,

The support will enable Erlangen-based music computer scientist Meinard Müller to further develop deep learning technologies that extract complex features and hidden relationships directly from music signals. As with the analysis of image data, this involves pattern recognition - pitches, chords and rhythm, but also vocal lyrics. For example, algorithms that are able to find the right song based on a pre-hummed melody or make suggestions for songs with a similar rhythm are used for this purpose.

Meinard Müller has been Professor of Semantic Audio Signal Processing at the International Audio Laboratories Erlangen, AudioLabs for short, since 2012. AudioLabs is a joint project of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, in which the MP3 format was developed.

More info:
https://www.fau.de/2023/03/news/leute/musikinformatiker-der-fau-erhaelt-dfg-foerderung-von-125-millionen-euro/

Res Marty has an exceptional voice, which has made him a sought-after performer in numerous concerts, writes the canton of Schwyz. He also devoted himself intensively to the life and work of the composer Joachim Raff, who was born in Lachen. From his father, he took over the presidency of the Joachim Raff Societywhich he has been running, with a brief interruption, for a good four decades. A few years ago, Marty wrote a Biography of the composerwhich is now considered a standard work. He is the initiator of the Raff archive with adjoining museum in Lachen.

Anja Gmür alias Kings Elliot grew up in Wilen bei Wollerau and Altendorf, attended school here and completed a commercial apprenticeship after graduating from high school. She moved to London in 2015 and uploaded her songs online. This led to contact with a music manager and a record deal with Universal Music in 2021. Since 2020, she has been touring the world as a singer with international stars of the music scene.

The 2023 Cultural Awards will be presented at a ceremony in fall 2023. Res Marty will receive CHF 10,000 as the prize money. The cultural sponsorship prize for Anja Gmür and Judith Keller is endowed with 5000 francs each.

According to the Birdsong press release, Patricia Kopatchinskaja has already written and performed a violin concerto and a series of duos. Some of her pieces have been performed in the Berlin Philharmonie with musicians from the Karajan Academy and in Lockenhaus by Nicolas Altstaedt and Vilde Frang and recorded for the Alpha label. This also applies to a duo with Pekka Kuusisto, which was performed in Oslo in September 2022.

The violinist often performs her pieces as an encore, often with members of the orchestras she has performed with. Together with clarinettist Reto Bieri, she has recorded some of her duos for violin and clarinet for Phantasmagoria, the Elbphilharmonie's video label. A composition for violin and four speaking voices was premiered at Radiokulturhaus ORF 2022.

The team conducted singing experiments with around 1800 test subjects from India and North America. In order to simulate the development of music through oral tradition, they were asked to pass on a total of more than 3400 melodies from one person to the next by singing - similar to the children's game "Silent Mail". Over time, the singers made mistakes, so that the music developed more and more in the direction of appealing and easy-to-learn melodies.

According to the study, oral tradition has a profound impact on the development of music. Among other things, this can be seen in the emergence of various musical structures. Some of these structures could be observed across cultures, such as small pitch intervals or arch-shaped melodic contours - melodies that first rise in pitch and then fall again.

However, the study also revealed clear cultural differences: participants from North America tended to follow the cultural conventions of Western music when passing on the melodies, whereas in India, common Indian scales were preferred. Teams from the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt am Main, the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge were involved in the study.

More info:
Melodies in Transition - Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics

Esther Hoppe has made a name for herself internationally as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. After studying in Basel, Philadelphia, London and Zurich, she won first prize at the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg in 2002. As a violinist in the Tecchler Trio, she has won numerous prizes, including the German Music Competition, the Prix Credit Suisse and first prize at the ARD Competition in Munich.

From 2009 to 2013, she was also first concertmaster of the Munich Chamber Orchestra. In this role, she led the ensemble several times from the first desk, performing music from the Baroque to modern times. Esther Hoppe currently teaches as a professor of violin at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. She plays the "De Ahna" Stradivarius, built in 1722.

The Camerata Zürich was founded in 1957 by the Swiss conductor Räto Tschupp. Following Räto Tschupp, Marc Kissóczy and Thomas Demenga, Igor Karsko has been the orchestra's artistic director since the 20/21 season. In addition to new music, the orchestra's repertoire focuses on rarely performed and often rediscovered works from the Classical and Romantic periods.

The Spanish-born conductor and violinist has been associated with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg as a guest conductor since 2019 and has led the orchestra in concerts in Salzburg, guest performances and CD productions.

He is also Professor of Violin at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and a regular mentor and conductor of the Guildhall School Chamber and Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Hall in London. Previously, he was concertmaster of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia for six years and concertmaster of the Musikkollegium Winterthur until the end of the 2020/21 season.

The study, led by the University of Cambridge, the Beethoven Center San Jose and the American Beethoven Society, the KU Leuven, the company FamilyTreeDNA, the University Hospital Bonn and the University of Bonn, the Beethoven-Haus Bonn and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, brings to light new insights into the composer's illnesses and raises questions about his recent ancestry and cause of death.

The international research team has succeeded in decoding Ludwig van Beethoven's genome using five genetically matching locks of hair. His hereditary predisposition, combined with his alcohol consumption, led to his severe liver disease. The genetic material of relatives living today also points to an extramarital relationship in Beethoven's paternal line.

It was previously known that Beethoven asked his brothers in a letter written in 1802 to have his illness examined by his doctor after his death and to publish the results. Since then, there has been uncertainty about the Bonn composer's state of health and cause of death, as the notes from Beethoven's doctor have never been found. In order to find out more about his illnesses and the cause of death, the international research team used modern archaeogenetic research methods.

Original article:
https://www.mpg.de/20018695/0320-evan-beethovens-genom-150495-x

After extensive research, Ariel Lanyi, one of the winners of the Kissingen Piano Olympics, caught Rudolf Buchbinder's attention, write those responsible. He was particularly impressed by his interpretation of Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata.

Ariel Lanyi was born in Jerusalem. He lives in London and graduated from the Royal Academy of Music with Hamish Milne and lan Fountain. In 2021, Ariel won 3rd prize (the Roslyn Lyons Bronze Medal) at the Leeds International Piano Competition and played the Brahms Concerto No. 2 in the final with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrew Manze. In 2022 he undertook a solo tour of Argentina.

The idea of the "Prix Serdang" was born during the pandemic and serves to "promote and preserve artistic creation". It has been awarded annually since 2022. Curator Rudolf Buchbinder recommends a maximum of three young talents. The choice is ultimately made by initiator Adrian Flury and cultural manager Thomas Pfiffner.

Guido Simmen has left his mark on Zug's cultural life "with his continuous, outstanding and highly acclaimed work", writes the canton. In 2004, he developed the VoiceSteps musical school from the two children's choirs of the Catholic parishes of Cham and Steinhausen. He composed various children's songs and was co-author and composer of numerous children's and youth musical theater pieces.

Simmen has also directed countless VoiceSteps stage productions and founded the Swiss Youth Musical Network. His "unwavering passion for musicals and interest in the development of children and young people" have motivated and inspired Guido Simmen over the past decades.

The Zug Recognition Prize is endowed with CHF 15,000 and is awarded every two to three years by the Zug Cantonal Government Council at the request of the Cantonal Culture Commission.

Conceived and coordinated by Lukas Loss, director of the Infinity Music Festival in Basel, the project requires the orchestration of three complementary visions: Science, sound and image. The unconventional pairing of artists and physicists in the multidisciplinary project Tinguely Entangled is ambitious: Latvian composer Linda Leimane is creating a bespoke musical arrangement in close collaboration with some of the world's leading quantum researchers.

Interventions by five scientists from the National Center of Competence in Research SPIN and visual representations by artist Luca Scarzella complement the performance. At the Department of Physics, Jung-Ching Liu, Henry Legg, Arianna Nigro, Rafael Eggli and Valerii Kozin took up the challenge of communicating the complex principles of quantum physics to a lay audience.

More info:
https://www.unibas.ch/de/Aktuell/News/Uni-Agenda/Tinguely-Entangled-verwandelt-Quantenphysik-in-Melodien.html

The interest group "art but fair" has been campaigning in Germany, Austria and Switzerland "for ethical and fair working conditions and appropriate fees in the performing arts and music" since 2013. The association "art but fair UNITED" has now been founded in Vienna. As Europe's first professional association, it aims to represent the economic and social interests of freelancers at publicly funded or publicly sponsored permanent theater companies, festivals and concert stages. Among other things, it aims to work towards eliminating loopholes in current legislation.

The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically highlighted the precarious situation of the newly self-employed, writes the newly founded association. In the last three years, however, "legally questionable employment models at publicly funded institutions that have been practiced for decades" have also come to light. This is currently the subject of a model lawsuit for the entire choral sector at the Salzburg Festival, which has now been set for hearing at the Labor and Social Court in Vienna on April 24 of this year.

The association will start operating and accepting membership applications on May 1, 2023.

More info: https://artbutfair.org

What is described in the Federal Council's press release as a "temporary decline" in growth, writes Suisseculture, means budget cuts of two percent in figures for 2024. Cuts that would hit culture at the worst possible time. The Federal Council has set the upper limit for target growth in the financial decisions for the years 2025 to 2028 at 1.2 percent in the area of culture. The target growth would therefore by no means compensate for the cuts made in 2024. This would make it impossible to tackle the challenges facing the cultural sector or compensate for inflation.

At a time when a cost-of-living adjustment of several percent of the wage bill is being negotiated, a reduction in cultural expenditure (the vast majority of which flows directly into wage payments) is not justifiable. Instead, it is time to introduce sustainable measures to improve social security for cultural workers - with corresponding adjustments to the first and second pillar pension systems.

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

Last year, according to the canton's press release, young people worked on rap beats and hip-hop lyrics; this year, pupils from primary classes 1 to 4 are practising a fixed repertoire of songs from all over the world. They form the basis for fourteen concert evenings with integrated storytelling, in which a total of 1400 children are involved in singing.

At the main rehearsal and the subsequent concert, the respective school choirs will be conducted by Alpnach singer and singing teacher Antonia Gasser. Musical accompaniment will be provided by the Bodenäbe trio, with Christoph Blum on double bass, Hans Blum on clarinet and Willi Stierli on Schwyzerörgeli. Stefanie Dillier, head of the Alpnach music school, will act as storyteller and overall project manager.

Under the title "Ghipft wiä gsungä", the first season took place in Alpnach, Giswil, Sachseln, Sarnen and Stalden with nine concerts in front of packed audiences. The second season starts on March 17, 2023 in Wilen, followed by a concert in Lungern on March 20 and a double concert in Kerns on March 21. The final concert will take place in Engelberg Abbey Church on March 22, 2023.

As outlined in the message according to the canton's press release, a staggered increase in the subsidy from the canton is to take place. Its contribution to the Zweckverband Grosse Kulturbetriebe will be gradually increased by CHF 660,000 by 2026. The Lucerne Festival Foundation intends to expand its activities and gain international significance with an artistic reorientation.

The Commission welcomes the intended further development and the majority are convinced that the status and reputation of the Lucerne Festival will be strengthened. The Commission also takes positive note of the aspect of youth promotion. A majority of the SFBC is in favor of increasing the operating contribution and recommends that the Lucerne Cantonal Council approve it.

A minority of the committee is critical of the planned subsidy increase. Reasons such as the imbalance in the financing of small and large cultural institutions, the demand for greater financial independence for the Lucerne Festival or the desire to postpone the matter until the regulation of regional cultural funding (including project and structural funding) are among the reasons for the negative attitude, writes the canton.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt's estate consists of audiovisual media, around fifty meters of sheet music and almost two cubic meters of correspondence, essays, notes on works and performance practice, lecture manuscripts and material relating to his many years of university teaching.

The estate has already been viewed and the organizational, content-related, legal, technical and economic issues regarding the digital archiving and archive use of the material have been evaluated. As a result of this preparatory work, the Nikolaus Harnoncourt Center will now be officially founded at the Anton Bruckner Private University.

The estate is to be scientifically processed and digitized at the center. It will also serve as a "cultural-philosophical think tank with events in St. Georgen". The budget of the Nikolaus Harnoncourt Center is made available to the Anton Bruckner Private University from funds provided by the province of Upper Austria and amounts to around 460,000 euros per year.

More info