If the City Council agrees, the city writes, "long-term continuity will be created in this central position in Leipzig as a city of music". At the same time, the city would like to "appreciate the outstanding work of the Thomaskantor since he took office in September 2021".

The long term of the new contract is intended to give both the Thomaskantor and the Thomaner planning security. The extension of eight years corresponds to the cycle of a choir member from the first admission to the choir in the 5th grade up to and including the 12th grade. The first class, which will then have worked entirely under Andreas Reize, will graduate in 2029.

Andreas Reize was born in Solothurn in 1975. He studied in Bern, Winterthur and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and in Lucerne. Most recently, he conducted the Cantus Firmus Vocal Ensemble and the Cantus Firmus Consort Orchestra. He was previously music director of the Waldegg Opera, director of the boys' choir Singknaben of St. Ursenkathedrale Solothurn, director of the Gabrielichor Bern and choir director of the Zurich Bach Choir as well as principal guest conductor at the Theater Biel-Solothurn for early music.

Anik Casutt aka ANIKK is a singer from Sagogn who makes modern and electronic pop. She has performed at Open Air Lumnezia and Moon and Stars in Locarno, among others.

The canton of Graubünden organizes two competitions each year to provide targeted support for cultural achievements. Professionally working artists from all cultural sectors are invited to apply. The aim of the competition is to facilitate the development and realization of cultural projects.

The competition for professional cultural creation (major projects) is announced each January. The closing date for entries is the beginning of March. In this competition, work grants or free scholarships of up to CHF 20,000 are awarded. This year, five projects from a total of 39 applications were awarded a work grant. The competition for professional cultural creation (small projects) is announced in July each year. The closing date for entries is the end of August. In this competition, work grants or free scholarships of up to CHF 10,000 are awarded.

The Swiss soprano Nora Bertogg completed her studies at the Zurich University of the Arts and at the Bern University of the Arts in the Swiss Opera Studio. In summer 2022, she also completed a Master of Arts in Music Pedagogy with Sarah Maria Sun and Sandra Trattnigg at the Lucerne University of Music with distinction.

Happy for Real is an indie pop band from the city of Chur, consisting of Olivia Virgolin and Marcus Petendi. Their new album "Solar Storm" will be released in June. The prizes are endowed with CHF 4000 each. Writer Gion Mathias Cavelty, production manager Iris Peng and visual artist Miguela Tamò will be awarded this year's recognition prize. A further prize goes to the actress Annina Hunziker.

Swissperform writes that this decision was made against the backdrop of ongoing strategic development and digitalization. Olivier Gremaud is a managing director, entrepreneur, motivator and former top athlete with an Olympic diploma. As a business economist and certified expert in accounting and controlling, he is also ideally equipped to lead the organization into a successful future, Swissperform continues. Michael Egli will continue to serve as Deputy CEO and Head of Legal Services.

Swissperform is the collecting society for ancillary copyrights (related rights) in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein and is subject to state supervision. It represents the holders of neighbouring rights (rightholders) vis-à-vis users (e.g. music use by broadcasting companies), negotiates tariffs with users and their associations and ensures that the corresponding monies are collected and distributed to the rightholders.

The award for outstanding interpretation of early music is endowed with 1500 euros and was presented at St. Florian Abbey (near Linz, Austria) as part of the 9th International H.I.F. Beaver Competition. The prize is awarded every two years to outstanding young musicians who are particularly committed to historically informed performance practice.

Lea Suter studied historical keyboard instruments in Germany and the Netherlands and is active internationally as a soloist and in various ensembles. Juan Martínez González studied in Spain, Bremen and The Hague. He is one of the most versatile young trombonists of historical performance practice in Europe and plays with renowned early music ensembles.

The prize is endowed with 50,000 francs. Simone Keller is a multidimensional pianist and mediator who is mainly at home in contemporary and classical music. However, she also transcends the boundaries to other musical styles and seeks to unite them, writes the City of Zurich. Through "her intensive national and international concert activities and the tireless initiation of musical and cultural mediation projects", she manages to bring music to the most remote and unusual places.

The Swiss pianist Simone Keller completed her training in Hans-Jürg Strub's concert class at the Zurich University of the Arts and was awarded 1st prize at the Landolt Competition, 2nd prize at the Hans Ninck Competition and the EMCY Chamber Music Prize at the European Classical Music Festival Ruhr, among others. As a soloist and chamber musician, she cultivates a very broad repertoire ranging from classical and modern music to experimental and interdisciplinary formats, her own concepts and educational projects, and performs extensively in Switzerland and many other countries in Europe, the USA and Asia.

According to a press release issued by the City of Lucerne, the task of providing compulsory instrumental and vocal lessons for students at grammar schools and technical secondary schools was transferred to the municipal music schools as part of the Canton of Lucerne's Task and Finance Reform 18 (AFR18). In this context, the cantonal legal basis was also amended with regard to personnel legislation. Since then, only the cantonal employment and salary regulations have applied to music school teachers. The partial revision of the municipal music school regulations now brings them into line with the cantonal requirements.

The music school of the city of Lucerne has already put into practice the fulfillment of the task of teaching high school and technical secondary school students and has concluded a service agreement with the canton of Lucerne in this regard. This also includes the cantonal contributions in favor of the City of Lucerne, which cover the additional tasks. The City Council proposes that the Grand City Council approve the amendment to the regulations for the Music School of the City of Lucerne dated June 25, 2009 with effect from October 1, 2025. The City Council is expected to discuss this report and proposal on June 26, 2025. No special credit is required for the project described therein.

The French cellist and composer Hortense Airault, the Italian percussionist Antonio Gaggiano and the Chinese percussionist Hedi Yang will each receive prize money of CHF 10,000. In addition, the Foundation will enable the three to take part in the Lucerne Festival Academy 2025, also worth CHF 10,000 each.

Hortense Airault, born in Paris in 1999, completed her musical training in Paris and Geneva and is currently studying for a Master's degree in Music Composition at the Bern University of the Arts under Job Ter Haar, among others. Antonio Gaggiano, born in Italy in 1999, studied percussion and composition in Foggia, Ghent and at the Hochschule für Musik Basel, where he completed a master's degree in music performance with Christian Dierstein. He is currently deepening his education in the Master's program in Music Pedagogy. Hedi Yang was born in China in 2003. At the age of 16, she became the youngest ever admitted bachelor's student to major in percussion at the Zurich University of the Arts, where she studied with Klaus Schwärzler, Raphael Christen and Benjamin Forster. She is currently completing her master's degree in Zurich.

The Fritz Gerber Award is aimed at talents up to the age of 28 who either have Swiss citizenship or have lived in Switzerland for at least three years. A jury consisting of Michael Haefliger, Director of the Lucerne Festival, Mark Sattler, dramaturge of the Lucerne Festival, and the composer and conductor Heinz Holliger decided on the award.

The Fritz Gerber Foundation for Gifted Young People has been supporting talented young people in the fields of culture, crafts and sport since 1999. Over the past 26 years, around 2830 young people have been supported with more than 35 million francs. The award has been presented in collaboration with Lucerne Festival since 2015.

We humans share a crucial building block of musicality with chimpanzees: rhythmic drumming. A team from the University of Vienna, the University of St. Andrews and the Sapienza University of Rome has shown that chimpanzees also follow a rhythm when drumming and that individual groups even use different rhythms.

From July 1, 2025, the management of the HMTM Ballet Academy will thus consist of a dual leadership: according to the HMTM press release, the Artistic Director of the Academy, Jan Broeckx, and the new Managing Director will be jointly responsible for the entire study and business operations of the Ballet Academy in close cooperation with the Board of Directors. In addition to her teaching position at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), Bosshard is currently project manager for the promotion of young talent at the professional association Danse Suisse.

Michaela Bosshard performed in New York as a dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company, among others. In Switzerland, she worked for the Swiss professional association for dance Danse Suisse, where she played a key role in talent development projects under the direction of Gianni Malfer and Liliana Heldner Neil. From 2016, Michaela Bosshard took over the project management for the professional association's entire promotion of young talent, namely the talent scouting days and summerdance, a promotion project for talented dancers in pre-professional training. She is also responsible for further education programs at Danse Suisse.

When asked about stress, 51% of respondents complained that insufficient consideration is given to their mental well-being and work-life balance. The network is therefore calling for solutions to this shortcoming. Approaches would lie "in recognizing the individual potential and techniques of mediating practice not only in relation to the audience, but also with a view to institutional transformation processes".

A total of 422 people responded to the online survey, 271 of whom completed the questionnaire in full. Due to this high response rate, it is possible to speak of valid results for Germany, and the number of respondents in Switzerland and Austria also allows a good assessment of the situation in these countries, writes the network.

The complete results can be found here:
https://www.jungeohren.de/umfrageergebnisse-arbeitsbedingungen-musikvermittlung-2025/

In March 2024, the Federal Council commissioned a group of experts headed by Serge Gaillard, the former Director of the Federal Finance Administration, to carry out a review of tasks and subsidies. It was tasked with proposing measures to reduce the federal budget by at least 3 billion from 2027 and by at least 4 billion from 2030. The task force writes that the debate on the relief package 27 represents a directional decision: instead of cuts, targeted investments in social resilience, cultural diversity and democratic innovation are needed.

The task force calls for no cuts to cultural institutions and programs, the protection of cultural diversity as a strategic location feature, the strengthening of cultural education and social participation, especially for children and young people, the preservation of international cultural partnerships as a contribution to hybrid security policy and the anchoring of cultural resilience as a strategic goal of Swiss policy.

More info: 
https://www.suisseculture.ch/?article=kultur_ist_systemrelevant_taskforce_culture_warnt_vor_kurzsichtigkeit_beim_entlastungspaket_27

Victor Aviat studied oboe and piano in Zurich with Louise Pellerin and in Geneva with Maurice Bourgue. As an oboist, he was a member of the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and later became Claudio Abbado's principal oboist in his performances with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the Orchestra Mozart.

Victor Aviat lived in Berlin and was principal oboist of the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer. He also played regularly in the same position with ensembles such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly.

Elina Duni was born into a family of artists in Tirana in 1981 and began performing for Albanian radio and TV at the age of five. After the fall of the communist regime, she moved to Geneva with her mother, where she studied classical piano before turning to jazz. She perfected her training at the Bern University of the Arts, concentrating on composition and improvisation.

During these years, together with Colin Vallon (piano), Patrice Moret (double bass) and Norbert Pfammatter (drums), she founded the Elina Duni Quartet, a project that fuses jazz with the sounds of Balkan folklore. In 2012, Elina Duni recorded a collaboration with ECM Records.

Established in 2007, the Swiss Jazz Award is presented annually at JazzAscona (June 25 - July 5, 2025). Recent winners include Bruno Spoerri (2017), Franco Ambrosetti (2018), Othella Dallas (2019), Nolan Quinn (2022), Christoph Grab (2023) and the Swiss Jazz Orchestra (2024).

Hope is music director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco. He is also President of the Beethoven-Haus Bonn and, from November 2025, Artistic Director of the Gstaad Menuhin Festival.

Wolf Trap is a cross-genre music presenter outside of Washington, D.C., offering year-round programming at three venues: the Filene Center, The Barns at Wolf Trap and the Children's Theatre-in-the-Woods. Performances range from major summer operas and concert productions at the Filene Center to chamber music concerts, operas and recitals at The Barns, which is known for its intimate atmosphere.