The report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) takes a look at the challenges and opportunities to "maintain and improve the EU's position in today's global music ecosystem". He notes that the EU is now a globally important place for music, but there is room for further growth. The investments made by record companies have a positive impact on the entire European music industry and contribute to the EU's GDP.

Domestic players are relatively more successful in Europe, according to the report, but the EU "risks falling behind in the most competitive global market ever". In addition, the report shows how the EU institutions could support a thriving music sector and the development of responsible and ethical AI.

The means to achieve this: An anticipation of any national initiatives that could jeopardize the functioning of the digital single market and the ability of the music industry to grow and develop dynamically; stopping the unauthorized takeover of copyrighted content by AI companies and the full enforcement of EU intellectual property rules across Europe.

Original article:
https://www.musikindustrie.de/presse/presseinformationen/ifpi-veroeffentlicht-den-ersten-music-in-the-eu-report

The Culture Taskforce, an association of various Swiss cultural associations and organizations, expects the Council of States to show common sense and help the Federal Council's proposal to gain a breakthrough. Now that the Federal Council has recognized that it is necessary to "tackle precarity in the cultural sector and also achieve social security for cultural workers", there have also been many pleasing commitments to culture in the debate, writes Suisseculture.

In a "completely incomprehensible dodge", the National Council has cut Pro Helvetia's payment framework by CHF 6.5 million for the years 2025-2028, Suisseculture continued, thereby going against the preparatory committee, the Council of States and the Federal Council. The decision is all the more incomprehensible as it particularly affects creative artists.

Original article:
https://www.suisseculture.ch/?article=kulturbotschaft_2025_2028_unverstaendnis_fuer_entscheid_des_nationalrates

Malcolm Braff has recorded around 30 records in various formations, including two on the Blue Note label. In Crémines, where he lives, he and others founded the Maison-Matrice - a house dedicated to art and creativity by all for all, which operates on the principle of a donation economy. The Canton of Bern honors Malcolm Braff for "his strong musical personality, his enormous talent and his extraordinary openness".

As a solo violinist and chamber musician, Gabrielle Brunner devotes herself in particular to contemporary music. She is in great demand as a commissioned composer and has been commissioned by numerous institutions, including the Lucerne Festival and the Bern Music Festival.

Annalena Fröhlich has built up an international network and established an artistic practice based on sound, sound design, performance and video art. She works on a transmedia Gesamtkunstwerk and audiovisual political statement that exists in both physical and virtual space.

Beat Man Zeller has become an integral part of the Bernese music scene. He tried his hand as a singer and musician at the age of 13 before founding his band The Monsters in 1986 and launching his own record label Voodoo Rhythm Records in 1992. With The Monsters, Zeller created a completely new genre that fused psychobilly with garage punk and presented it at more than a thousand concerts in South America, Japan, Australia, the USA and the rest of the world.

The band Mouche-Miel, signed to Humus Records, are Silas Auderset on drums and Sébastien Minguely on guitar. They stand for instrumental rock with metal/math rock influences. The two eccentric musicians from St-Imier manage to light a fire on stage and ignite the audience.

The prize money amounts to CHF 15,000 each, and CHF 3,000 for the "Coup de cœur" prize for young talent.

Six students received a ST.ART - Young Talent Award for Culture. Launched in 2023, the award from the Canton of Lucerne is intended to support graduates as they enter the world of professional art. The prizes, each worth CHF 5,000, went to

• Marco Antonio Alarcón Ramírez (*1993, from Chile), Master of Arts in Music/Major Conducting with a major in Orchestral Conducting;
• Vincent Rigling (*1996, from Lucerne), Master of Arts in Music/Major Performance Jazz with a major in guitar;
• Ana Pimentel Rodrigues (*1998, from Portugal), Master of Arts in Music/Major Interpretation in Contemporary Music, majoring in violoncello;
• Mikalai Semiankou (*1989, from Belarus), Master of Arts in Music/Major Solo Performance with a major in violin;
• Trio Sheliak: Sergio Costa, majoring in piano (*1995, from Italy) and Emanuele Brilli, majoring in violin (*1996, from Italy), Master of Arts in Music/Major Chamber Music;
• Maurice Storrer (*1998, from Lohn SH), Master of Arts in Music/Major Performance Jazz with a major in saxophone

At the graduation ceremony, three prizes of CHF 2,000 each were also awarded by the Strebi Foundation for outstanding Bachelor graduates. They went to:

• Pavel Stöckmann (*2002, from Biel BE), Bachelor of Arts in Music, classical instrumental profile with piano as his main subject;
• Gian Luzi Niederhauser (*2003, from Biel BE), Bachelor of Arts in Music, jazz instrumental profile, majoring in electric bass (jazz) and double bass (classical);
• Fiona Busse-Grawitz (*2002, from Sarnen OW), Bachelor of Arts in Music, vocal jazz profile

Nina Rindlisbacher will, writes the BAK, "play a key role in this area with her excellent knowledge of the challenges and cultural players in Switzerland". She will use her expertise to develop partnerships that also involve civil society and the private sector, while also developing new formats for exchange and cooperation.

Born in Perth, Australia, in 1966, Liza Lim last appeared at the Lucerne Festival in November 2023 with the world premiere of her work Multispecies Knots of Ethical Time present. She is Professor of Composition and holds the first Sculthorpe Chair in Australian Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she also directs the Composing Women program.

Roche Commissions is a collaboration between Roche, the Lucerne Festival and the Lucerne Festival Academy. Since 2003, Roche has commissioned a new work by a contemporary composer every two years on the recommendation of the Artistic Director of the Lucerne Festival Academy. The aim of the commissions is to enable musical works that "go beyond the conventional and offer a source of intellectual stimulation and challenge".

On Facebook, Kauer explains that she booked a seat for her instrument for the transportation of hand luggage (CBBG, extra seat for cabin baggage), only to be told 30 hours later via three emails that her cello was no longer welcome. She was advised to call customer service, where on the third attempt she was "kept on hold for half an hour by an incredibly rude employee" who finally told her that there were no more seats available.

According to Kauer, the customer service employee gave no explanations, only "incredibly hostile and condescending remarks" such as: It wasn't his problem and that she should call back later when she had decided whether or not to cancel her booking. The story was picked up by the trade magazine "The Strad".

Article in The Strad:
https://www.thestrad.com/news/swiss-air-if-you-dont-want-cellos-on-board-just-say-so-tar-cellist-suffers-flight-woes/18516.article

Self-taught Biel musician, composer and singer with Brazilian roots Caroline Alves has developed her own sound, a mixture of electropop, soul and jazz. Following the release of her first album "Moonlight", she won the "Best Talent" award at the 2021 Swiss Music Awards. She has performed on numerous stages, including at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Gurtenfestival and in summer 2023 as the support act for the band Coldplay at Zurich's Letzigrund stadium. Over the next two years, she will be devoting herself to completing and promoting her second album.

Mor Dovrat (stage art), Céline Ducrot (visual arts), Simon Beuret (comics) and Philippe Wicht (stage art and music) also receive support. The aim is to support promising professional artists at crucial moments in their careers. Support is provided in the form of two-year performance contracts. During this time, the artists receive a grant of between CHF 20,000 and CHF 40,000 to enable them to devote themselves to their artistic work.

Three sub-studies of the project take a differentiated look at the effects of digitization on cultural creation and cultural promotion. They show where there is room for manoeuvre to shape digitalization in the cultural sector in such a way that it strengthens cultural diversity, creates easily accessible new spaces for reflection and thus promotes cultural participation for as many people as possible.

Many artists are ambivalent about using digital applications: although they can be helpful in the creative phase as well as in communication and marketing, these advantages only come with additional time, financial and emotional investment, often borne by the artists themselves. The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) presents this ambivalence with fictitious but realistic artist personas. Its comprehensive examination of the social, economic, political and legal effects of digitalization on the art forms of music, theater and visual design is based on literature research as well as several qualitative surveys and focus group workshops with artists.

The qualitative analysis is supplemented by the quantitative study of the Swiss Music Council (SMR), which sheds light on the specific effects of digitization in the music sector and uses two surveys to determine how the Swiss music industry is affected by current digital developments, how it perceives them and how it deals with them.

More info:
https://www.hslu.ch/de-ch/hochschule-luzern/ueber-uns/medien/medienmitteilungen/2024/08/27/kultur-und-digitalisierung/

Sixteen-year-old Corina Deng from Canada was awarded the first prize of 5000 francs. Viktor Vasilev from Bulgaria came second (CHF 2000) and Qingyuan Yang from China/UK came third (CHF 1000).

Deng received three further awards: the Audience Award, the Calma Management Award and the prize for the best interpretation of the competition's commissioned work, Onde-Punti-Voci for solo violin and string orchestra by the Serbian-Canadian composer Ana Sokolović.

The 2024 jury consisted of Pavel Vernikov (President), Marie-Claude Chappuis (Switzerland), Mario Hossen (Bulgaria-Austria), Alexandre Vinnitski (Finland), Eduard Wulfson (Germany) and Ana Sokolović (Serbia/Canada), who joined the jury in the second round.

Christian Brantschen, born in Bern in 1959, is a musician and composer. He has been a permanent member of Patent Ochsner since 2000 and has played over 500 concerts with the band in Switzerland and abroad. He regularly accompanies Swiss authors and went on an extensive tour of Switzerland with Pedro Lenz with the program "Der Goalie bin ig". He composes music for the theater as well as for numerous cinema and documentary films and crime scenes.

The Bürgi-Willert Foundation Culture Prize has been awarded every two years since 1992 and, since 2015, to artists between the ages of 40 and 65 who have enriched Bern's cultural life for years but who, due to their age, are generally no longer eligible for grants and funding from the public sector and other foundations.

Choral singing has a long tradition in Appenzell Ausserrhoden and encourages a broad public to engage in cultural activities, writes the canton. Individual professional musicians such as Jürg Surber, the long-standing conductor of the Chorwald, are often able to motivate choirs with their enthusiasm and expertise. This year's cantonal recognition award is therefore also representative of the great commitment shown by other choirs in the canton.

Formed in 1983 as the "Gemischter Chor Wald AR" from a merger between the men's choir founded in 1879 and the women's and daughters' choir founded in 1904, the Chorwald is now a regional choir with over 60 active members from all the surrounding villages. With its specially designed concert programs and national and international appearances, the choir has made a name for itself far beyond the Appenzell region. It has won awards at various competitions and singing festivals.

Despite changing line-ups, the choir has developed a broad foundation on which a high level of stylistic diversity is possible: this is reflected in many performances, from village serenades with traditional folk songs from different cultures to church service performances and concert performances of great classical oratorios. According to the canton, the 2024 Recognition Award recognizes the choir "both for the important contribution that the singers make to cultural life in the canton with their voluntary commitment, as well as for its meticulous sound culture and innovative concert programmes".

The 2024 Culture Prize goes to choreographer and dancer Gisa Frank.

Carol Schuler was born in Winterthur in 1987. At the age of 14, she played the lead role in the film "Lieber Brad", for which she received the Swiss Film Award for Best Actress in 2002. After finishing school in Winterthur, Carol Schuler went to Berlin and began training as an actress at the European Theater Institute. This was followed by another nomination for the Swiss Film Award in 2012 and engagements at the Schauspielhaus Zürich and the Schaubühne Berlin, where she has been a permanent member of the ensemble since the 2017/18 season. Carol Schuler also performs on stage as a singer with her bands "El Cartel" and "Chloé et les Enfants Terribles". She is known to the general public as investigator Tessa Ott in Zurich's "Tatort".

The Cultural Prize of the City of Winterthur is awarded annually by the City Council to individuals or institutions who have made a special contribution to the cultural life of the City of Winterthur. The City Council nominates the award winners on its own authority. An application is not possible. Institutions as well as individuals and groups can be honored. The prize is endowed with CHF 10,000.

Leo McFall has been Chief Conductor of the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra since the 2020/21 season. Last season, he conducted four concerts with the SOV in Feldkirch and Bregenz, as well as the Bregenz Festival Opera Studio for the first time. McFall is also Principal Conductor of the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra and is closely associated with the Alma Mahler Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble of members of top European orchestras. Since this season, he has been General Music Director of the Wiesbaden State Theater.

The Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1984 by a group of musicians and music enthusiasts from the region between the Arlberg and the Rhine. Its members are 120 professional musicians from Vorarlberg and the neighboring regions. Each season, it performs a cycle of six concerts in Bregenz and Feldkirch, plus a major opera production at the Vorarlberg State Theatre, concerts and scenic projects at the international Bregenz Festival in summer, at the Montforter Zwischentöne festival, other guest performances and CD productions.

Singapore-born Kate Liu completed her training with Robert McDonald and Yoheved Kaplinsky at the Juilliard School in New York, among others. She won a bronze medal and the audience prize at the 2015 Chopin Competition in Warsaw. With the Gstaad award, Kate Liu follows Pallavi Mahidhara (prizewinner 2022) and Alexandra Dovgan (prizewinner 2023).

The prize, established by Olivier Berggruen, includes a concert as part of the festival program and a trophy designed by Mai-Thu Perret, a Geneva-born artist with French-Vietnamese roots. The German-American art historian, curator and writer Berggruen comes from a family of patrons and is artistic advisor to the Gstaad Menuhin Festival.