In 2019, there were 312,000 people in the Swiss labor force who are "cultural professionals" in the broader sense. This figure corresponds to 6.3 percent of the working population in Switzerland. In an international comparison, this puts Switzerland at the top end of the table, together with countries such as Iceland, Malta, Estonia, Luxembourg and Finland. A third of cultural professionals work outside the cultural sector. At 51%, the proportion of women in the workforce in 2019 was higher than in the economy as a whole (47%). In 2019, 28% of employed cultural professionals were also self-employed, which is significantly more than in the economy as a whole (13%).

While the median gross monthly wage in the economy as a whole was CHF 6857 for men and CHF 6067 for women in 2018, male cultural workers in the cultural sector earned CHF 7356, while women earned CHF 6088. This is around 17.2 percent lower; in the economy as a whole, it is 11.5 percent less.

The synthesis statistics are based on surveys conducted by the FSO. It includes not only traditional cultural sectors such as cultural heritage or the visual arts, but also architecture and advertising, for example. The cultural industries statistics provide information on both cultural enterprises and cultural professionals.

Original article:
https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/aktuell/neue-veroeffentlichungen.assetdetail.14716508.html

The instrument was presented in various event formats over the two three days of the first organ festival at the Casino. On the occasion of the new buildings in Basel's Musiksaal and Zurich's Tonhalle, much thought was given to the requirements of a concert hall organ: dynamic flexibility and a room-filling overall effect are required here. The need for a differentiated palette of stops in the normal register (eight-foot register) and a seamless structure from the quietest individual stop to the combination of almost all stops led to borrowings from English, French and German organ building of the late 19th century. With a cool-sounding neoclassical organ, as was previously present in the Casino, or with a row of heterogeneous solo effects, as was recently removed from the Tonhalle, the literature composed for the concert hall and the diverse accompanying tasks can hardly be met.

The organ, built by Orgelbau Metzler in collaboration with the Basel-based company Klahre, was presented for the first time on 4 September with a stringent program sequence: The still rather conventional sound mixtures in the program by Iveta Apkalna (Hamburg) - works by Widor, Bach and Kalniņš (the latter pathetic High Romanticism from the organist's Latvian homeland) - were followed by a selection of unusual effects in subtle improvisations by Vincent Dubois (Paris) and the rich, opulent euphony of an English hall organ in the contributions by Thomas Trotter (London, Birmingham). One of the innovative features of the Basel instrument is the so-called wind-dynamic work, which allows flexible access to the response, intensity and sound of some stops.

September 5 was organized as an organ day with contributions from Basel organists. A large number of arrangements (mainly of orchestral works from the 18th and 19th centuries) could be heard, as well as improvisations and new music. As with many church music events in recent times, an attempt was made to largely hide the traditional Sunday church face of the organ - this led to the new instrument sounding most like "church" in the contribution with music by Jewish composers of all things.

The third day of the festival began with a varied family afternoon: an organ fairy tale was followed by a presentation for children, in which brave participants were allowed to play the keys themselves, and the prizewinners' concert of the "Organ Compositions for Children" competition, which was organized by the "Children to the Organ" association and the Basel Music Academy. The varied series of new pieces was masterfully presented by youngsters aged 8 to 15.
The concert of the Basel Symphony Orchestra in the evening began without an orchestra: Martin Sander (Basel, Detmold) played an arrangement of the overture to the Flying Dutchman; his virtuoso act in front of the still empty chairs of the podium aroused admiration, but also led to the ironic observation that a truly "Corona-suitable" version of the orchestral work had been found here. This was followed by the world premiere of the palatable Concerto da Requiem by Guillaume Connesson, in which the sounds of the organ are cleverly interwoven with those of the orchestra, and finally the popular Organ symphony by Camille Saint-Saëns. Ivor Bolton conducted the committed and sophisticated orchestra. In a welcoming address, orchestra director Franziskus Theurillat assured the audience that the future use of the organ was also a concern of the orchestra. This made people sit up and take notice of the situation in some other cities, where valuable concert hall organs are available but rarely heard. Honors were integrated into the concerts on the first and third days of the festival: A prize from the European Cultural Foundation Pro Europa went to Jacqueline Albrecht (for her magnificent efforts in raising the sum needed to build the organ) and to the architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. However, the sequence of the introduction, laudation, award presentation and speech by the newly honored led to unexpected lengths.
 

After twelve days of waiting, the festival continued with three more musical events: On September 18, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Pierre Bleuse, performed music from France with a joyful and loving sound. For the organ concerto by Francis Poulenc, soloist Olivier Latry found a superior sound direction free of all routine, which avoided unnecessary sharpness and showed the colorful organ from its best side. The concert evening Organ meets tango, jazz and Balkan music brought together three ensembles, which are at home in the aforementioned styles using the organ, and three dance formations. The performances were met with great enthusiasm and also confirmed the versatility of the organ. The final concert was to bring together over 200 singers from seven choirs. For reasons best known to all, singing in this large formation had to be postponed until 2021. The evening was now organized by the Basler Madrigalisten under the direction of Raphael Immoos together with the organists Babette Mondry and Iveta Apkalna. This also allowed for a program rich in contrasts - from Louis Vierne's Carillon de Westminster and the affirmative Hymn for solo organ from Peteris Vasks to the witty Cantata Rejoice in the Lamb by Benjamin Britten, in which, to the surprise of the audience, a selection of members of the other scheduled choirs could also be heard briefly.

Basel now has an organ that can meet the specific requirements of a concert hall in a colorful and inspiring way. However, this organ requires thoughtful use. The unquestioning adoption of inherited "recipes" for the selection of stops can lead to unfavorable sharpness. The Tuba stop on high wind pressure imported from England is an impressive special sound effect for coronations or papal visits - occasions that are rare in the Casino. Its use for any FCB championship celebrations could be considered. However, it should be clear that this solo register should not be mixed into the organ's tutti. And even when using the neo-baroque mixture of the organ's Hauptwerk, great caution is recommended - as with thousands of other organs in the country.
 

In view of the ban on accommodation and the drastically worsening corona infection figures, those responsible were forced to take this step. Visitors can have the tickets they have purchased refunded.

The Donaueschingen Music Days were to take place from October 15 to 18. The program included 29 works, 25 of which were world premieres. The Donaueschingen Music Days are organized by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Donaueschingen in cooperation with the city of Donaueschingen and Südwestrundfunk (SWR).

SWR2 will broadcast a rehearsal recording of the opening concert on Friday, October 16 at 8 pm. The SWR Symphonieorchester, conducted by Titus Engel, will play six orchestral miniatures by Klaus Lang, Mica Levi, Cathy Milliken, Lula Romero, Oliver Schneller and Michael Wertmüller - all compositions for small orchestra that were written under special hygiene conditions in view of the festival.

Cla Mathieu completed the doctoral program Studies in the Arts with his dissertation "Reimagining the Guitar: The Performance Style of Miguel Llobet, 1878-1938". The former HKB student was awarded the prize for the best degree, which is endowed with CHF 10,000. The dissertation was supervised by Cristina Urchueguía (University of Bern) and Kai Köpp (HKB). Mathieu previously completed a Master's degree in Music Performance with Elena Casoli at the HKB.

The starting point of the dissertation is the microphone recordings made in the 1920s by Llobet, who, as the leading exponent of his instrument as a soloist and teacher (including as a teacher of Andrés Segovia), exerted a decisive influence on the development of the instrument in the 20th century. Conceptually, the study is based on the concept of "expressivity" - a central term of late Romantic musical thought - and examines its concrete implications for Llobet's instrumental practice and his environment.

There is eye music, and there are spectacle basses. Beethoven has little to do with either musical phenomenon (the Renaissance and the pre-classical period), and yet there is a composition "with two obbligato eyeglasses" in the catalog of his works. Of course, the eyes and spectacles are not intended here as a counterpoint to the viola and cello, but the epithet jokingly refers to the two musicians for whom Beethoven wrote the duet. Incidentally, the visual aids will not have been lorgnettes that were held on a stem in front of the eyes while reading (glasses on the left, book on the right). Rather, more elaborate temple or temple-frame spectacles, or even a simple "nose squeezer" if necessary, were required in order to be able to play freely (in which case, as always: viola left, bow right - and in this case anyway: glasses on the nose).

Of course, it is not known for whom Beethoven wrote his duet. It has been suggested time and again that it could even be for himself (viola) and his friend Nikolaus Zmeskall (1759-1833, civil servant and composer). Although this is suggested by a letter dating from the time around the work (from the early years in Vienna), it cannot be verified with certainty. What remains is the statement "dearest Baron Dreckfahrer je vous suis bien obligé pour votre faiblesse de vos yeux" (I am very much obliged to you because of the weakness of your eyes) too general.

Furthermore, the question arises as to whether the composition was "finished". Only a long, complete first movement and a minuetto have survived in the so-called "Kafka sketchbook", a completely disorganized bundle; only 23 bars of a (second?) slow movement exist. But even where Beethoven wrote down the complete musical text, large parts of the articulation and dynamics are missing. Perhaps there was once a fair copy that has been lost over the decades or has been slumbering in a family vault for generations. But in that case, it's now time to Take an eyeglass and magnifying glass and take a close look.

Manuscript Sheet 135 recto / Sheet 137 verso / Sheet 119 recto
 

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Link to the project homepage "52 x Beethoven"

The 2020 annual prizes go to:

• the Institute for Computermusic and Sound Technology, Zurich, for the double CD Les Espaces Électroacoustiques II (col legno/Naxos)
• Bob Dylan for the double album Rough And Rowdy Ways (Columbia Records/Sony)
• the mezzo-soprano Olivia Vermeulen and the pianist Jan Philip Schulze for the Lied recital Dirty Minds (Challenge Classics/Bertus)
• the actor Rufus Beck and the German Bible Society, Stuttgart, for the unabridged reading of the Bible in the Luther translation (Der Audio Verlag)
• The Düsseldorf Düsterboys for their debut album Call me music (Staatsakt/Bertus)
• the conductor Markus Poschner and all participants in the complete recording of Jacques Offenbach's opera Maître Péronilla (Bru Zane/Note 1)
• the country rock band The Jayhawks for their eleventh album XOXO (Sham Records/Membrane)
• the filmmaker Alan Elliott for the editing and release of Pollack's concert film Aretha Franklin - Amazing Grace (Sony)
• the pianist Dina Ugorskaja, posthumously, for her recording of late piano works by Franz Schubert (CAvi Music/harmonia mundi)
• jazz pianist and composer Carla Bley and her trio colleagues for the album Life Goes On (ECM/Universal)

The jury statements can be found at:
https://www.schallplattenkritik.de/jahrespreise

At the beginning of 2020, three letters from the Mozart family found their way to Salzburg. Due to the coronavirus, only one of these documents, a letter from Mozart to Constanze from 1789, could be presented online on Good Friday. The second document, a letter from the first trip to Italy from Bologna dated July 28, 1770, is a detailed letter from Leopold Mozart to his wife Anna Maria, who remained in Salzburg, with a short postscript from Wolfgang in Italian to his sister Nannerl.

According to the Mozarteum, however, the composer's last surviving letter to his father, who died in Salzburg a few weeks later on May 28, 1787, is of outstanding importance. Although the text of the letter had been known for a long time, the original was inaccessible for more than 90 years and there were not even any recordings of it. It is now clear for the first time that Mozart added Masonic symbols to his letter

Original article:
https://mozarteum.at/presse/?newsId=9090780

In the Jury statement it says: The seven works (by Luigi Nono, Luciano Berio, Gottfried Michael Koenig and Karlheinz Stockhausen) all shine in new splendor in this recording. Les Espaces Électroacoustiques II is with col legno has been published. The members of the research team and participating institutions are listed in the Message from the ZHdK mentioned.

According to the organizers, the jury was impressed by Tanin's "youthful virtuoso drive and surprising creative power". The third prize went to 22-year-old Ziyu Liu, who comes from China. In the Max Littmann Hall of the Kissinger Regentenbau, those visitors who had booked all the concerts also voted for Sergey Tanin as the winner of the Audience Award.

On October 4, 2020, Swiss Television (SRF) broadcast the documentary "Sergey Tanin - The pianist who came in from the cold from". The final concert of the KlavierOlymp was recorded by Bayerischer Rundfunk and will be broadcast on 17.10. at 15:05 in the program On stage on BR-Klassik.
 

Rosamund Ender studies cello with Roel Dieltiens, Corsin Hobi percussion with Tony Renold and Cédric Peyer trumpet with Laurent Tinguely. Rosamund lives and works as a cellist and writer in Zurich. As a teacher and freelancer, she is active in various musical formations in and around Zurich. Corsin Hobi is a jazz musician and plays the drums as well as the piano and guitar. He teaches jazz and modern drumming in Zurich.

The Werner and Berti Alter Foundation, founded in Zurich in 1980, awards a prize for the best pedagogy degree in the Master of Arts in Music Pedagogy Classical and Jazz/Pop course at the Department of Music at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). The aim is to "honor the profession of vocal and instrumental music pedagogy".

In it, the VdM calls on the federal and state governments to support music schools as public educational institutions in a further digital pact by providing appropriate investment funding for digital infrastructure in the same way as general education schools in the previous digital pact.

In panel discussions, lectures and working groups, more than 200 participants discussed the digitalization of music schools with regard to education management and transformation processes together with representatives of the municipal umbrella associations.

Topics included successful and legally compliant digitalization options in the field of communication and in the teaching context, the further establishment and securing of cooperation opportunities with daycare centres and general education schools, as well as inclusive work with people with disabilities, especially in times of Corona.

More info:
https://www.musikschulen.de/aktuelles/news/index.html?newsid=2895

The Dienemann Foundation was able to hold the competition at the beginning of July. The jury awarded a total of ten prizes, including two small recognition prizes.

With the first main prize of 10,000 francs, she awarded Chelsea Zurflüh, Pieterlen, from.
Maximilian Vogler, Zurich, Camila Meneses, Basel, and Maja Bader, Lucerne, each received a second main prize of 8,000 francs.
Four awards of CHF 5,000 each were presented to Raphaela Felder, Basel, Maria Korovatskaya, Zurich, Julia Siegwart, Suhr, and Selina Maria Batliner, Bolligen.

The details for the 2021 competition will be finalized in November.
 

Theaters, philharmonic halls, concert halls and opera houses have been built or rebuilt since well before the end of the 20th century. When the old Josefstädter Theater in Vienna became too small at the beginning of the 19th century, it was even demolished and replaced by a new building, which still exists today and has since been extended, in 1822. For the inauguration ceremony on October 3, 1822, Carl Meisl (1773-1853) created a play described in the title of the later print as an "occasional piece", to which Beethoven added individual numbers from his music to The ruins of Athens op. 113 (1811) and added a new overture at the request of the theater director Karl Friedrich Hensler (1759-1825). He also conducted the first performance - whether he actually conducted it remains to be seen, according to a report in the Leipzig General Musical Newspaper remained open, however: "The master conducted himself; however, since one cannot trust his unfortunately still weakened hearing tools, Mr. Kapellmeister was at his back Franz Joseph Glasses 1798-1861 to actually translate the author's will to the likewise newly organized orchestra, which double, not infrequently quite different, tactics actually turned out to be quite peculiar. Nevertheless, everything went off quite happily."

The overture was also performed at the opening of the Königstädter Theater in Berlin on August 4, 1824; Carl Wilhelm Henning had acquired a copy from Beethoven during a visit to Vienna. The composition, which audibly engages with Handel musically, still seems to have been made for such occasions. However, there must have been a misunderstanding: While Beethoven assumed it would be performed, Henning believed he had acquired the work in its entirety - and published a piano reduction for four hands at the end of 1824. Beethoven reacted angrily and vented his displeasure on a copy, describing it as "mutilated". When the request to stop the sale of this edition was not complied with in Berlin, Beethoven and his original publisher went on the offensive with a correction entitled "Warning", which was published several times: "I consider it my duty to warn the musical public of a completely misguided. I consider it my duty to warn the musical public against a completely erroneous piano version of my last overture for 4 hands, which deviates from the original score and was published by Trautwein in Berlin under the title: Festouverture by L. v. B., all the more so since the piano versions for 2 and 4 hands, written by Mr. Carl Czerny and completely faithful to the score, will soon be published in the only legitimate edition by B. Schotts Söhne, Grossherzogl. Hofmusikhandlung in Mainz." - A process that is still remarkable today, which also points to the extraordinary quality of the composition. With so much public, promotional controversy, the publishers obviously expected to make a handsome profit from the sale.
 

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The aim of the founders of the foundation, Henri Thiébaud (1906-2001) and Margrith Thiébaud-Frey (1909-2004), was to preserve their villa in Bellmund, known as La Prairie, with its large grounds and view of Lake Biel, as a "cultural center for all the future" with their fortune earned in the watch industry. Until 2004, young up-and-coming artists were invited to give occasional concerts in the villa's salon with a close circle of friends. Once many legal issues had been clarified, the foundation's mission could be implemented from 2007. Samuel Dähler introduced concert series with mostly up-and-coming artists ("Jeunesse") but also with renowned artists ("Excellence"). The villa, which dates back to the 1950s, was renovated and extended with a 100-seat chamber music concert hall. Jürgen Reinhold from BBM Munich was called in to deal with acoustic issues. The new concert hall at the La Prairie cultural center was opened with a concert by the Oliver Schnyder Trio on 2 April 2016.

Photo: Guy Perrenoud/Foundation Thiébaud-Frey

The concert hall was opened in 2016.

Flurin Tschurr, a member of the Foundation Board from 2008 to 2019, established cooperation with regional music schools and the foundation has been awarding prizes as part of the Swiss Youth Music Competition since 2005. Gunhard Mattes has been in charge of the foundation's activities since 2017. The focus remains on organizing the foundation's own concerts, and the "Lauréats" series has been added.

The first concert of the 2020/21 season celebrated the 25th anniversary of the foundation with a performance by the Oliver Schnyder Quintet. Until the end of June 2021 Around 20 concerts on the program. They usually begin in the early evening and end with a snack where the audience and performers can get to know each other. To mark the anniversary, Elisabeth Aellen, Managing Director, and Gabrielle Wanzenried, member of the Board of Trustees, have published a commemorative publication that documents the background, history and current situation of the foundation with a wealth of illustrations.
 

A maximum amount of CHF 2,300 per month for the period from February 28 to August 31, 2020, i.e. a total of CHF 13,800 per person, can therefore be paid out to cultural professionals and service providers who have submitted an application by October 31, 2020. This aid is aimed at people who were unable to receive support from either Suisseculture Sociale or the canton, or whose support already received is less than CHF 13,800. In the latter case, they receive the amount minus the support already received. This subsidiary assistance is paid out without any consideration from the canton.

Cultural professionals or service providers working in the cultural sector who have already submitted an application do not need to submit a new application, as this will be automatically checked and any remaining amount will be paid out. New applications can also be submitted. All necessary information and documents can be found on the website of the Culture Department at www.vs.ch/de/web/culture/pauschalbeihilfe-kulturschaffende.

The Federal COVID Ordinance on Culture expired on September 20, 2020. The canton of Valais received 229 applications for compensation (94 applications from artists and 135 applications from cultural institutions). Of the CHF 17 million jointly provided by the canton and the federal government, almost CHF 4 million has already been allocated; the applications that are currently being processed (around 40%) will be finalized in the coming weeks.

Singing and music societies were also eligible for compensation amounting to 80% of the salary (excluding social security contributions) for the loss of work of their director or organist for the period from March 16 to June 30, 2020. The canton of Valais received 210 applications from 187 choral or music societies (81 applications from choral societies and 106 applications from music societies). Of the 187 associations, 51 are German-speaking. This arrangement is financed exclusively by the canton from the extraordinary funds made available as part of the support for COVID-19.

When the federal COVID-19 Act comes into force on September 26, the current emergency measures for cultural workers (Suisseculture Sociale) and support for cultural associations in the non-professional sector will be extended. A new program to support transformation projects will be created. This will promote the revitalization of the cultural sector by supporting sustainable projects.