section leader with the Zentralschweizer Jugendsinfonieorchester (ZJSO) and with "Auftakt", the ZJSO's project for young musicians, also document her commitment to the next generation of artists.

Table of contents

Focus

"Voodoo tourists come from all over the world"
Interview with label owner and "original" Reverend Beat-Man
Link to the Voodoo Rhythm playlist on Spotify

Historical, performance, practice
Reflections on the state of early music by Thomas Drescher

Searching for the original sound
Early music at the Département de musique ancienne in Geneva
Original article by Elizabeth Dobbin in English

Giving another life
Musical arrangement using the example of the lute

How original can it be?
About the (all too?) unusual

Chatting about ...
"Originals" in violin making

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

 

Critiques

Reviews of recordings, books, sheet music

 

Echo

Città della Musica in Lugano
The Ticino music campus takes shape

Music lexicon of Switzerland
Progress and obstacles for the online reference work

Salaires décents
Les démarches de la FGMC

Radio Francesco
Le loup | TheWolf

Ligeti labyrinth
Exhibition in Basel

Leap into the unknown
Third episode of Sonic Matter

Carte blanche
for Max Nyffeler

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)

 

Originality on the original
Puzzle by Torsten Möller

________________________________________

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

This year, the Norient Festival took place from January 10 to 14 at various locations in the city center of Bern. Like its predecessors, it was not an event for the faint-hearted. The name Norient (No-Orient) stands against orientalism and exoticism. Norient sees itself as a global community of artists who bring their ideas to a broad, interested audience and create a cultural exchange. They do this by addressing various socio-critical and geopolitical topics. This year's program included formats such as (short) film and podcast screenings, panel discussions, DJ sets and online/live hybrid concerts by artists from all over the world. These formats addressed topics such as the connection between sound and storytelling, the Israel-Palestine conflict, the extinction of the Hmong musical language or the Western exploitation of African resources, with the musical aspect usually taking center stage.

In the midst of this difficult-to-digest food for thought, it was somewhat surprising to find two workshops for school classes, organized by the Bernese association Bee-flat. Bee-flat and Norient are ideal partners for this. Both search the world over for exciting topics that can be translated into music to broaden the audience's horizons. The Kenyan DJ, photographer and cinematographer Emma Mbeke Nzioka (aka DJ Coco Em) routinely explained the basics of electronic music production using the Ableton program during the 90-minute event. Nzioka, the artistic director of this year's festival, skillfully encouraged the children to participate. They creatively produced beats and at the end asked with interest about the software presented and Nzioka's artistic work.

Creating respect, questioning what is taken for granted

Despite the light-footedness with which Nzioka and the leader of the second workshop, Justin Doucet (aka DJ Huilly Huile), conveyed music, children are not the festival's core audience. When asked how such workshops fit into the festival program, Nzioka says: "There should be a certain respect for what you consume, how it is created and the work behind it. It is important to understand the entire process and come into contact with it." Even if the workshops at the festival seem strange at first glance, they harmonize with Norient's role as a "messenger".

It is about questioning what we take for granted in the modern world, both in the events for children and in the complex content of the rest of the festival. Freedom to travel, for example, is not something that Nzioka takes for granted. On January 12, she spoke at a panel discussion about her own experiences with Europe's visa policy. She has also been the victim of arbitrary refoulement because, as a childless and unmarried African woman, she is classified as a risk by the European authorities. It is assumed that she wants to stay here illegally and will not fly back. Evidence of appearances, work and return flights was not enough. As if to prove it, two artists were also unable to perform at this year's Norient Festival. "The freedom of movement of African artists should not be taken for granted, neither in Europe nor within Africa," added Nzioka.

New thoughts that stick

In the evening, films were shown in two cinemas. One highlight was the documentary Songs That Flood the River. Nziokas highly recommends this film. It deals with the eradication of spiritual cultural practices in connection with the exploitation of natural resources. It also addresses the artistic process of songwriting and the extent to which external factors can influence it. The audience is left with thoughts that cannot be shaken off. Nzioka says: "The audience won't find: 'We're going to change the world today', no, but perhaps viewers will at least change one aspect of their lives ... Perhaps their dealings with other people or the education of their children."

For Norient festival-goers, as diverse as they are, music and images promote an understanding of little-known parts of this world. It is to be hoped that Norient can create a new kind of cultural awareness through this mediation.

On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, the Service Club Soroptimist International - Club Bremgarten-Freiamt In September 2023, a fundraising campaign in the form of an auction to benefit the female+ music fund of the Boswil House of Artists through. A benefit concert is usually held every two years in aid of female+. However, guests and Soroptimists were also impressed by this fundraising project and generously participated in the auction. On December 18, the check in the amount of CHF 5,000 was handed over to the female+ music fund at the Künstlerhaus Boswil.

The next benefit concert will take place on September 8, 2024.

Link to the press release of the Künstlerhaus Boswil

The Città della Musicathe name of the project, is being built on the former site of Radio Svizzera italiana (RSI) in the Besso district above the SBB railroad station. The main user is the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana (CSI)partners are the Orchestra della Svizzera italianathe Coro RSI and the Barrocchisti by Diego Fasolis, the Swiss National Sound Archives and the association Sonart. (Radio will keep some of its studios here, but will move all its other activities to the television site on the outskirts of Comano). The total costs are estimated at around 45 million francs. Donors are the city of Lugano, the canton and, as far as the CSI is concerned, the federal government. Around a third is to come from private investors. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2025 and the Città should be completed by 2028.

Cultural hotspot with supra-regional appeal

The project, which complements the modern LAC concert hall on the lakeshore, will create a cultural cluster that underlines Lugano's growing importance as a city of music halfway between Zurich and Milan. From a local perspective, the Città della Musica There is also a significant gap in the infrastructure. The LAC has no rehearsal rooms, and the acoustically unique Auditorio Stelio Molo on the radio site is a sought-after location for recordings, but too small for symphonic ensembles. The Città della Musica will put an end to the rehearsal room crisis.

Apart from the great benefits for professional training and research, the campus with its generous space also opens up new perspectives in terms of cultural policy. The musical institutions should open up to the city and the region, it is said, on the one hand through the low-threshold access to the site and to the events, and on the other through the Conservatorio's range of courses. The President of the Conservatorio Foundation, Ina Piattini Pelloni, speaks of the integrative effect that the project will have, bringing all generations together musically. In addition to the internationally oriented university and the pre-college department, the music school with its basic education for children and young people will also benefit from the new location. Great importance is attached to general music education in Lugano. For example, the Friends of the Conservatorio association, which is dedicated to promoting young talent, has raised 160,000 francs for the current school year alone, providing over 150 scholarships to students from less well-off families - a different kind of inclusion.

Architectural synthesis of old and new

The Architecture Club's award-winning project is also committed to the principle of openness. The young team of architects from Basel, who also designed the Campus 2040 for the Basel Music Academy, came up with a solution for the redesign of the site that has now received much acclaim at the presentation. The spacious ensemble of existing buildings remains largely untouched on the outside, and their astonishingly timeless design language from the 1950s has been unobtrusively adopted for the new buildings. The hexagonal Auditorio Stelio Molo will remain at the heart of the center. However, the polygonal building of the generously proportioned, multifunctional rehearsal hall, which can accommodate up to three hundred people for concerts and, like all the other buildings, blends organically into the park-like surroundings, now has a more important function. The Japanese company Nagata Acoustics, which also left its mark on the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg, is responsible for the acoustic design of all rehearsal and practice rooms on the site.

Exemplary cooperation at all levels

The Città della Musica project is supported by a broad social consensus. In the speeches and personal conversations at the press conference, there was a sense of collective euphoria about the successful start. "All declarations of intent and agreements have been reached in a collegial, trusting relationship," says Conservatory Director Christoph Brenner, who was instrumental in driving the project forward. "There is this will in a small canton to really work together." The word "change of mentality" was used, and some spoke of a minor miracle: all decision-makers, from the institutions involved to senior politicians, had pulled together. Good conditions for the development of a promising, locally well-anchored music culture with international appeal.

Ticino, just a vacation paradise with palm trees, spaghetti and vino rosso? The new foundation disproves this preconception. After the LAC, the Città della Musica is a further step on the way to becoming a cultural canton.

Link: cittadellamusica.ch

In contrast to other European countries, Switzerland does not have a modern reference work on music history. The existing encyclopaedias are outdated and do not do justice to the diversity and richness of Switzerland's musical life, writes the Swiss Music Research Society (SMG) on its website. A new, scientifically based music encyclopedia has been demanded for decades.

Work is underway on the planned and now realized first fragments of the Music lexicon of Switzerland (MLS) At the University of Bern, a keyword list has been compiled for the MLS from the existing reference works. Around 11,000 older encyclopaedia articles on 6,800 people have been digitized and processed in a database. However, writing new, original articles is now a far greater challenge than the founding team might have imagined, as the world of encyclopaedias has undergone fundamental changes in recent years. Instead of books, they can now be found on the Internet.

Multimedia, modifiable, multilingual

The media revolution has also completely changed text editing. Encyclopedia articles are no longer erratic texts that may be corrected or supplemented for second or third editions after a few years, but in extreme cases liquid structures with integrated audio, video and image material that editors, external volunteers and other participants are constantly working on. In addition to the actual articles, for example, the history of their changes must now also be documented. Last but not least, Internet, database and multimedia specialists have to be integrated into the team. In addition, a revolution is currently taking place in terms of multilingualism: Lexicon users are increasingly turning to automatic translation aids in order to read texts in their native language. This has far-reaching consequences for the language design of a reference work, especially when, as with the MLS, a multilingual lexicon is created.

The MLS, whose funding is by no means secure, is therefore facing many challenges: On the one hand, its exponents currently have to constantly redefine what it should look like - in the knowledge that digital lexicons and their uses could be completely different again in a few years' time. On the other hand, it is necessary to organize all those who will be working on this major work in a way that academic institutions in Switzerland have little experience with. A professional, full-time editorial team, as was common decades ago for such mammoth editorial projects, is no longer sufficient. Nowadays, such projects also involve countless freelance authors who are familiar with specialist subject areas or geographical regions, and moderation is required for ongoing commentaries on articles.

Databases and citizen science projects

To take the project a step further, the MLS Board of Trustees, in collaboration with the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (SAHS) and the SMG, organized a colloquium (November 23 and 24, 2023) and a workshop (November 25, 2023) for interested authors at the University of Bern.

What the upheavals in the media world mean for the updating of traditional encyclopaedias was shown, for example, in a report on the retro-digitization of the Theater lexicon of Switzerland (tls.theaterwissenschaft.ch). However, the colloquium was also amazed at how diverse the landscape of digital encyclopaedias has become. For example, the competence network Memoriav  for the preservation of the audiovisual cultural heritage of Switzerland, a Dictionnaire du Jura  or the Western Switzerland project notreHistoire.ch, a historically oriented platform on which the French-speaking part of Switzerland can exchange views and documents on the past and which has corresponding offshoots in the other parts of the country (ourhistory.ch, lanostrastoria.ch, nossaistorgia.ch). There is also a "Musicians' Index", a list of names of musical personalities active in Switzerland in the 19th century. This index is one of several Databases of the Institute of Interpretation at the Bern University of the Arts. Wikipedia cultural ambassador Diego Hättenschwiler rounded off the conference with insights into the work of the global online encyclopedia.

Free contributors and lots of money are needed

Translator and musicologist Irène Minder-Jeanneret, the initiator of the MLS, pointed out that the ten-year project is expected to cost around CHF 9 million. The biggest challenge is likely to be the search for freelance contributors and their cooperation with the MLS editorial team. Assuming that a comprehensive Swiss music lexicon would have to contain perhaps 10,000 new articles, a cultural participation project of this kind is an extremely ambitious undertaking.

On the other hand, cultural participation has been a focus of Swiss cultural policy since 2016. As part of a "Citizen Science" initiative by the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences, the MLS team has also launched a participatory project. Groups and individuals are encouraged to document local music cultures for the MLS using words, images and sounds. In the workshop following the conference, a relatively small group of interested people were instructed on how texts should be pre-written so that they are suitable for the lexicon.

Link to the Citizen Science project:
schweizforscht.ch/projects/music-encyclopedia-of-switzerland-1153

As the Canton of Zurich's Department of Education writes, in Xavier Dayer, the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) has gained an experienced and well-connected personality with a broad track record in the Swiss music academy landscape as the successor to Michael Eidenbenz, who holds the post until the end of July 2024.

Xavier Dayer has worked at the Bern University of the Arts since 2002 and has been President of the Suisa Cooperative since 2011. He has won several composition prizes and written numerous works for important ensembles.

Link to the press release from the Canton of Zurich Department of Education dated December 13, 2024

 

The Ligeti year is almost over and the 100th birthday of the Hungarian composer, who died in 2006, has been commemorated in detail in newspapers, events and radio reports. So it may seem like "snail mail" to some that the Paul Sacher Foundation is only now presenting an exhibition: In the Music Museum of the Basel Historical Museum the majority of the objects on display are from György Ligeti's estate held in the Foundation.

This "late" honor is mainly due to timing. The Budapest Music History Museum - one of the cooperation partners is the Musicology Institute of the Budapest Research Center for the Humanities Hun-Ren - where the exhibition was previously on display, only had capacity for it in spring 2023, while the Basel premises were only available from November. These circumstances do not detract from the content of the exhibition, which is highly recommended and can be seen until April 7, 2024.

It not only demonstrates Ligeti's high status in 20th century music, which continues unabated, it also introduces us to the composer's thinking and work in a fascinating way that will probably not be possible again so soon. An essential part of this "journey" into the "Ligeti labyrinth", as the exhibition is called, are the many originals to be admired - a quality that is unfortunately being increasingly neglected.

Maze in prison cells

However, anyone expecting a chronological presentation will be disappointed - fortunately. Instead, the focus is on the various facets of Ligeti's thinking, creativity and working processes, which are explored in nine modules. Topics such as "Dreams and Fantasies" or the "Web of Voices" immediately catapult connoisseurs of Ligeti's works into his special world.

The striking modules were devised by Heidy Zimmermann from the Sacher Foundation, which has been looking after the Ligeti estate for years, and the Hungarian musicologists Anna Dalos and Márton Kerékfy. The concept and idea are based on a statement by Ligeti: "I feel my way forward from work to work, in different directions, like a blind man in a labyrinth." And this "Ligeti labyrinth" finds a fascinating counterpart in the Lohnhof Basel music museum with its former prison cells, which is difficult to play.

On display is a wide range of source material that has been carefully selected and annotated. According to estimates by Heidy Zimmermann, the Ligeti estate comprises around 25,000 pages of manuscript, 10,000 pages of correspondence and 800 photos, films and audio documents. Without knowing what else is hidden in this treasure trove, the selection presented in Basel seems stringent and exciting. In this way, Ligeti's personal working process can be studied in a unique way.

Graphic concepts for musical factors

For each of his works, Ligeti wrote down pages and pages of conceptual ideas, not notes but words, wildly jumbled together with various colored pencils or sometimes in graphic representations. What at first glance appears to be an impenetrable jumble becomes an eye-opening experience in the vicinity of the composed work. The accompanying texts provide the necessary background and the music excerpts shown can also be listened to on a cell phone.

For example, there is a sketch of the famous Atmosphères (1961), on which the music is precisely described with the disposition of the form parts and their precise duration. Or there is a sketch of the course of Aventures (1962), which records the vocal and instrumental parts on four A4 sheets glued together horizontally, as a "time and form control", as is noted on it. Why did Ligeti first make such extra-musical sketches? "Ligeti only received piano lessons at the age of 14," explains Heidy Zimmermann, "so he had to imagine musical impressions for a long time because he had no way of writing them. Perhaps that is the reason for this path."

Ligeti's special path is illustrated by the Violin Concerto (1990-1992), which is discussed in the chapter "Mood and detuning". There are no fewer than five sheets of colorful verbal sketches. Kerékfy characterizes these in the excellent accompanying catalog: "The notes refer partly to the form of the movements, partly to their melodic content and metrical structure. Ligeti also planned the basic tempo and the estimated duration."

Another module focuses on the "Rhythmic Discoveries". It shows Ligeti's turn to polyrhythms, as used in the Piano Concerto (1985), for example. He was inspired by the music of a Central African tribe, the Banda Linda, which consists of rhythmic polyphonic patterns. Ligeti owned a collection of around 140 records with traditional folk music from all over the world, which is presented in a themed room with all the covers. This is an exciting aspect that also stimulates discussion in the case of Ligeti. There is so much to see and read in Basel.

Ligeti Labyrinth - HMB

The good news right at the start: Sonic Matter can be continued. At the request of Zurich City Council, the municipal council has decided to continue supporting the festival for experimental music over the next four years with an annual operating grant of CHF 250,000. The City of Zurich is the main sponsor of Sonic Matter. The festival, which emerged from the Tage für Neue Musik Zürich in 2021, was previously in a pilot phase and had its creditworthiness assessed by an external company.

Getting to know something different

After the first edition with the motto "Turn" focused on musical and extra-musical changes and last year's "Rise" was intended to understand standing up in a political sense, the motto "Leap" now formed the bracket for the third year. In the foreword to the program, the two artistic directors Katharina Rosenberger and Lisa Nolte invited the audience to "take a leap into the unknown together". The interconnectedness of the world should be used as an opportunity to get to know what is different, to embrace the unforeseen. In addition to musicians from Switzerland, numerous foreign artists, primarily from the Middle East, were also invited. And as a guest, the Festival Irtijal Beirut is also part of the party.

Surprising sounds and twists

The opening concert in the Schiffbau of the Schauspielhaus Zurich provided a concrete expression of these ideas. The encounter with the Iranian composer and qanun player Nilufar Habibian was exciting. In her piece Becoming the oriental zither forms astonishing combinations with the electric guitar, cello and bass clarinet. Guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui and video artist Mazen Kerbaj, the two founders of the Beirut festival Irtijal, provided a powerful contrast to this performance by the Geneva-based ensemble Contrechamps with their impromptu performance Wormholes. To the unusual sounds of the prepared guitar, Kerbaj drew and sprayed abstract images on a foil, which were simultaneously projected onto a screen. In the light of the current war in Gaza, the suddenly appearing sentence "We are the dead of tomorrow" read as a clear political message. The composition for live ambisonic turntables and immersive electronics presented at the end by the composer Shiva Feshareki offered surprising 360-degree sound experiences, but clearly took too long compared to the wealth of ideas.

The traditional Tonhalle concert, which Sonic Matter announced at short notice would not take place as part of the festival this time, was accompanied by a scandal. Both organizers remained silent about the reasons. When asked, Sonic Matter's press spokesperson merely stated that the decision was "due to the geopolitical situation". In any case, the decision to cancel the Tonhalle concert meant a loss of prestige for Sonic Matter.

Lounge, Party, Course, Marathon

In addition to the traditional concerts, Sonic Matter once again offered alternative presentation formats, such as the Listening Lounge with current electro-acoustic music from twenty countries, the party for young people with the DJ group Frequent Defect from the Beirut club scene and an outdoor sound trail. The four-hour concert marathon Long Night of Interferences at the Theaterhaus Gessnerallee allowed music from different cultures to collide. The Swiss part of this was provided by the world premiere of a new work by Geneva composer Denis Rollet, in which violin, bass clarinet and live electronics go through various stages of convergence and distance.

The festival took a major geographical and aesthetic leap with the closing event at the Rote Fabrik. The composer, who lives in the Netherlands Aurélie Nyirabikali Lierman and her group Silbersee whisked the audience away in their performative installation Umva! to Rwanda. The subject is the life of Aurélie's grandfather Kanyoni Ladislas, who lived in Rwanda as a cowherd and natural healer and died at the age of 113. The narrative, the dance elements and the playing of traditional African instruments and the "European" violin created a fascinating Afro-European musical theater.

Conclusion after three years

After the third edition of Sonic Matter, it is clear that the festival has become an integral part of the avant-garde music scene that people no longer want to miss. However, the variety of presentation forms, the aesthetic breadth of the performances and the participation of artists from half the world also harbors the danger of a certain arbitrariness and also leads to a division of the audience into different interest groups.

 

The floor is still raw concrete, the access door a temporary solution. Nevertheless, the press conference took place in the future concert hall of the Liechtenstein Music Academy, which was founded in 2010 and is headed by Drazen Domjanic. The hall is located in the former Tenn of the Hagenhaus estate in Nendeln. The buildings there are currently being renovated and supplemented by a new building. The music academy is expected to find a new home with promising development opportunities there from next fall.

In the course of this major change, the appearance was completely revised, as was the training concept. The Music Academy aspires to be "a leading institution in the international music world with firm roots in the Principality of Liechtenstein". It sees its educational program as a complement to the Bachelor's and Master's programs at music universities. In addition to the proven high-quality musical education of young, exceptionally talented musicians from all over the world by internationally outstanding teachers, the focus is on the holistic education of the individual. This includes comprehensive career planning that promotes people with all their social, health and economic needs. The three courses appeal to different age groups: Students up to the age of 18, those over 18 and those who already have a Bachelor's degree. A large part of the training is financed by scholarships.

Detailed information on the training program: https://www.musikakademie.li/