In view of inflation and the expectations placed in culture, the cuts are incomprehensible, writes the umbrella organization in an official statement on the Federal Council's cultural message. At 0.3 percent, the share of cultural expenditure in the overall federal budget is very low and is "disproportionate to the overall social importance of culture in its entirety".

Suisseculture is calling on parliament to "correct this faux pas by the Federal Council and show the political will to adequately fund the challenges facing Swiss culture in the coming years". The preparation of the current cultural dispatch was exemplary. For the first time, the Federal Office of Culture had listened to all voices from the cultural sector.

The entire Suisseculture statement:
https://www.suisseculture.ch/?article=der_bundesrat_knausert_bei_der_kultur

See also: Federal Council adopts the Cultural Dispatch 2025-2028

In a broad-based survey of cultural institutions, municipalities, companies, associations and private individuals, 69 collections with a total of around 1.3 million audiovisual media were recorded. The Office for Culture and Sport, the State Archives and Memoriav, the competence center for the preservation of Switzerland's audiovisual cultural heritage, were all involved. On behalf of the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) and together with the cantons, Memoriav compiles an overview of the audiovisual holdings in all regions of the country.

Among others, Edi Gasser's holdings of the Unterwaldner Naturjuiz Foundation and music archives of private individuals from Sarnen and Alpnach are recorded. The overview inventory resulting from the project is managed and maintained by the State Archives. The inventory is not binding for owners or institutions. As the name suggests, it is intended to provide an overview of Obwalden's audiovisual cultural landscape and highlight holdings of public interest. The overview inventory of the Canton of Obwalden can be downloaded in anonymized form.

More info: https://www.ow.ch/dienstleistungen/8593

A team at the University of Zurich led by Sascha Frühholz, Professor of Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, has investigated how live and recorded music influence emotional processing in the human brain.

For the study, a pianist continuously intensified his playing depending on the emotional reaction of the audience, which was measured in real time using magnetic resonance imaging. In comparison, the same pieces of music were played to the participants by the same pianist as a recording, but without a feedback loop.

According to Frühholz, the experiment showed that pleasant and unpleasant emotions portrayed in live music evoke much higher and more consistent emotional activity than recorded music. The live performance also stimulated a more active exchange of information throughout the brain, which indicates strong emotion processing at the affective and cognitive levels of the brain.

More info: https://www.news.uzh.ch/de/articles/media/2024/Livemusik.html

According to the canton's press release, Château Mercier was donated to the canton of Valais by the Jean-Jacques Mercier - de Molin family in 1990. The Château Mercier Foundation was subsequently established to manage the use, enhancement and preservation of the castle. On December 31, 2020, the conditions attached to the donation, which related in particular to the purpose, furnishings and work on the castle, were lifted, leaving the State of Valais free to decide on the future of the castle.

The Château Mercier is an important venue for cultural events in the Sierre region and a witness to its history. It has been classified by the Confederation as an object of national importance. The castle can be hired for private events and company seminars. The State of Valais organizes receptions for ambassadors here.

On the recommendation of a working group, the State Council has decided to retain ownership of the Château Mercier. It wants to strengthen its role as a cultural and meeting center. The site will therefore mainly serve as an artists' house and promote research in the cultural sector as well as the integration of up-and-coming artists.

With this draft law, cantonal cultural policy should better coordinate public and private actors, take greater account of ecological, economic and social sustainability and facilitate access to culture in such a way that as many people as possible, regardless of age, nationality, gender, social background or disability, have the opportunity to take advantage of the canton's offerings.

The new law also provides for an increase in the budget for subsidies. It is to be increased by CHF 1.2 million over three years. There are also plans to create an additional half-time position to support the implementation of the new law.

More info (French):
https://www.ne.ch/medias/Pages/20240222_LEAC_projet_loi_faveur_culture.aspx

Born in 1976, Renaud Capuçon studied in Paris and Berlin with Thomas Brandis and Isaac Stern. In 1997, Claudio Abbado appointed him concertmaster of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. He is Artistic Director of the Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, which he founded in 2013, and was appointed Artistic Director of the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad in 2016. He has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne since the 2021/22 season.

The Ordre national du Mérite is a French order of merit created in 1963. It is the fourth highest official award in the country.

The current Office for Cultural Affairs (SERAC) will be transformed into a Directorate-General for Culture (DGC). This will be attached to the Department of Culture, Infrastructure and Human Resources. It is intended to increase the visibility of cultural policy. To this end, it will consolidate the cultural offer of the entire canton, support the entire chain of professional creation and the conditions under which it is practiced and strengthen the cultural ecosystem, in particular through public-private partnerships.

The cultural policy guidelines will be presented to the public this spring. They will specify the major strategic axes and identify the fields of action for the individual sectors by the end of the legislative period. The implementation and consolidation of the guidelines and ultimately the canton's public cultural policy will be the task of the new Directorate General in consultation with the cultural sector. The position of Director General is being advertised with immediate effect, with the earliest possible start date being August 1, 2024.

In its 2022-2027 legislative program, the State Council has committed to consolidating the cultural and heritage offerings throughout the canton. In order to achieve this goal, several cross-divisional measures are required both within and outside the administration, writes the canton.

Boissière was previously Executive Director of the broadcaster Mezzo, Director of the production company EuroArts, General Director of the label Naïve and held various positions at Warner Music. Medici.tv has been a partner of the Verbier Festival since 2007.

The Verbier Festival was founded in 1994 by Swedish musician and concert organizer Martin Engstroem and attracts around 35,000 visitors every year. At its heart is the Verbier Festival Academy, where renowned teachers work together with young talents. Young artists can also gain experience under the direction of leading conductors in two Verbier Festival orchestras.

The festival is financially supported by the municipality of Val de Bagnes, the Loterie Romande, the canton of Valais and the Sandoz Family Foundation. The Verbier Festival has been a foundation since 2005.

Théotime Gillot is studying for a Master's degree in Performance in the class of Claudio Martínez Mehner. With his chamber music trio Zarathoustra, he recently won 2nd prize at the Orpheus Swiss Chamber Music Competition. In Bremen, he won first prize in the competition, the audience prize and the prize for the youngest person taking part in the semi-final.

The European Piano Competition Bremen (formerly the Bremen Piano Competition) has been giving young pianists the opportunity to showcase their skills to a broad, interested audience and present themselves to a qualified jury every two years since 1987. The competition program includes a commissioned composition for solo piano as a compulsory piece, which is premiered at the semi-final.

At the end of 2023, the city council increased subsidies to the Südpol association, the Kleintheater Luzern foundation and the Neubad Luzern network association. This was contrary to the city council's proposals and despite the indications that this would partly support services "that do not meet the criteria of cultural promotion", as the city writes in its press release.

The City Council has now looked again at the increases in subsidies to cultural venues granted by Parliament and has spoken out in favor of a partial increase in the subsidy contribution to the Südpol Luzern association and the Neubad network association. However, it excludes funding efforts that are not clearly related to the promotion of culture.

It reduces the contributions for the Südpol association by CHF 25,000 (requested cost-of-living adjustment, which all other institutions do not receive) and for the Neubad by CHF 25,000 (awareness project is the responsibility of the event venues). The Kleintheater Foundation will receive the full increase.

On this basis, the Südpol association will receive CHF 1,265,800 (instead of the special credit of CHF 1,290,800 approved by the Grand City Council) and the Neubad network association will receive CHF 325,000 (instead of the special credit of CHF 350,000 approved by the Grand City Council).

According to the Austrian newspaper der Standard, Poschner will leave the Linz orchestra in 2027. After studying in Munich, he initially worked as 1st Kapellmeister at the Komische Oper Berlin. From 2007 to 2017, he was GMD of the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra. In July 2010, the University of Bremen appointed him honorary professor, as did the Anton Bruckner University in Linz in 2020.

Born in Munich, Poschner joined the Bruckner Orchestra Linz in 2017 after ten years as General Music Director in Bremen. He was recently awarded the Special Achievement Award of the International Classical Music Awards 2024 for the complete recording of all versions of Anton Bruckner's symphonies with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (ORF). In 2025, after conducting the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana in Lugano for ten years, he will join the Basel Symphony Orchestra as chief conductor.

A recent survey conducted by the city of Lausanne revealed that the 200 or so independent theater groups in the canton of Vaud are struggling to find suitable and affordable rehearsal spaces. The City and Canton of Vaud have therefore decided to jointly provide two new rehearsal rooms in Lausanne on a permanent basis. The occupancy plan and the administrative and technical management will be entrusted to the association Les Compagnies Vaudoises.

The Salle du Martinet, which covers over 200 square meters, will be converted and equipped with stage and technical equipment to meet the needs of rehearsal work. It will primarily be accessible to the Petit Théâtre and independent Vaud theater groups at a preferential rate. The installation of the hall was made possible thanks to a grant of CHF 50,000 from the City of Lausanne, which also ensures the operation of the project through an annual subsidy of CHF 30,000 with a deficit guarantee of CHF 20,000. The 45 square meter room 5bis, which was created as part of the Covid measures, can be used free of charge for research and brainstorming.

According to the HfMDK's press release, the university is thus honoring "in particular Eschenbach's extraordinary commitment to young artists, to the development of talent and to the most diverse pedagogical and didactic forms of music education". As the highlight of the musical program, students from the HfMDK and Kronberg Academy under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach jointly presented the Chamber Music No. 1 by Paul Hindemith.

Born in Breslau in 1940, Eschenbach won the International Clara Haskil Piano Competition in Lucerne in 1965 and was chief conductor of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich from 1982 to 1985.

Christoph Eschenbach is closely associated with the bachelor's and master's degree programs run jointly by Kronberg Academy and the HfMDK. In addition to his work as an artistic advisor and lecturer at Kronberg Academy, he is a regular guest of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and has been the Paul Hindemith Prize winner of the city of Hanau since 2016.

In 2003, Lysy took up the position of Professor of Cello at the University of California in Los Angeles. Before moving to the United States, he held a professorship at McGill University in Montréal. He was also a visiting professor at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland for several years. He lived with his family in Los Angeles.

Lysy's more recent projects have included a Bach solo recital at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, two programs with Vladimir Ashkenazy and his sons in Lugano, a concert with the American Youth Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles and a tour of the USA, Canada, Italy and Argentina with the show "Te Amo, Argentina".

Article in The Strad