A music festival for Andermatt
The Swiss Chamber Music Circle association aims to turn Andermatt into a venue for cultural events with international appeal. The first series of concerts will take place over Easter.
Nine concerts will take place in the acoustically outstanding Andermatt parish church from April 2 to 12. Five are so-called prizewinners' concerts, which offer young ensembles and soloists the opportunity to perform in a sophisticated setting (Nexus Reedquintet, April 4; Belenus Quartet with Pablo Barragàn, April 5; Ensemble Batida, April 6; Trio Rafale, April 10 and Duo Cámara-Köhnken).
The Festival Strings Lucerne, together with soloist Reinhold Friedrich and presenter Sabine Dahinden, will open the festival on High Thursday. On Good Friday, the Lucerne Boys' Choir and the Collegium Musicum Lucerne will perform Johann Sebastian Bach's St. John Passion. On April 8, the horn quartet Ivo Gass & Friends will play and the final concert on April 12 will feature Brasssurround, the brass quartet of the Karlsruhe University of Music.
The date for the first concert series was deliberately set over the Easter holidays so as not to interfere with the Lucerne Festival at Easter. A sponsorship association and a patronage committee support the Swiss Chamber Music Circle, which aims to support young musicians from Swiss music academies at the start of their careers. Together with Pro Helvetia, it also brings the work of Swiss composers to the fore, whether through the premiere of commissioned compositions or through the performance of other works by Swiss composers.
The Swiss Chamber Music Circle project was launched in fall 2014. It is headed by artistic director Jörg Conrad and cultural manager Danièle Florence Perrin. The plan is to expand the festival on a modular basis throughout the year. The following cycles are planned:
Swiss Chamber Circle (April/May, starting with the Easter Festival from April 2 to 12, 2015)
Swiss Organ Circle (December, from December 2015)
Swiss Jazz Circle (January/October, planned from January 2016)
Swiss Folklore Circle (February/June, planned from June 2016)
Swiss Baroque Circle (July, planned from 2017)
Swiss Symphonic Circle (March, August, September, November, from September 2017 at the earliest)
