New folk music. Ensemble Zeitkratzer. Zeitkratzer Productions. Zkr 0014, distribution Broken Silence

The ESP is awarded in the two categories of musical work in class lessons and musical work in study groups, each of which is divided into three subcategories: Grade 1 - 5, Grade 6 - 12 and Special School.

In total, the ESP is endowed with prize money of 21,000 euros, and an individual school can be awarded up to 4000 euros. In the first two years in which the ESP was awarded, twelve schools were honored.

The European School Music Prize ESP was established in 2010 by the SOMM - Society Of Music Merchants e. V. association. It has been awarded annually ever since. The declared aim of the competition is to strengthen music teaching in schools with its many positive aspects for children and young people.

More info: www.europaeischerschulmusik-preis.eu

Picture: knipseline - pixelio.de

The Government Council awards the Culture Prize to individuals or groups who have made outstanding artistic achievements or promoted culture through their mediation activities. This year's prize, worth CHF 50,000, goes to 67-year-old designer Hans Knuchel.

Young artists with great development potential can win the Canton of Zurich's sponsorship prize, which is endowed with 40,000 francs. Next year, it will go to the musicians Yuka Tsuboi, Sarah Kilchenmann, David Schneebeli and Julien Kilchenmann.

The four have been performing as a classical string quartet under the name "Galatea Quartet" since 2005, regularly crossing genre boundaries. They have already performed with John Lord from Deep Purple, Tina Turner or in the musical theater "The Dark Side of the Moon" based on Pink Floyd by Daniel Fueter. Contemporary works are also part of their repertoire.

The cantonal government has awarded the Golden Medal of Honor to singer and musician Fritz Näf for his great services to professional choral music in Switzerland. The 69-year-old Näf studied singing at various Swiss music academies and trained as a choir and orchestra conductor.

He himself took part in numerous vocal projects. In 1978, he founded the professional vocal ensemble "Basler Madrigalisten" and in 1997, together with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the "Schweizer Kammerchor". From 1986 to 2000, Näf was director of the Winterthur Music Academy and Conservatory.

In 2035, more than a quarter of the population will be over 65. Young older people are healthier and more energetic than ever and a large proportion are interested in active and, above all, meaningful leisure activities. More and more older people want to learn something new, refresh or develop what they have learned in the past. They have time and money, and many have above-average assets. The widespread opinion that older people can no longer learn anything new has long been refuted. The growing 65+ population segment therefore represents the boom market of the future and is also an interesting target audience for music lessons. Music schools are experiencing an increase in the number of requests.

Music education is worthy of higher education
In the mid-1990s, the first two chairs of music education were established in Germany at the University of Vechta and Münster University of Applied Sciences. Music geragogy deals with music-related mediation and appropriation processes as well as musical education in old age. There are special didactic and methodological requirements for older people that differ from music education for children and young people. Marc Brand, lecturer in pedagogy, research and development assistant at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and organizer of the conference, considers geragogical knowledge to be essential for teachers of older people: "The teacher must like older people, be interested in them, recognize the possibilities and limitations of older pupils and have a somewhat broader cultural horizon". Young teachers should not be afraid to teach older people: "As long as they are authentic, they have no problems." They can also gain a lot from teaching children and young people.

Participation at any age
Concepts such as "active ageing" and "live-long-learning" have also reached music lessons. Hans Hermann Wickel, Professor of Music Education at Münster University of Applied Sciences, emphasized that "the opportunity to actively participate in music culture" must be just as open to older people as it is to young people. In his workshop, Theo Hartogh, Professor of Music Education at the University of Vechta, addressed the neurobiological, developmental-psychological and educational-theoretical background to music lessons for older people. In her presentation, Reinhild Spiekermann, professor at the University of Detmold, outlined in detail the age-related changes in resources: "Teachers should know which aspects of seeing and hearing relevant to teaching are changing. Changes in motor skills and cognition also play an important role." Urban Diener, Head of the Stans Music School, has many years of experience in teaching older people. Since 1989/90, adults have been able to receive musical training at his school. At the beginning, the "elderly" made up 1.9 percent of the student body. Today they make up almost 10 percent. However, teaching adults places special demands on the teacher: they must be able to "respond to the often special needs of older adults, give good advice, enable a gradual approach and make flexible offers". Older people are demanding and usually know exactly what they want. Urban Diener identifies the following main reasons: they want to "fulfill a long-cherished wish, make the newly gained freedom meaningful, do something for themselves personally and maintain their mental fitness". Adults don't like to be pushed or reprimanded. They usually no longer have any ambitions and learn out of pure joy, which they do not want to have spoiled by the teacher.

Study at the HSLU
The elderly are a "market" with great potential for music schools. Some music schools have offers for adults, but often neither a concept nor targeted advertising for this customer segment. According to Marc Brand, there is still a lot to do here. There is plenty of basic research on the subject of music education, but there is still a lack of research into the biographies of older people with regard to music lessons. Marc Brand is supervising a study at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts that is based on interviews with senior music school students and their teachers. The aim is to raise awareness of music lessons for older people and provide music schools and teachers with material on the subject. In spring 2013, a seminar on the topic will be held by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts as part of the cantonal continuing education program.

Documents for the conference: www.hslu.ch/musik-alter

Photo: Music lessons fulfill a long-cherished wish for older people. © Marcel Bucher

Musik Theater Bern closed its first financial year 2011/12 with a positive result of CHF 402,547. This was due to cost savings, higher ticket income than expected and special effects from the merger project, the institution writes in its press release. In general, the number of visitors increased slightly compared to the previous season.

The most significant increase in audience numbers was recorded by the drama department: In his last season in Bern, drama director Erich Sidler and the ensemble presented 241 performances, 38 more than in the previous season. The number of visitors rose from 40,572 to 46,353.

By contrast, the number of visitors to the music theater fell by around 7,000 to 33,851 in 2011/12, partly due to the fact that one fewer new production was presented than in the previous year.

In music theater, the most successful productions were Richard Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman" (70% capacity), Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" (65% capacity) and the revival of Handel's "Semele" (72% capacity). The number of concertgoers of the Bern Symphony Orchestra rose from 28,874 to 30,316.

The dance division under the direction of Cathy Marston was able to attract new audiences, in particular through an increased presence in the Grosses Haus and participation in the Swiss-wide STEPS dance festival: The total number of spectators rose from 9946 to 10,697.

The French-language performances of the "Nouvelle Scène" were attended by a total of 3,453 spectators, around ten percent more than in the previous year (3,124). There were 1128 visitors to guest performances - including a performance by the "Kummerbuben".

The Prix Credit Suisse Jeunes Solistes 2013, awarded for the seventh time, goes to the Spanish clarinettist Pablo Barragán, a student at the Basel Academy of Music, and the German recorder player Laura Schmid, a student at the Bern University of the Arts.

The two young artists decided the final in their favor in Lucerne. It is a first for the Prix Credit Suisse Jeunes Solistes to be awarded to two musicians. As part of their prize, they will have the opportunity to perform on August 22, 2013 as part of the Debut series at the Lucerne Festival this summer.

In addition to the winners, the Portuguese violinist Afonso Fesch (MAB Musikhochschulen FHNW), the Russian pianist Igor Andreev (HKB) and the Latvian cellist Maxim Beitan (CSI-SUM) were finalists.

The Prix Credit Suisse Jeunes Solistes, which has been awarded since 2001, is a joint initiative of the Lucerne Festival, the Konferenz Musikhochschulen Schweiz (KMHS) and the Credit Suisse Foundation.

Children and young adults are given the opportunity to present their musical skills to each other and to a competent jury. The competition takes place in three rounds and is aimed exclusively at bands.

Young people of all nationalities with permanent residence in Switzerland or the Principality of Liechtenstein and young people with Swiss or Liechtenstein nationality who live abroad are eligible.

The SJMW has been a national music competition for young people for over 35 years.

More info: www.mx3.ch/stage/sjmw_jrp

The Department of Music is currently spread across four locations in the city of Lucerne. Space is at a premium. The new school building will cost around 78 million francs. The new building is being financed on the basis of a private investor model. The school is scheduled to move in in summer 2017.

The approval of the building project coincides with the introduction of the new legal basis of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. According to this, the Department of Music, like all other departments of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, will be supported by the six Central Swiss cantons of Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Zug from January 1, 2013.

The Lucerne University of Music Foundation, the previous sponsor of the Department of Music and in this function responsible for the infrastructure, will be transferred to a funding foundation. Under the new legal basis, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and the Canton of Lucerne, as the canton in which it is located, will have joint responsibility for infrastructure planning.

The aim of the festival is to promote Swiss pop and club music with a focus on promising young talent. m4music is conceived by Migros Culture Percentage and is realized in collaboration with the clubs Moods and Exil, media partners and sponsors. In 2012, more than 6600 music lovers, including 700 industry professionals, attended the festival.

With Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (UK), Delphic (UK), Beardyman (UK), FM Belfast (IS), Stay+ (UK), Schlachthofbronx (DE) and Steff La Cheffe (CH), various top acts have been confirmed. Further acts, the music program for the opening in Lausanne and the conference program will be communicated at the beginning of February 2013.

More info: www.m4music.ch

Falk was deputy cultural representative of the canton of Basel-Landschaft for six years in the region of his future work. He has also worked as a dramaturge at Burghof Lörrach and the Stimmen-Festival, as well as artistic director of operations at the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele (Baden-Württemberg).

Falk succeeds Hans-Georg Hofmann at the Basel Chamber Orchestra, who has been appointed responsible for dramaturgy, artistic planning and communication by the Basel Symphony Orchestra.

According to a report in the "Klein Report", the new association wants to ensure that music composed for the media in Switzerland is better protected. It also wants to ensure that the working conditions of authors of media music are standardized and improved.

The smeca office is located in Lausanne at Avenue de la Gare 20 and is managed by a thirteen-member board. The first point of contact will be the collecting societies and producers' associations.

According to a press release from the German Orchestra Association (DOV), the state was responding to pressure from representatives of teaching staff at conservatoires in NRW, the Federal Conference of Teaching Staff at Conservatoires (bklm) and the German Orchestra Association (DOV), both of which are campaigning for an overdue increase in teaching staff salaries, which in some places have not been adjusted for 20 years. 

The DOV is calling on the other federal states to follow this positive example and "finally give up their refusal to adequately remunerate freelance teachers at conservatoires". According to Andreas Bausdorf, Deputy Managing Director of the DOV, demands remain for the 2.7 percent for 2013 that has so far only been verbally promised, as well as for the annual adjustment of fees in line with the development of public sector pay scales.

The call for applications is open to Swiss citizens and persons resident in Switzerland or applicants with proven links to Swiss cultural or scientific institutions. The age limit is forty years at the end of the application period.

The duration of the residency is usually between three and ten months (between September and July). Each member is awarded a grant of CHF 10,000 for their participation in Atelier Studio Roma. They also receive board and lodging and a workplace. Active participation in the Atelier Studio Roma is an integral part of the residency conditions. Applications can be submitted by February 28, 2013 at the latest.

The members themselves must apply for funding to cover their living expenses: artists apply to cantons, municipalities or foundations, researchers to the Swiss National Science Foundation or to foundations. 

More info: www.istitutosvizzero.it

Lisa Della Casa was born on February 2, 1919 in Burgdorf (Switzerland). She received her training with Margarethe Haeser in Zurich. In 1941, she made her debut as Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) at the Städtebundtheater Biel-Solothurn. After appearances mainly as an actress and concert soprano, she sang Mimì (La Bohème) at the Stadttheater Zürich in 1943 and began her international career in 1947 as Zdenka (Arabella) at the Salzburg Festival.

In 1947 she became a member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble. Her most frequently sung roles at the Vienna State Opera include Contessa d'Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Feldmarschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) and the title roles in Ariadne auf Naxos and Arabella.

The soprano made regular guest appearances at the Salzburg Festival, London's Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Bavarian State Opera, La Scala in Milan and the New York Met. Lisa Della Casa was awarded the title of Austrian Kammersängerin on October 7, 1952, and the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art I Class on November 26, 1969. In 1987, she was made an honorary member of the Vienna State Opera.

Johann Wilhelm Hertel, born in Eisenach in 1727, died in 1789, was court and chapel composer in Schwerin from 1754, where Duke Christian Ludwig I maintained a chapel based on the Berlin model. Hertel left behind an extensive oeuvre of more than 40 symphonies, chamber music, oratorios, passions, mass and psalm settings as well as cantatas. He also composed secular odes, singspiels and festive cantatas. He was particularly interested in solo concertos: there are works for harpsichord, organ, harp, flute, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, violin and violoncello.

Edition Walhall has now published the three-movement Concerto for Violoncello and Strings in A major, completed in 1755, in a meticulous edition in the series Il violoncello concertato - Cello concertos of the 18th century published for the first time. The detailed preface by the editor Markus Möllenbeck offers an insight into the life and work of the composer. The concerto is a rich testimony to the sensitive style of early or pre-classical German music, but is somewhat less extensive than the concertos by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach or Anton Fils. The rewarding cello part is not overly virtuosic. It reaches up to the 6th position (highest note b') and can also be mastered by advanced students and amateurs. While the outer movements are rather conventional, the middle movement in F major surprises with its expressiveness and imaginative development of the solo part.

Johann Wilhelm Hertel, Concerto in A major for violoncello solo, 2 violins, viola and b.c., edited by Markus Möllenbeck, first edition; score, EW 851, € 16.50; parts, EW 852, 38.50; piano reduction by Ulrich Lüdering, EW 853, 14.50; Edition Walhall, Magdeburg 2012