Composing for the performers next door

Two concerts in Boswil and Zurich at the beginning of September marked the start of the realignment of the Ensembles Boswil given. The ensemble, which has been in existence since 2007, is made up of around twenty students from various music academies in Switzerland. Works by the established composers Hindemith, Cage and Varèse were combined with contemporary pieces by Isabel Mundry and Philippe Kocher. Certainly not an overly spectacular concert program if there wasn't a long-term idea with potential behind it.

The starting point was to intensify cooperation with Swiss music academies: In addition to the further training of highly talented performers in contemporary music, young female composers should also be integrated into the project. Thus, an academy was launched, which was to be supported by the project What's now? was launched. "This networking of composers and young performers in the form of simultaneous masterclasses is, so to speak, the core idea of the academy," explains project manager Stefanie C. Braun.

A master class in composition was therefore also held as part of the rehearsals for the Boswil ensemble's September concert. Both events were held in collaboration with the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). The selection process was differentiated, as Braun explains: "The composers applied to us with their CV and samples of their work in response to a call for applications from the Künstlerhaus or the Academy. The work samples included the scores as well as audio and video material of the works."

The director of the master class, Isabel Mundry, Felix Baumann from the ZHdK, Michael Schneider, the managing director of the Künstlerhaus, and Stefanie Braun reviewed the work samples together and then invited six participants to Boswil based on their suitability, technique, training, experience and artistic expressiveness: In contrast to courses for instrumentalists, "who are all still university students, the Academy for New Music is aimed at composers after or in their Masters".

As part of the master class in composition, there was a lively exchange with the performers present, who rehearsed the aforementioned concert program in parallel under the direction of the accomplished, internationally renowned conductor Peter Tilling. The concerts in Boswil and Zurich were well attended.

A second rehearsal phase will then follow in January 2018, during which the new works that the six composers have created in the meantime will be rehearsed and performed. An impressive concept, the support of which is secured by a three-year contract with the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Zug/Munich. According to Stefanie Braun, negotiations are already underway with the universities of Lausanne and Basel for the next two editions of the academy.