The finalists have been chosen!
On May 28, the final of the Klang & Gloria church music competition will take place at the Zurich University of the Arts. In the afternoon, the jury will select the winners from the seven finalists for the concert in the evening.
The competition was announced at the end of 2015 by the Catholic and Reformed Churches of the Canton of Zurich together with the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Musicians from all genres, including amateurs and students, were invited to submit their entries by March 31.
In April, the jury reviewed all the submissions and made its decision: seven finalists will compete in the organ and large concert hall at Zurich University of the Arts on May 28, 2016 from 2 pm. We were looking for invigorating ideas for concerts and church services. The variety of entries promises an exciting contest.
With this competition, the Zurich churches and the ZHdK are demonstrating that the fields of choir conducting and organ open up a wide range of artistic opportunities and interesting career prospects for musicians. The ZHdK and other Swiss universities offer various attractive study programs for church music.
Diverse world of sound
The following finalists - representing both individual artists and groups of two to three musicians, some with the support of a choir - will present their contributions and compositions at the competition:
Alexander Bayer, theologian, pastoral assistant
Léo Collin, composer, performer and installation artist
Zrinka Durut, pianist and organist, and Robert Mark, percussionist.
Manuela Gagliotta, singer, songwriter and Tino Mostak, music producer, musician
Grégoire May, student BA Choral Conducting.
Michal Muggli, composer and violinist, Flurina Muggli, primary school teacher and organist, and Madeleine Merz, mezzo-soprano.
Emanuela Sennhauser-Mathis, singer, songwriter.
The works range from gentle blues to performances with video elements, spherical improvisations and choral pieces to avant-garde classical compositions. The jury will make its choice immediately after the competition, and the prizewinners' concert will take place that same evening at 8pm at the ZHdK. The jury is chaired by Beat Schäfer, the other members are Burkhard Kinzler, Eugenio Giovine, Lislot Frei, Meinrad Furrer and Fabian Müller.
The competition and prizewinners' concert are open to the public and admission is free.
In a written interview, jury president Beat Schäfer answered some questions from the Swiss Music Newspaper on the competition and church music in general:
www.musikzeitung.ch/klang-gloria
