With 15 percent more regular symphony and choir concerts, the orchestras are focusing more on their core business and stabilizing their own income, according to unisono. Chamber music, education programs and concerts abroad were reduced. These are the key findings of the first nationwide concert survey since the coronavirus pandemic.

The figures show that the orchestras and radio orchestras are once again running smoothly, in many places with pleasingly high capacity utilization, explains unisono Managing Director Gerald Mertens. However, increasing financial cuts in public funding are causing concern. If concert halls, operas and orchestras had to cancel their own productions and festivals, this would be counterproductive for healthy artistic development and for attracting more audiences.

Founded in 1952, unisono (until October 2022 the German Orchestra Association, DOV for short) is the professional association and trade union for musicians in municipal, state and regional orchestras, radio orchestras, big bands and for radio choir singers, freelance musicians as well as lecturers and students at music academies.

Mathis studied in Lucerne and Zurich and made her debut in 1957 at the age of 19 as the second boy in Mozart's "Magic Flute". From 1959 to 1963 she was a member of the ensemble at the Cologne Opera House, and from 1963 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In addition to her commitment to the music of Mozart and Bach, she also took part in world premieres, including the opera "Der Zerrissene" by Gottfried von Einem in Hamburg in 1964 and "Der junge Lord" by Hans Werner Henze in Berlin in 1965.

From 1992 to 2006, she was Professor of Lied and Oratorio Interpretation at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. One of her students is Diana Damrau. Her numerous awards include the Mozart Medal of the International Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg, the Hans Reinhart Ring, the Art and Culture Prize of the City of Lucerne and the Prix Mondial du Disque. Edith Mathis has also held the title of Bavarian Kammersängerin since 1979.

On www.vs-myculture.ch applicants can now access the funding relevant to them directly via a filter system and receive all the information they need to submit an application before they even have to create a user account. This standardized platform thus bundles all important information for preparing a funding application and replaces the information sheets previously offered for each discipline or area.

With this new platform, "the Department of Culture is dynamizing its digital environment and reaffirming its commitment to accessibility and support for artistic and cultural creation in Valais", according to the press release.

To introduce the new features of this platform, online training sessions will be offered on Thursday, February 13, 2025 in French (17:00) and in German (18:00). Interested parties can register by e-mail at the following address: sc-encouragement@admin.vs.ch.

Daniel Dettwiler teaches music theory and is a lecturer in the minor Producing Composing Music - advanced at the ZHdK (Zurich University of the Arts). He is the founder of the recording studio "Idee und Klang", which specializes in the production of acoustic music, especially jazz and film music.

Daniel Dettwiler is considered "one of the most sought-after sound engineers for film music recordings", writes the ZHdK. He works closely with the young generation of Swiss composers such as Michael Künstle and Matteo Pagamici, Jakob Eisenbach and Mirjam Schnedl. They all studied at the ZHdK.

Pardini holds a Master's degree in business history, economics and political science and has been completing an MAS in Nonprofit Management & Law since 2023. He was a member of the management board of IG Kultur Luzern for several years. He currently works as Head of Cultural Policy at the Swiss Association of Cities and in this role is Managing Director of the Culture Cities Conference.

Judith Christen and Verena Randall will continue to co-head the Culture and Sport Department ad interim until Gianluca Pardini takes up his position in mid-March 2025. Letizia Ineichen left the department at the end of December 2024 to take up a new position at the University of Teacher Education Graubünden.

The first prize, worth 60,000 francs, went to Qianchen Lu for her work "Nine Odes to the Night", the second, worth 25,000 francs, to Erqing Wang for "The Gaze of Nmemosyne" and the third, worth 10,000 francs, to Ramón Humet for "Bird in Space".

An audience award was presented for the first time, in which viewers of the live stream worldwide were able to take part alongside those present in Basel. The more than 600 participants chose "Nine Odes to the Night" by Qianchen Lu. The prize is endowed with 5000 francs. Qianchen Lu and Erqing Wang will also be included in the Universal Edition.

Qianchen Lu was born in Anhui, China, in 2000. She is studying at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (2018-2023, Bachelor; 2024-ongoing, Master) in the class of Qian Shen-Ying. Her compositions span a wide range of genres, including vocal and choral music, instrumental solos, chamber music and large orchestral pieces.

Erqing Wang is a Chinese composer whose work spans orchestral and chamber music. He is currently studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz with Annesley Black. He was previously trained by the composers Wenchen Qin, Stratis Minakakis and Beat Furrer. Ramón Humet was born in Barcelona in 1968. He has been awarded the Olivier Messiaen International Composition Prize and the Queen Sofia Composition Prize, among others.

The company of cultural manager Christoph Müller organized the Basel Composition Competition for the first time in 2017 in collaboration with the Paul Sacher Foundation, which was co-initiated by Wolfgang Rihm, among others. Since 2019, the specially established Basel Composition Competition Foundation has been organizing the biennial competition.

According to the HMTM, Jürgen Ellensohn has most recently held a professorship at the Würzburg University of Music since 2019. He also taught as a professor at the Stella Vorarlberg Private University for Music (2022-2023) and at the Vorarlberg State Conservatory (2015-2019).

Jürgen Ellensohn was principal trumpet with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester) for 15 years. He held the same position with the Bern Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2005. To this day, he is a guest in many orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. He has also appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras, working with conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, Andrés Orozco-Estrada and Matthias Pintscher.

The researchers used the KIKI to compile a ranking list for the cantons of Switzerland. Based on the data for 2024, the canton of Zug takes first place with just under 60 out of 100 theoretically possible points, followed by Basel-Stadt and Zurich. The cantons of Vaud, Neuchâtel and Geneva are close behind in fourth to sixth place. This is followed by a broad midfield with scores between 31 and 41.

The KIKI consists of a weighted sum of 101 individual indicators that have been grouped into four thematic areas "Knowledge and Environment" and "Creation and Growth" with a total of eight thematic pillars. Data sources include the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), the Federal Finance Administration, the federal innovation agency Innosuisse, the OECD and the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.

More info:
https://www.hslu.ch/de-ch/hochschule-luzern/ueber-uns/medien/medienmitteilungen/2025/01/29/kiki/

In the top 10, Joana Mallwitz (Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the first woman to head one of Berlin's major orchestras), Nathalie Stutzmann, Kristiina Poska and Marie Jacquot (Principal Guest Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and, from 2026/27, the WDR Symphony Orchestra), who each hold a leading position in their respective organizations, have increased the number of their engagements by more than 80 percent.

Three young female conductors under the age of 30, Stephanie Childress, Nil Venditti and Ana María Pantiño-Osorio, have each more than doubled the number of engagements since 2023. 13 percent of all concerts listed in the Bachtrack database were conducted by women, compared to 11 percent in 2023. Nevertheless, male conductors are still clearly in the majority, and no woman has been in the top 20 in terms of engagements since 2019.

Bachtrack was founded in January 2008 and lists over 30,000 events every year. The annual Bachtrack classical music statistics are based exclusively on the events listed by the website. Although Bachtrack claims to be "the largest website for classical music", the entries are not complete and necessarily only represent a part of the overall picture.

In order to determine the sound characteristics of the songs more precisely, the team led by musicologist Tim Ziemer used MFCCs (Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients), which are commonly used in music practice. MFCCs are characteristics that describe the so-called spectral balance of a song, i.e. how bassy, brilliant or dull a song sounds. The researchers also used the so-called goniometer. This is a typical analysis tool used in recording studios to determine the spatial dimension of a mix.

According to the university's statement, the result was clear. Each producer has their own typical sound - both in terms of spectral and spatial balance. The producer's sound profile also remains dominant in the interplay with the rappers' voices. Even the distinctive voice of a rapper does not seem to influence the typical sound profile of a producer.

Original publication:
https://aes2.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22793

The two were selected from a field of six by public vote. The Emmerich Smola Orchestra Prize of the German Radio Philharmonic 2025 was also awarded to Chelsea Zurflüh. The City of Landau and Sparkasse Südpfalz will award the two of them 20,000 euros as part of the 20th SWR Young Opera Stars Concert. As the winner of the orchestra prize, Chelsea Zurflüh will also be invited to perform with the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra next season.

Born in 1995 in Switzerland with roots in the Seychelles, she completed her Master's degree in Specialized Music Performance Opera with Barbara Locher in Bern in 2021 with top marks. She attended masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender, Michelle Wegwart, Hedwig Fassbender, Eytan Pessen and Malcolm Walker. From 2021 to 2023 she was a member of the Zurich International Opera Studio.

Vicent was born in Altea, a city in the Valencian Community region of Spain, and studied at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Alicante and the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. Since 2015/16, Josep Vicent has been artistic and musical director of ADDA (Auditorio de Diputación de Alicante) and chief conductor of ADDA Simfònica Alicante. He has worked with personalities such as Maria João Pires, the Labèque Sisters, Pinchas Zukerman, Anna Fedorova, Paquito D'Rivera, Miura, Ramón Vargas and Iréne Theorin.

Founded in 1963 as the Aargau Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra has been based in the Alte Reithalle Aarau since October 2021. From 2001 to 2019, the British conductor Douglas Bostock led the orchestra as chief conductor. The Norwegian Rune Bergmann has been chief conductor since the 2020/21 season.

On site, ZHdK students from Cast/Audiovisual Media will develop social media content under the guidance of the ESC Public Value team. The aim is to showcase the social added value of the ESC. The collaboration offers the young talents a platform to showcase their creativity and innovative strength, to learn in a practice-oriented way and at the same time to participate in one of the biggest entertainment events in the world. It is "a unique opportunity to gain valuable professional experience and showcase Switzerland's creative energy on the global stage", writes the ZHdK.

The ESC final will take place on May 17, 2025 in the St. Jakobshalle in Basel and will be watched by more than 160 million viewers worldwide.

According to the university, the aim is to integrate gender and intersectionality aspects into elementary music pedagogy as well as instrumental and vocal pedagogy. This professorship is intended to train teachers to work against gender stereotypes at an early stage and facilitate access to musical professions for all genders.

A look at orchestral practice shows that more men play brass instruments, while it is predominantly women who play the harp: The professorship is intended to train teachers who, among other things, work against gender stereotypes at an early stage in order to break such patterns. At the same time, the aim is to help break down gender-specific barriers that would prevent young people from pursuing a career in music. This is an important step against the lack of young talent in music-related professions.