Work contributions from the City of St. Gallen
In 2019, the City of St.Gallen is awarding six work grants in the amount of CHF 10,000 each. Three of these will go to the musicians Atilla Bayraktar, Davide Rizzitelli and Charles Uzor.
Davide Rizzitelli and Atilla Bayraktar founded the band "Vals" in the summer of 2018 to experiment with new musical production methods. They work with old tapes instead of computer sequencers, with cassettes and tape loops instead of samplers and also incorporate visual aspects. The city is awarding a work grant in recognition of "the forward-looking and sustainable potential of this combination of nostalgic and futuristic elements".
Charles Uzor has been working on his third opera project for some time now, focusing on Leopold II, King of Belgium and owner of the private colony of Congo. According to the city, the project is "anchored in the present in its reappraisal of colonialism and the images of perpetrators and victims" and has the potential to captivate the audience through ambivalence, suspense and credible motifs.
In addition, the city will provide grants to Tine Edel (fine arts), GAFFA (Dario Forlin, Wanja Harb, Linus Lutz, Lucian Kunz) (applied arts), Priska Rita Oeler (fine arts) and Juliette Uzor (dance)
