The vote was preceded by several years of negotiations. The aim of the new directive is to curb the illegal use of creative works and ensure that their authors are remunerated. The provisions of Article 13 in particular are controversial. This is intended to oblige platforms to check whether the uploading of the respective content infringes copyright. The new EU directive will only be finalized once the European Council has given its approval - but this is considered a formality. The vote by the EU member states may take place on April 9.

According to Christian Höppner, Secretary General of the German Music Council, it is now a matter of "striving for a truly free Internet". In this respect, there is no difference with the critics of the reform. The market power of the internet giants remains unbroken, but the new directive forces them to fulfill their responsibility towards authors to a greater extent, Höppner continued. Fair remuneration for creators is a prerequisite for freedom and diversity on the internet.

Matthias von Orelli - Mátyás Szandai is a student at the HEMU Lausanne (Master in Interprétation option performer composer) for two years. Il donne un aperçu personnel de ses études quotidiennes.

Mátyás Szandai what is your current CV and how did you arrive in Switzerland and Lausanne?

J'ai étudié la contrebasse classique au Département de l'Académie de Musique Ferenc Liszt de Budapest et auprès de Gergely Járdányi. Puis la composition classique avec Jean-Michel Bardez au Conservatoire Hector Berlioz de Paris, et l'harmonie jazz avec Emil Spanyi au Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. After spending almost six years in Paris, I decided to continue my studies. I was happy to find the Master in Interpretation - option performer composer at the HEMU in Lausanne. That's exactly what I needed.

Quelle est l'importance de la composition jazz pour vous, votre développement musical et votre carrière ?

I have more experience as an interpreter. I think that the practice of composition and arrangement help me to become a better improviser as well. I've always composed for my groups, but that means staying in small groups, and I always lack the training to help me realize my musical ideas and put them into practice at the same time. The jazz section of the HEMU not only gave me the opportunity to learn how to make arrangements for large orchestras, but I also had the chance to interpret and record them (as part of the semester project). For example, this year I will perform a composition and an arrangement of mine as part of the creation Oriental Tales for the Cully Jazz festival in April 2019, and at the end of the year I will perform my compositions with my ensemble for my exam concert at the BCV Concert Hall in Lausanne.

What do you expect in principle from these studies?

Mon but personnel est d'être capable d'écrire de la musique pour de grands ensembles, par exemple un orchestre de chambre, un big band ou un orchestre symphonique.

What exactly is the study of jazz composition in Lausanne, especially in relation to other styles of composition?

I study with Emil Spànyi, who has a global knowledge and an overall view of the history of music and its theory. I have classes every semester. At the beginning of the year, a work plan is drawn up. The registration within the framework of the semester of the project and the concert at the end of the year set the deadlines and the rhythm of the work. The first year, I wanted to learn arrangement techniques to harmonize jazz standards in the style of Ellington or Gil Evans. Last year, for my final exam concert, I played my arrangements with my quintet. This year, I want to concentrate on my personal compositions. I have a few compositions that I wrote for my quartet and I want to arrange them for an ensemble consisting of a flute, a hautbois, a clarinet, two violons, a violoncello, a vibraphone and a rhythm section. First of all, we define the forms, the style, take a few examples with the same instrumentation from the jazz or classical repertoire, and then I propose a few personal ideas that we develop.

In my opinion, jazz writing and composition are inimaginable without the knowledge acquired from classical music. For me, the differences in composition between classical music and jazz lie in improvisation, accentuation, rhythms and forms.

Thomas Dobler - Composition occupies a prominent place in the jazz department of the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne (HEMU). In 2016, as part of a revision of the jazz master's program, the master's in composition was integrated into the master's in interpretation, as the links between jazz composition and interpretation are important. In the practice of the profession, the composer is for most of the time also an interpreter of his music. At the same time, it is important that the interpreter has the skills of orchestration, arrangement and composition. The links between improvisation, considered to be the key element of jazz, and composition are obvious and indispensable. Le Master en composition sous son ancienne forme a therefore disparu, mais il voit la lumière dans une nouvelle orientation : Le Master en Interprétation - option performer composer.

This reform represents a significant enhancement of composition within the institution. It has succeeded in boosting the creative spirit, a crucial factor for lively music and jazz in motion. Le Master en Interprétation - option performer composer has always been highly appreciated and well received by the students. Enrolments doubled very quickly.

The course offers each student, in addition to the main instrument courses, individual composition courses and various collective courses in the field of arrangement and orchestration. In addition, this Master's degree offers a wide range of options for individualizing your profile. In particular, there is the "specialization" branch, an individual course of choice that allows the student to focus on a specific field or to reinforce an orientation (music for film and media, electronic music, composition according to a specific theme, orchestration, interpretation, etc.).

The most important thing, however, is the practical implementation. It is ineffective and damaging if the compositions remain exercises that end in a tiroir. On the contrary, it is essential that the student can discover and consequently modify and revise his or her work. This is the reason why HEMU Jazz has put in place a highly developed system integrating numerous concerts with external partners. All students in the "Master in Interpretation - option performer composer" are obliged to write at least two compositions/orchestrations per year for the projects of the HEMU Jazz ensembles.

These commands imply constraints in terms of instrumentation and stylistic level, but above all, precise performances. All the processes are carefully supervised by the professors of composition and artistic directors of the various projects. The conception of the projects envisages a very great diversity of style in order not to work in a purely aesthetic or dogmatic way.

The HEMU considers it indispensable to transmit the values of the "classics", or rather of culture in general, in particular an excellent knowledge of the past, a good mastery of the techniques of composition and orchestration which represent the true tools of the trade, with the conviction that creativity can develop through work. As part of these composition/orchestration assignments, the students compose personalized projects with which they perform at numerous concerts, including a public recital/concert in the HEMU's concert hall at the end of each year. In the second year of the Master's program, their projects are recorded in the HEMU studio. Le travail de Master integrates these enregistrements, accompanied by the creation of a site internet comprenant un dossier de presse en plusieurs langues explicitant la démarche artistique.

The HEMU site du Flon (jazz and contemporary music) organizes around 200 public concerts a year, in collaboration with numerous partner institutions such as RTS (concerts d'Espace JazzZ), the Cully Jazz Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Onze Plus Festival in Lausanne, the Périgord Noir Festival in France, le festival " Nova jazz " Yverdon, Jazzclub Chorus Lausanne, les concerts de Lancy - Cave Marignac, Théâtre de Vidy Lausanne, Label Suisse, Le Bourg Lausanne, Output Festival Zurich, " City Club " Pully, Esprit Sainf Lausanne et les Hautes Ecoles de Musique de Stuttgart, Linz, Graz, Lucerne, Berne, Zurich, Bâle.

Les créations

A good portion of these concerts incorporate compositions and orchestrations by the students. But the HEMU also takes orders for its creations from its professors and external interveners (including Nik Bärtsch and Michel Godard). The mélange of "professional" composers and "students" is particularly interesting, given that the students are able to observe how their teachers face the same challenges as they do. A good example is the creation of "Oriental Tales" for the Cully Jazz Festival edition in April 2019. One hour of music composed by four students and one teacher for a more than heterogeneous ensemble: four classical musicians, a jazz rhythm section, an oriental percussionist and two traditional Moroccan musicians.

The London-born conductor is thus returning to Vorarlberg, where he already directed two SOV productions last year. He succeeds Gérard Korsten, who stepped down in summer 2018 after 13 seasons. The decision was preceded by an intensive selection process in which the musicians of the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra were also involved.

McFall won the German Conducting Award in 2015 and was a finalist in the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award the year before. He has worked as a guest conductor with renowned orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. He has assisted Bernhard Haitink with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic.

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.

Young world stars of the classical music scene come from Georgia; Georgian Gija Kantscheli was one of the most acclaimed contemporary composers after Glasnost, also thanks to Luigi Nono's support and his CDs on ECM. The country's musical tradition is respectable, and the Tbilisi Conservatory, founded in 1917 and long influenced by the Soviet Union, is the oldest in the region. It is therefore surprising that the first Georgian ensemble for contemporary music was only founded two years ago. Georgia Modern" recently performed in Zurich at the "Close Encounters" festival, presenting music that somehow conforms to the cliché of neo-tonal, expansive, Eastern European soundscapes - and yet does not. The mixture makes you sit up and take notice. The younger composers Demetre Gamsakhurdia and Giorgi Papiashvili move in a stylistic no-man's land, far removed from formulas.

The concert was also a testament to the quality of the musicians. Composer Reso Kiknadze, who has also been the rector of the Tbilisi University of Music since 2012, emphasized in an interview how important the founding of this ensemble was. However, he also emphasized how much the festival had helped him over the years. The contact is important. However, whether it was an "uncanny encounter of the third kind", as the title of Steven Spielberg's film Close Encounters is translated in each case? If it is an encounter with the alien, even if not extraterrestrial, then - as the Spielberg association suggests - it is a positive one, not one of fear and horror, but one of inspiration and broadening horizons. The Swiss-Georgian festival was founded in 2005 by Tamrika Kordzaia and the composer Felix Profos. The pianist, who herself came to Switzerland from Georgia in 1997, still directs it today and has opened it up stylistically. This "festival for contemporary music" offers not only avant-garde, but also a broad spectrum that includes club concerts, for example, and seeks encounters beyond the musical. This time, Kordzaia invited the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor.

Not only is music from the two countries exchanged, the musicians and music institutions also meet each other. This is enriching for both sides. Kiknadze, who previously worked at the Lübeck University of Music, mainly in the field of electronic music, says that musical life in Tbilisi is very lively and almost more exciting than in Germany. In fact, new things are often still new there. There is a curiosity for experimentation - and an audience. Although the Kunstraum Walcheturm was quite full at the Georgia Modern concert, the ensemble fills larger halls in Tbilisi, albeit not the really big ones. Kordzaia says that a lot of younger people in particular come to the concert.
 

Stylistically, this cannot be narrowed down. Alexandre Kordzaia, for example, who now lives in The Hague and Tbilisi, composes works for classical ensembles, but also mixes pop songs. At the festival, he performed on grand piano and electronics with percussionist Peter Conradin Zumthor - in the joint project "SHWUIIT", which also contains freely improvised passages.

The Mondrian Ensemble in turn performed together with composer Natalia Beridze, who also performs as Tusia or T.B.. She is self-taught and mainly produces electronic music. Mapping Debris is the title of her piece for piano quartet and electronics, which is based on sound and vocal samples that, according to the program booklet, "lay unused on the composer's hard disc. These scraps of sound resemble the wreckage of a crashed airplane, in which it is difficult to recognize a complex structure and which only make sense when they are analytically reassembled." The music doesn't seem like debris at all, but rather well-ordered, but the composition is indeed unusual: calm string gestures, heterogeneous sound fields, pop sprinkles and noise fragments. The mix doesn't seem to me to be genuinely Georgian, but rather stems from a trend that began decades ago in the USA, for example with the Kronos Quartet. But the result is a peculiar kind of music that keeps you occupied afterwards.

Electronic music has a special status in Georgia. This is also due to Reso Kiknadze, who strongly promotes this already older development. As rector of the venerable conservatory, he has not only established the subject of jazz, but also a course in music technology. It is the only school in the entire Caucasus region to offer such a course, and so students from neighboring countries, such as Iran, also come to Tbilisi. This enriches the scene and continues to have an impact.
 

In 2012, the Basel Government Council formulated the strategic goal of strengthening and raising the profile of Basel as a city of music. A large number of professional orchestras in particular contribute to Basel's musical wealth. However, an analysis commissioned by the Department of Culture revealed that the national and international appeal does not match the existing potential in terms of quality and diversity. An important reason for this in the case of the predominantly privately financed orchestras is that the musicians' fees are far below the salary level of the Basel Symphony Orchestra and the salary recommendations of the Swiss Musicians' Association, which has consequences for the artistic continuity of the orchestras.

Against this backdrop, in 2015 the Grand Council approved the new program and structural funding for orchestras in the Canton of Basel-Stadt and approved a total of CHF 5,576,000 for the years 2016 to 2019. On the recommendation of an independent jury of experts, in 2016 the Government Council awarded a total of CHF 3,960,000 from the program funding for the years 2017 to 2019 to the four orchestras Basel Sinfonietta, Ensemble Phoenix Basel, Kammerorchester Basel and La Cetra Barockorchester.

According to the four orchestras' performance mandate, the Basel concert series of the four orchestras, which complement each other programmatically, will be supported, whereby the musicians' fees should be based on the tariff recommendations of the Swiss Musicians' Association in order to improve the social security of cultural workers in accordance with the Culture Promotion Act. After gaining experience over one and a half seasons, the four orchestras can jointly confirm that the first steps in the right direction have been taken with program funding. However, the intended improvement in social security has not yet been achieved due to persistent underfunding.

The orchestras partially financed through program funding generate a self-financing ratio of 55 to 86 percent. In order to finance their Basel concert series
In order to be able to pay basic fees in accordance with the tariff recommendations of the Swiss Musicians' Association, they lack CHF 743,000 annually, which they cannot generate additionally on the market either through admissions or fundraising.

The four orchestras are therefore jointly requesting that the orchestra program funding be increased by CHF 743,000 annually from CHF 1,320,000 in the period 2017 to 2019 to CHF 2,063,000 annually in the period 2020 to 2022. Measured against "Basel's cultural budget of over CHF 128,000,000, a relatively small increase", this would "remedy an undisputed grievance regarding the social security of musicians and represent a further step towards strengthening and raising the profile of Basel as a city of music", the orchestras continue.

Wüthrich was born in Aeschi (Canton of Bern) and studied at the Bern Conservatory with Sava Savoff (piano) and Sandor Veress (theory). From 1968 to 1972, he also received composition lessons from Klaus Huber. In 1974 he founded the Ensemble mixt media basel, which, according to the entry in the Musinfo directory, is particularly dedicated to works in the intermediate area of music and theater. From 1985 to 2002, Wüthrich was a lecturer in music theory at the Winterthur-Zurich University of Music and since 2009 a member of the Akademie der Künste Berlin.

Wüthrich has won numerous prizes, including the Composition Prize at the Boswil International Composition Competition several times, the Grand Prix Paul Gilson de la Communauté radiophonique des programmes de la langue francaise, the Special Prize for Music of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft, and he was one of the nominees for the 2016 Swiss Music Prize.

The numbers were once again impressive: not only around 1000 representatives of the music industry, but also around 6000 fans attended the 22nd edition of the three-day pop music festival m4music in Lausanne and Zurich. While the Zurich folk band Black Sea Dahu and the Winterthur duo, who operate between rock, rap, pop and noise Ikan Hyu were responsible for the musical highlights, the thirty or so events in the conference section discussed topics as diverse as performance opportunities in Europe, the (survival) life of a songwriter and the current sales figures in the music business.

In the panel "The music market 2018, 2019 and beyond", the conclusion was that the situation is improving. Growth is no longer driven by CD sales or downloads, but by the streaming business. Last year, the Swiss recorded music market generated sales of around 170 million Swiss francs - 3.7% more than in the previous year. According to Ivo Sacchi, Managing Director of Universal Music Switzerland, there are music genres that generate up to 95 percent of their recorded music revenue from streaming. "This is particularly true for urban, German rap and hip hop." Marc Lynn, bassist of the rock band Gotthard, painted a slightly different picture: "Rock fans still want to be able to hold the physical product in their hands." He estimated that around 70 percent of fans would still buy Gotthard's music on vinyl or CD. However, this differs from continent to continent. "In South America, it's almost all streaming." Universal representative Sacchi has no doubt that the trend towards streaming will continue, even in Switzerland: "The potential is far from exhausted." The fact that 15,000 songs are uploaded to streaming portals such as Spotify every week speaks for itself.

The situation in music journalism, on the other hand, was less pleasing. During the panel on the topic, a certain helplessness emerged. Linus Volkmann, who until last year worked for the now defunct music magazine Intro explained: "Music journalism has lost its gatekeeper function. Accordingly, today's young target groups can do without print products." Nevertheless, or perhaps precisely for this reason, Ane Hebeisen, pop editor at the daily newspaper The Confederationis convinced that music journalism is still necessary - and more so than ever. "We need writers who create depth and open the door to other worlds of music." The fact is, however, that the Tages-Anzeiger has had no budget for freelance music journalists since last year. Volkmann, who is also a book author, was able to take some positives from the decline of music journalism, however: "Anyone who wants to publish about music can now simply do it." For example, by means of a YouTube channel or a blog.

In his keynote speech "Monopoly in the global concert business", independent concert agent Berthold Seliger from Berlin discussed his industry, which was praised as a goldmine just a few years ago. Since 2012, however, large corporations have been steadily gaining influence in this area. While small club operators are trying to build up artists sustainably, giant players such as Live Nation are only interested in business. And with good reason: "One percent of all artists generate 60 percent of all concert revenue," Seliger knew. A fact that led him to call for a state-imposed solidarity levy for independent clubs and promoters. "For every ticket that costs more than 50 euros." This is actually unavoidable because local clubs and event organizers are increasingly becoming a dying breed. Seliger did not believe that the situation would improve on its own.

And how did festival director Philipp Schnyder von Wartensee rate the 22nd edition of this Migros Culture Percentage event? "It was three lively, intensive days with great discoveries of Swiss talent," he said. He was particularly struck by how openly many of the 1000 or so representatives of the national and international music industry approached each other. "The longer you meet each other, the more you don't see each other as competitors, but first and foremost see a wide range of opportunities for collaboration." However, he was more critical of another development: although there is no longer a rift between musicians from German-speaking Switzerland and French-speaking Switzerland, the exchange between artists from the city and those from the countryside seems to be increasingly stagnating. However, Schnyder drew a positive overall balance: "It has always been the philosophy of m4music to bring younger and older musicians together at our festival. And it works."

According to the newspaper, the change in strategy can be traced back to Patrizia Crivelli, the head of the Burgergemeinde's Culture and Society department, who has been in office for a year. The office was created as the "civic counterpart to the municipal cultural secretary" (Berner Zeitung). The two incumbents from the Burgergemeinde and the city, Crivelli and Franziska Burkhardt, know each other. They both used to work for the Federal Office of Culture.

The Culture Prize of the Burgergemeinde Bern, endowed with CHF 100,000, was awarded for the 30th and final time in June 2018 and went to the cabaret theater "La Cappella", a renowned Bernese stage for cabaret, chanson and cabaret. Previous winners have included the Camerata Bern, the Brienz Violin Making School, the Swiss Jazz Orchestra and the Mühle Hunziken concert venue.

This year, Musikmesse will take place on four working days (Tuesday to Friday) for the first time. It is thus focusing more than ever on the professional exchange of international professionals and sharpening its brand essence as the largest European trade fair for the music industry. In this endeavor, for the first time since 2015, Musikmesse will once again open at the same time as Prolight + Sound, the 'Global Entertainment Technology Show'.

Even after the trade fair, the music continues in Frankfurt. For the fourth time, the "Musikmesse Festival" presents highlight concerts in 50 locations and on the exhibition grounds. Including: the talents of the International German Pianist Award as well as - in a big closing concert - soul legend Gregory Porter and the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt.

Visitors to Musikmesse 2019 can look forward to shorter distances. Hall 3 brings together a wide range of products on two levels, from pianos and keyboards to drums + percussion, guitar and bass, woodwind and brass instruments, string instruments, harmonica instruments and sheet music. For the first time, the entire audio sector is concentrated on one hall level: visitors will find synthesizers and recording equipment as well as products for live sound reinforcement in Hall 8.0.

A new feature is the joint "Networking Area" for Musikmesse and Prolight + Sound in Hall 4.1, which is aimed specifically at dealers and decision-makers in the industry. With its elaborately designed lounge concept, it offers the ideal setting for business talks in a relaxed atmosphere.

The new "Music Education Center" at the Congress Center Messe Frankfurt creates a central platform for the promotion of young talent and further education. One of the highlights will be the Class Music Day (Friday, April 5), which will provide ideas for modern, practice-oriented teaching. On the same day, the European School Music Prize will be awarded to progressive projects in the field of methodical and creative work with musical instruments. There will also be workshops and seminars on music therapy and, for the first time, the award ceremony for the New Therapy Instruments competition.

The "Discover Music" project for young musical explorers offers a voyage of discovery into the world of tones and sounds. Under the pedagogical guidance of experienced members of the Frankfurt Music Academy, schoolchildren can try out instruments to their heart's content.

SongsCon Frankfurt" provides songwriters and producers with assistance in building their professional careers as part of the Musikmesse. The program includes an A&R panel with decision-makers from record labels, songwriting camps and master classes as well as a listening session where creative musicians can get expert feedback on their compositions. The "European Songwriting Award" is also entering a new round. At the award show with live finale (April 5), songwriters and producers can present their compositions to a top-class jury of international A&Rs. The winner will go straight into the studio: there will also be radio and online promo for the best songs.

In addition to workshops, master classes and tutorials, the Musikmesse offers live music by national and international artists throughout the day.

In the evenings, the exhibition grounds become the epicentre of the "Musikmesse Festival" - national and international acts such as pop-rock legend Tony Carey (4.4., Festival Arena), rap legend Samy Deluxe (4.4., Festhalle Frankfurt), a DJ set by Mousse T. & Glasperlenspiel (5.4. Festival Arena) and the internationally successful a cappella band The Real Group (3.4., Festival Arena) take to the stage. A total of around 100 concerts will also take place in 50 Frankfurt clubs and event locations as part of the festival. Musikmesse visitors receive a free festival wristband, with which they can attend Musikmesse Festival events at a reduced price or even free of charge.

The Grand Finale of the International German Pianist Award offers a treat for lovers of top-class piano music (April 1, Alte Oper Frankfurt). Accompanied by the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of conductor Douglas Bostock, top young pianists will showcase their skills. The program includes Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 op. 18 in C minor and Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 op. 15 in D minor.

On the Saturday after Musikmesse (April 6), Musikmesse Plaza will present a completely new event concept aimed at music enthusiasts of all ages. Together with partners from the creative sector, Messe Frankfurt is organizing a pop-up market with a variety of themed worlds and direct sales: from vintage instruments to sound carriers and lifestyle products. As the highlight of a week full of music and entertainment, music fans can look forward to the closing concert by US soul artist Gregory Porter, who will be performing together with the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt for the first time.

All further information about the Musikmesse at www.musikmesse.com

It is hard to imagine that an opera that is said to be the major work of one of the most important Swiss composers of the 20th century would disappear from the repertoire for 76 years after its premiere at the Berlin State Opera and a Zurich fiasco. Only those who take a closer look, remember the circumstances and carefully read the original libretto will quickly gain an impression of what happened and why it happened. Despite numerous, often futile interventions, Othmar Schoeck as composer was all too careless with a libretto created by Hermann Burte: with the possibility of an exposed production in mind and presumably also without any contemporary assessment of reality. The entire Castle-Dürande-Burte's völkisch sentiments permeate the text (sometimes clearly, sometimes subcutaneously), but it is even poorer in quality. Even Hermann Göring sent a telegram expressing his astonishment as to how the opera, which premiered on April 1, 1943, and the libretto on which it was based, which was described as "laid-on bullshit", could be accepted by the artistic directors.

However, the opera was banned after the Second World War when it was performed in the brown Berlin, although it was already clear after the first performance that it was musically an important score. However, it was not possible to denazify the work; the facts stood in the way of the work just as much as the clumsy attempts to blame the composer's good faith for his criminal lack of scruples. It is therefore all the more astonishing that Schoeck's Dürande Castle is scathingly reviewed in the popular literature, but there is always a certain curiosity about the music. And rightly so, as could now be heard at the Meininger Staatstheater. A score with a text newly arranged by Francesco Micieli and carefully worked into the vocal lines by Mario Venzago lay on the desks. Academically reappraised and accompanied by two publications supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the problem opera has thus become a historically belated grand opéra: At the center is the fate of Renald Dubois (initially still a count's hunter concerned about his sister, later a fervent revolutionary in his own right), who determines the tragic end of all. Four different acts can be heard, from film music adaptations and astonishingly retrospective moments to Wagnerian travails and the jazz of the 1920s and 1930s. Schoeck thus summarizes a truly "long" 19th century and goes beyond it - without eclecticism, but with the idea of the widest possible availability.

What is initially surprising, however, gains coherence and independent, even idiosyncratic consistency. But questions remain unanswered. For example, Micieli's new version of the libretto, which is based on a novella by Eichendorff, has been a splendid rescue. Admittedly, he was unable to correct where the text was already retarded in the original and Schoeck follows it for (too) long in the score. This time, however, nobody wanted to cut back on the musical-dramatic substance. For example, a slight shadow remained on the finale when Renald learns the truth about his sister from the dying servant Nicolas. In future productions, the director will have to find solutions here (possibly using multimedia?). Speaking of the future: the Dürande Castle has earned a chance to prove itself on other stages in this neutralized, occasionally still overly rhyming form. Brahms had already chosen the small but beautiful Meiningen for the premiere of his 4th Symphony in order to test it carefully. However, Schoeck's last opera will probably not become a repertoire piece. The choice of subject alone makes it too retrospective, especially at a time when the world was in flames. The premiere success of the production (directed by artistic director Ansgar Haag, musical director: GMD Philippe Bach) was in any case fully justified with a solidly accompanying, but hardly interpretative staging, a respectable ensemble performance and an outstandingly well-disposed court orchestra.

Further performances
March 29, April 28, May 8 and 17, June 27 and 30, July 6, 2019
meininger-staatstheater.de

Around 300 children from 58 nations are currently learning in Kriens' four central school buildings. They differ in terms of culture, language, family background and social class. In this environment, the teaching team launched the "Culture in the Center" project, or KiZ for short, in autumn 2016. In summer 2017, 18 classes (from kindergarten to year 6) started the first year of the project.

While the first and second graders carried out cross-class cultural projects with music, dance and games, the third and fourth graders had the opportunity to attend workshops in dance, theater, choir and music. In years 5 and 6, pupils learned to play an instrument of their choice and rehearsed in a joint orchestra.

The jury praised the way in which culture becomes an element of social integration and diversity in the project and how the school and the music school move closer together through the collaboration.

The SMR is of the opinion that "a good result has been achieved with the present draft, which is suitable for safeguarding Switzerland's interests while taking our direct democracy into account". This agreement would create the all-important legal certainty for both sides and secure access to the European market.

The growth of the creative and music sector will gain significant momentum in the coming years, the SMR continues. For this reason, the music sector believes that every effort should be made to ensure that the advantages of the free movement of persons for Switzerland are maintained - in this case by signing the agreement. In addition to the free movement of persons, access to EU funding and research programs such as Creative Europe and Horizon 2020 (or their successor programs) is fundamental for the music sector, as they are tantamount to market access for the sector.

More info: www.musikrat.ch

The evening starts from zero to one hundred. While Lucas Niggli drums a continuous beat with intricate accents on the drums, the homophonic choir of Theater Basel (conductor: Michael Clark) sings rhythmically concise lines. Hammond organ (Dominik Blum), bass (Marino Pliakas) and electric guitar (Yaron Deutsch) throw in chords that act like wildfires and further fuel the boundary-breaking music. Michael Wertmüller has already written many pieces for the Swiss trio Steamboat Switzerland, blurring the boundaries between new music, jazz and rock. In his Opera Diodati. Unendlich (libretto: Dea Loher), which was commissioned by Theater Basel, he adds an electric guitar to the formation and places it in the orchestra pit so that, together with the extremely agile Basel Symphony Orchestra, they send this rhythmic energy onto the stage and into the auditorium. The music almost always has a high pulse. It is constantly excited, works with the layering of different meters and rhythms and takes the musicians involved to the limits of what is technically possible. This makes it all the more astonishing how confidently conductor Titus Engel, who has already conducted Karlheinz Stockhausen's Thursday from Light and the unflustered way in which the conductor moves through this highly complex score. And the precision with which all the players bring these wild, rhythmically interlaced eruptions to life.

Dea Loher's libretto recounts the legendary visit of English literary figures to the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva in 1816. The illustrious circle around Lord Byron becomes intoxicated with opium and conversation. Due to the bad weather, they stay indoors, debating artificial life and telling each other horror stories. In this idyllic Swiss setting, Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus and the short story The Vampyrwritten by Byron's personal physician John Polidori. In her text, Loher intertwines this historical setting with Cern in the canton of Geneva, where basic research in physics is carried out in the 27-kilometer-long particle accelerator. In her production, director Lydia Steier makes both levels visible. Flurin Borg Madsen brings a laboratory to the stage at Theater Basel, in the middle of which a room from the historic Villa Diodati has been recreated. Here, scientists in protective suits drive the lifeless literati in on handcarts to the first drumbeats and reanimate them (costumes: Ursula Kudrna).

However, the characters are actually brought to life by Wertmüller's music. The composer works with fast cuts that are often sharpened by the percussion. The pauses are short, the stimulus density is high, everything happens at the same time! However, the Swiss composer does not build up a larger arc of suspense. He relies on individual building blocks, which stand on their own and are designed quite differently. Kristina Stanek sings of her deceased child as the still unmarried Mary Godwin in operatically drawn lines; Claire Clairmont, pregnant by Lord Byron (crystal clear up to stratospheric heights: Sara Hershkowitz) licks his crotch to the high-pitched music before Byron has a flashing device strapped around his waist by the scientists to give him additional stimulation. At times, Michael Wertmüller uses loops to add density, at other times he slows down the tempo for a moment, only to create a new musical mix shortly afterwards. Scene follows scene at breathtaking speed. Rolf Romei as Mary Godwin's friend Percy Bysshe-Shelley, with a middle parting and nickel glasses, sings radiant top notes. With his powerful bass-baritone, Seth Carico is a striking personal physician Polidori, who declares his love for Lord Byron in fishnet stockings and high heels in the second part.
 

Holger Falk is the powerhouse of the exquisite ensemble of soloists as the anarchistic bon vivant George Gordon Noel Lord Byron. "The great aim of life is to feel. To feel that we exist," he formulates his credo in chanting in the second part, in one of the few quieter scenes. This Byron celebrates his sexual relationship with his half-sister Augusta Leigh (coloratura sharpened: Samantha Gaul) just as naturally as he rubs oranges on his naked chest and in his crotch. Intoxication and ecstasy as the core of life? Individual pieces of the puzzle unfold great theatricality in this ultra-hot Basel performance, for example when drummer Lucas Niggli and Sara Hershkowitz as the heavily pregnant Claire Clairmont, twitching in labor, engage in a spectacular percussion coloratura battle or when the resuscitated child rises from Mary Godwin's operating table with great pathos as an angel with dark wings. A connection between all the elements that shoot around as if in a particle accelerator does not succeed on this evening. But perhaps that is too conservative an idea for this challenging, at times even overwhelming evening of musical theater.

René Karlen is retiring early at his own request at the end of March 2019. His successor, Diana Lehnert, studied music education and orchestral music at the Detmold University of Music and the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and has worked as a freelance flautist and dramaturge, among other things. Most recently, she has been head of music education at the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra since 2008. In addition to artistic direction, she has experience in public relations and cultural journalism. Diana Lehnert lives in the city of Zurich.

The Classical Music Division of the Department of Culture in the Presidential Department is responsible for classical music and promotes concert life in the city of Zurich in this area. In addition to supporting performances with grants, it organizes three concert series of its own.

"Owners of hotels and vacation apartments would no longer pay copyright royalties in future," writes Swisscopyright in today's press release. It continues: "The Council of States will decide on this idea of dropping compensation owed to hoteliers next Tuesday. Musicians, filmmakers, actors and other creative artists would be the ones to suffer. They would then be subsidizing the hotel industry in Switzerland with their work instead of being fairly compensated for the commercial use of their works.

The proposal is based on a parliamentary initiative by Philippe Nantermod, FDP National Councillor VS. The small chamber would thus create a precedent: In December 2017, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that remuneration must continue to be paid for the distribution of radio and television programs in hotel rooms or vacation apartments if the necessary equipment such as televisions or radios are provided by the hotelier or landlord. Contrary to what the initiators claim, this is not a matter of private use.
 

A report by the University of Lausanne on behalf of Swisscopyright, the association of the five Swiss collecting societies, states that the new article created in the CopA would contradict the Berne Convention, an international treaty on the protection of literary and artistic works; for this reason, it could only apply to Swiss creators if Switzerland wants to comply with its international obligations. Swiss creative artists would therefore be discriminated against. A paradoxical situation would arise: Swiss artists would no longer receive remuneration, but hotels would have to pay for works by foreign cultural professionals. The regulation would also disregard other international agreements: the World Copyright Treaty WCT and the WTO free trade agreement TRIPS. This could result in economic sanctions against Switzerland."

Swisscopyright also states: "According to the proposal, the new article in the CopA should also exempt hospitals and prisons from copyright remuneration," and notes that neither cantonal prison institutions nor hospitals have demanded this and that none of the institutions have declared that they no longer wish to pay remuneration to creative artists: "Once again, an exception would be created here solely at the instigation of the hotel industry. This unjustified measure would cause great damage to the cultural sector. Swisscopyright is calling on the members of the Council of States to play fair. This preferential treatment of hoteliers is neither necessary nor appropriate.

The proposal ultimately violates the hard-negotiated and fragile compromise of the working group on copyright (AGUR 12). The demand to (suddenly) exempt hoteliers was included in the bill at a very late stage in the National Council. However, authors and rights holders made many concessions beforehand to make the compromise possible."

As far as the media release from Swisscopyrightthe association of ProLitteris, SSA, Suisa, Suissimage and Swissperform.
 

The musicians are also fighting back in one of Sonart - Musicians Switzerland orchestrated campaign expressly against this proposal: "We are not subsidizing the tourism industry!" They are calling on the Council of States to reject the Nantermod motion. Sonart is calling on people to take part in the campaign on social networks and to meet up with the filmmakers on Monday, March 11, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the Bundesplatz in Bern for a flyer distribution campaign.
 

Further information:

https://www.sonart.swiss/de/projekte-kampagnen/alle-0/urg-revision-12/

The Council of States has decided to postpone the debate. As the SDA writes, it wants to "await developments in the EU before deciding on the revision of copyright law". And further: "The reason for the decision is a controversial addition that the Commission had made: it wanted to charge internet platforms such as Google and Facebook for the benefit of media publishers when they publish text outlines and references to articles. The Council of States found that the proposal was not well thought out."