According to the ZHdK press release, the partnership "builds on successful collaborations of recent years, for example between ZHdK/taZ and Ballett Zürich, and will expand these across disciplines and departments in the future". Plans include joint formats in the new venue of the opera house in Oerlikon, the development of digital projects, participation in festivals such as Zurich Baroque as well as symposia, research and networking initiatives.

A particular focus is on promoting young talent. This includes internships, mentoring programs, exchange formats and joint projects to teach music and dance. This gives ZHdK students practical insights into artistic work at the opera house. At the same time, the networking of educational and cultural institutions beyond Zurich is to be strengthened in order to support the development of young talent even more effectively internationally.

More info:
https://www.zhdk.ch/meldung/neue-impulse-fuer-kunst-ausbildung-und-forschung-opernhaus-zuerich-und-zuercher-hochschule-der-kuenste-vertiefen-ihre-partnerschaft-8748

This year, the contribution of CHF 13,000 will be awarded to Sergey Tanin by Corine Mauch, President of the City and Foundation Board. The award to the young pianist is also a tribute to the legacy and life's work of the founder: Sergey Tanin will perform a song and piano program that sheds light on Nico Kaufmann's musically diverse life - from his beginnings as a classical pianist, to his work as a stage performer in Zurich's Cabaret, to becoming a composer with a language all his own.

Sergey Tanin was born in Yakutia (Siberia) in 1995 and began playing the piano at the age of 5. During his studies with Irina Plotnikova at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, he won the European Piano Competition in Bremen in 2016. In 2019, he moved to Switzerland to continue his studies with Claudio Martinez-Mehner as a recipient of the Federal Excellence Scholarship at the Basel Music Academy. In October 2020, Sergey won first prize and the audience prize at the Kissinger Klavierolymp in Bad Kissingen, Bavaria, and stood in for Hélène Grimaud at her concert in Basel in the same month.

Music is a lifeblood and a resource for the future, the music councils write in a joint statement. It connects people across borders, promotes democratic participation and is an important social and economic factor. However, the framework conditions are under pressure: the dismantling of educational structures, blanket austerity measures, digital market distortions and politically motivated restrictions on cultural diversity are endangering the breadth and quality of musical life.

Among other things, the councils are "concerned that music education programs are being weakened and that transitions between school, music school, university and practice are uncertain". They call for a sustainable strengthening of music education with clear quality standards, good staffing, reliable talent development and accessibility for all - regardless of origin, income or place of residence.

The entire closing statement can be found here:
https://www.musikrat.de/media/aktuelles/meldung/musik-als-zukunftskraft-gegen-den-abbau-des-kulturlebens

Alessandra Münger has been playing the harp since the age of six and took harp lessons at the Zurich Conservatory from 2010 to 2022. In September 2022, she began her bachelor's degree in harp performance with Sarah O'Brien at the Zurich University of the Arts, graduating with distinction in July 2025. Since September 2025, she has been studying for a Master's degree in Performance at the ZHdK.

The Reinl Competition took place for the 20th time this year. It is organized by the Franz Josef Reinl Foundation in cooperation with the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. The other winners are Lauren Ashley Swain (USA) in second place and Gabriela Dudziak (Poland) in third place. The first prize is endowed with 3000 euros. The Reinl Composition Prize was also awarded: The winner is Kefal Chen, whose work "Up Skyward" was premiered at the competition.

Raffaele Giannotti completed his diploma examination in Turin with distinction at the age of 15. He continued his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Richard Galler, where he received the highest distinction in 2021 and graduated with the Würdigungspreis. He was solo bassoonist in the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence under Zubin Metha. Since 2016 he has been principal bassoon with the Munich Philharmonic under the conductors Valery Gergiev and Lahav Shani.

His concert activities have taken him to Italy, the Czech Republic, Chile, Germany and France, among other places, and the Italian composer Damiano Dambrosio dedicated a bassoon concerto to him. In addition to his concert career, Giannotti regularly teaches in Europe and Asia. Most recently, he held teaching positions in Porto and Saarbrücken before taking up a professorship at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Lyon in January 2025.

Born in Munich to German-Japanese parents, he studied cello, music theory and chamber music in Basel and Munich, and later conducting at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin. He began his career as Kapellmeister at the Staatstheater Darmstadt; in 2015 he was awarded a prize at the Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition. He has been Chief Conductor of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra since 2025, having previously served as General Music Director of the Heidelberg Theater and Orchestra for eight years.

Founded in 1952, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra is one of the most important orchestras in the Czech Republic. Based in the capital, it offers subscription concerts at venues such as the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum, the Smetana Hall in the Prague Municipal House and the Bethlehem Chapel. The orchestra's recordings have won Gramophone Awards and the Anděl Award.

As Principal Guest Conductors, the young conductors Maxime Pascal and Michele Spotti will set the tone with the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. As Conductor in Residence, Titus Engel will "complete the musical management team in a variety of ways", according to the opera's press release. Engel will perform a world premiere and a symphonic concert as well as "play a key role in launching innovative projects and collaborations in the Tischlerei (one of the opera's spaces for new music theater) and beyond in the urban Berlin context".

Titus Engel was born in Zurich in 1975 and has lived in Berlin since 1995. He is the initiator of the Akademie Musiktheater Heute and editor of several books on contemporary opera. This year, he was awarded a Swiss Music Prize for his artistic work. In 2020, he was named "Conductor of the Year" by Opernwelt magazine.

The opera house in Berlin-Charlottenburg, which was opened in 1912 and destroyed during the war, was reopened as the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1961. Since then, it has been Berlin's largest and Germany's second largest music theater - and one of the most modern in Europe.

Merlin studied in Clermont-Ferrand, Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris and Geneva and is co-founder of the Quatuor Ébène, which he helped shape as a cellist for 25 years. At the same time, he developed a career as a conductor and founded the chamber music collective Les Forces Majeures in 2014. Merlin will replace Jean-François Heisser in Poitiers, who has led the orchestra for 25 years.

Founded in 1981, the Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine has a line-up of 45 to 50 musicians. It is based in the Théâtre Auditorium in the city of Poitiers and performs in both large cities and smaller communities.

Joseph Bastian has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Munich Symphony Orchestra since September 2023. He is also Principal Conductor of the Asian Youth Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne. In Besançon, he initiates interdisciplinary collaborations in which he brings neuroscience to the concert stage together with researcher Emmanuel Bigand, for example. His opera conducting engagements include Hansel and Gretel and Luisa Miller at the Lucerne Theater, or Haydn's Il mondo della luna with the Zurich Opera Studio.

Founded in 1945 by Kurt Graunke, the Munich Symphony Orchestra has 60 members of 17 nationalities. From 2014 to 2022, Kevin John Edusei, who was Chief Conductor of the Bern Opera from 2015 to 2019, held the position of Chief Conductor. In the 2022/2023 season, Nodoka Okisawa was Artist in Residence. Joseph Bastian took over the position from the 2023/2024 season.

Cellacchi prevailed against 357 candidates from 41 countries. The competition, which takes place every four years in Kobe, is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Its list of prizewinners includes internationally renowned flutists such as Emmanuel Pahud and Andrea Oliva.

Riccardo Cellacchi, born in Rome in 1999, studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, where he obtained a Master of Music with top marks. At the age of 18, he became an academy member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and at the age of 19 he was appointed principal flute with the Bern Symphony Orchestra, a position he still holds today.

The Belgian Reiland shaped the orchestra for nine seasons, writes the online magazine Pizzicato.lu in its press release. Founded in 1976, the Orchestre national de Metz Grand Est (previously Orchestre philharmonique de Lorraine, Philharmonie de Lorraine and, until 2018, Orchestre national de Lorraine) has 72 members and gives around 90 concerts a year. In 2002, it was awarded the "Orchestre national en région" label by the French Ministry of Culture.

David Reiland was artistic and musical director of the Orchester de Chambre du Luxembourg from 2012 to 2018 and has been music director of the Korean National Symphony Orchestra since 2021. As the first guest of the Sinfonietta Lausanne and Schumann guest of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, he also works closely with these orchestras.

Born in Moscow, Surkov studied at the Moscow Gnessin Academy of Music and at the Berlin University of the Arts. He received additional inspiration from Ingo Goritzki, Alexei Ogrintchouk and Heinz Holliger, among others.

He won the Muri Competition in 2023 and the ARD Music Competition in 2024. As a soloist, he has performed with renowned orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Basel Philharmonic Orchestra. He is principal oboist with the Musikkollegium Winterthur.

In addition to his work as a soloist, Leonid Surkov is also involved in teaching - for example by leading chamber music groups in Ochsenhausen or his master classes at the Gnessin Summer School.

According to journalist Daniel Leutenegger, Elias, who had lived in Switzerland since 1968, studied at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern in the 1980s. He began his career with bands such as the Swiss Jazz Quintet and Mani Planzer's big band, with Pony Poindexter and Vince Benedetti in Switzerland, before continuing his career in Germany with Bob Degen and Zipflo Reinhardt. He increasingly played in bands around Joe Haider, where he also worked as a teacher at the Munich Jazz School.

He then worked with numerous musicians such as Archie Shepp, Woody Shaw, Franco Ambrosetti and the Great Guitars feat. Herb Ellis and Charlie Byrd. In addition, he formed the group Friends 4 Friends with Wege Wüthrich, Franz Biffiger and Michel Poffet; he also worked regularly with Max Neissendorfer, Marianna Polistena, Sandy Patton, Theo Kapilidis and bands led by guitarist Stephan Urwyler such as Caribey. Most recently, he has also worked with the Swing Kids, Michel Poffet, Thomas Stampbach and Chantemoiselle and as a drum teacher.

Born in 1971, Gregor Schwellenbach is a multi-instrumentalist, arranger and composer for cinema, TV, radio plays and theater. He works with rappers (Xatar, Alligatoah, Souly), dance producers (Kölsch, Brandt Brauer Frick) and Can founder Irmin Schmidt, with whom he has a long-standing artistic partnership. At the Folkwang University of the Arts, he was instrumental in establishing the Master of Popular Music and taught there for 11 years.

38-year-old Niko Seibold is a saxophonist, composer, bandleader and program director. He is co-founder of the Toskana Jazzworkshop and the Basel leftfield label Hout Records as well as artistic director of the Tis Jazz Fest in Basel and the Sunday matinees in the Merian Gärten in Basel. He is also a lecturer in composition and theory at the ZHdK PreCollege of Music. He studied at the Manhattan School of Music with Jim McNeely and Dave Liebman, at the Jazzcampus Basel with Domenic Landolf and Guillermo Klein and at the MuHo Mannheim with Jürgen Seefelder.

Schwellenbach succeeds Heiko Freund, who built up the Pop study programs at the ZHdK and led them for twenty years. Seibold succeeds Matthias Kohler.