Biel honors "Ear we are" festival
The City Council of Biel/Bienne awards the 2017 Cultural Merit Prize to the "Ear we are" festival. The 2017 City of Biel/Bienne Culture Prize goes to the poet Rolf Hermann.
Since 1999, the "Ear we are" festival has been attracting internationally renowned musicians from the fields of jazz, experimental and improvisational music to Biel, writes the municipal council. The quality of the program and the intimate atmosphere of the festival in the premises of the old Jura garage make the festival a unique event in Switzerland that radiates far beyond the region.
Curated by four musicians from Biel, the festival stands for a varied and surprising program of "concentrated, loud, edgy, enchanting, independent and urgent music of our time", according to its own description. It took place this year in February.
The 2017 Culture Prize of the City of Biel/Bienne goes to the writer, poet and literary mediator Rolf Hermann. Rolf Hermann is one of the most important representatives of the up-and-coming Swiss literary scene. He mainly writes poetry, but also prose, radio plays, theater and dialect texts. His work has received various awards, most recently the Canton of Bern Literature Prize (2015) and a grant from the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia (2015). Rolf Hermann (1973) has lived in Biel since 2005. He works as a lecturer at the Swiss Literature Institute in Biel.
