According to the German Music Council, the state music councils and other music organizations responded with great commitment to support the music scene affected by the flood damage.

For example, the Rhineland-Palatinate State Music Council called for a state-wide collection campaign for music-making flood victims with "Music helps music", the North Rhine-Westphalia State Music Council solicited donations and the Saxon Music Council passed on the proceeds of a benefit concert to musical initiatives and associations affected by the flood disaster in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. The German Music Council supports these initiatives.

More information and an appeal for donations:
https://www.musikrat.de/aktuelles/detailseite/solidaritaet-mit-dem-musikleben-in-den-flutgebieten

According to its official communication, the British government has discussed with each EU member state the difficulties for representatives of the creative and cultural industries associated with planned trips to the mainland after Brexit. 19 member states have given assurances that British musicians and performers will not need visas or work permits for short-term tours.

The countries are: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The UK is also in talks with Spain, Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Malta and Cyprus.

Original message (in English):
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/visa-free-short-term-touring-allowed-in-19-member-states

Based on a temporary agreement on the mobility of service providers, British nationals can work in Switzerland without a visa for a maximum of 90 days per calendar year.

According to the press release, the manufacturers (or their sales companies) are Yamaha Music Europe GmbH, Rellingen, Roland Germany GmbH, Rüsselsheim and Fender Musical Instruments GmbH, Düsseldorf. The dealers are Thomann GmbH, Burgebrach and Music store professional GmbH, Cologne. The proceedings were initiated following information from the market with a search in April 2018.

There was an agreement between manufacturers and dealers to implement the manufacturers' minimum price specifications. If the minimum retail prices were not met, the responsible employees of Yamaha, Roland and Fender contacted Thomann and Music Store on several occasions and asked these dealers to adjust their retail prices, which was done in many cases. Yamaha and Roland also used price tracking software in some cases to monitor retail prices.

Original article:
https://www.bundeskartellamt.de/SharedDocs/Meldung/DE/Pressemitteilungen/2021/05_08_2021_Musikinstrumente.html?nn=3591568

Under the patronage of the ISCM (International Society for Comtemporary Music), which will be celebrating its 100th anniversary next year, the Swiss section, together with three other sections, has launched an international composition competition for contemporary choral music in order to provide new impetus for the choral scene, which has suffered greatly in times of coronavirus.

The Swiss ISCM section (Swiss Society for New Music SGNM) covers the category of equal voices (women's and men's choir). The deadline for submissions was the end of June; the response was exceptionally high: a total of 108 compositions by 78 composers from all over the world were received. The decision - in addition to David Rossel and Javier Hagen from the SGNM, Jan Schumacher, Vice President of the International Federation for Choral Music IFCM, is also on the jury - is expected in September. The prize-winning works of the SGNM will be premiered by the Männerstimmen Basel under the direction of Eric Whitacre at the Stadtcasino in Basel and by the Zurich Youth Choir under the direction of Marco Amherd in Andelfingen.

As announced, the competition will be continued in three further categories: Children's Choirs and Mixed Choirs separated into amateur and professional. While the calls for entries for the Basque and Estonian sections will be launched later in the year, the Latvian section's call for entries has just gone online: Works for children's choirs can be submitted until January 10, 2022. The winning works will then be premiered and recorded by the Riga Cathedral Girls' Choir Tiara, one of the best girls' choirs in Europe, under the direction of Aira Birziņa in the studios of Latvian Radio.

The competition rules can be found under the following link:
http://iscm-switzerland.ch/PDF/ISCM_Latvia_Choir_Competition_2021.pdf

Musical development projects are particularly important in Aargau, as there is no music academy in the Mittelland. The Künstlerhaus Boswil plays an important role here with its two youth orchestras and diverse course offerings, while the Argovia Philharmonic Orchestra provides valuable services in collaboration with schools.

A high-profile and committed initiative has recently been launched in Seon: the organizers of the Seetal Classics concert series, which was launched in 2020/21, have now also held their first musical summer academy for young people. The reformed parish of Seon makes it all possible: concerts and the academy take place in the acoustically outstanding church, where the pastor Martin Fiedler, who passed away a few years ago, once regularly organized solo evenings.

The Seetal Classics association can now build on this ecclesiastical classical tradition. Artistic Director Benjamin Nyffenegger, who comes from Aargau and is principal cellist in the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, is himself a committed chamber musician. The board is chaired by Andres Joho, a busy musician and organist in Seon. The launch of the new concert series coincided with the inauguration of the music-loving pastor Jürgen Will; the close collaboration between church and concert organizer thus continues.

From July 18 to 25, 32 music-loving children and young people aged between 7 and 20 from the region, but also from Zurich and further afield, came together to make music, compose, paint, learn music theory and even music history in a fun way. "I've already helped organize several youth music camps," says instructor Kateryna Timokhina, who runs the Swiss Violin Studio in Winterthur. "But I've never experienced such a varied program: with quizzes on music history, individual lessons, duo and ensemble playing. The children compose themselves and draw to music that they listen to together. And despite this dense program, everyone is focused, they simply enjoy it."

Unlike other music camps, Seon is a day camp, the accommodation is private, the children from the region go home, others from further afield have been given accommodation in the village. The academy was opened with a concert by the teachers: the two violinists Fränzi Frick and Kateryna Timokhina, the violist Anna Brugger, the cellist Daniel Schärer and the composer Stephanie Haensler.

A rehearsal visit on Friday confirms the concentrated work in the children's orchestra. The lush sound of Carl Maria von Weber's Hunters' choir unfolds in the church, the ensemble has been rehearsing the piece all week. Fränzi Frick leads the small group of string players on her violin, and does so with dedicated physical commitment: "Play this part as if you were saying 'Nei! Nooo! Nei!' - all together: Nei!-Nei!-Nei! - Yes, just like that!" Then she turns to the boy on the children's double bass: "You're the tractor, you have to pull the orchestra."

Two seven-year-olds, a girl and a boy, sit at the back desks. The way they play along and always know where to start again is quite remarkable. At eleven o'clock it's the turn of the older ensemble, they swing into the Valse Tzigane by Filippo Marchetti. "We're all sitting there tall and proud," Fränz Frick calls out to the group, the young people's posture noticeably tense. "Can you see that? All the spreads are too slow, let's try again."

Composing is the order of the day in an adjoining room; Stephanie Haensler is leading the group. It's Friday and the last class of the week. The young people present the pieces they have written in pairs or threes. It's the turn of two boys, with cello and violin: "Our piece is called In the forestWe wanted to do a scary play" - and they are already playing a dark duo that is gradually feeling its way forward.

Then three girls come forward with their violins, who have set a postcard to music: Insect fight in the wild grassAccordingly, they play the piece "wildly". Two other girls, again with cello and violin, explain to the small crowd of listeners that they simply went for it for their piece, the name Luminoso only occurred to them at the end. The result is a surprisingly well thought-out, intimate duo.

The final concerts were held on Saturday, first the children's concert and then the young people's performance. The promotional concert on October 23 is particularly valuable for the young music enthusiasts. Here, selected soloists and ensembles from the academy can perform in public, again in the Seon Reformed Church of course - a great opportunity at this age.

How did the young people like this strenuous week? "I'm from Zurich," says one boy, "and I liked it, I'd like to take part in the next academy again." Another says: "I'm here with my colleague, we're playing as a duo, it's fun." And a little girl says that her mother heard about the academy and asked her if she would like to take part. "I was allowed to decide for myself," she says proudly, "I wanted to go."

And what is Fränz Frick's assessment? "The huge demand surprised us, over thirty children signed up. It was a wonderful week, all these 'music-hungry' children, their curiosity, their concentration and their joy in taking part. Friendships were forged and the teenagers took great care of the little ones." The enthusiastic and committed violinist wants to continue: The next summer academy in Seetal is sure to come.

A total of 410 theaters in Germany, Austria and Switzerland submitted their data, 353 of them from Germany. As most of the festivals were canceled, significantly fewer institutions were able to submit their programs; in the previous year, 386 German theatres reported their data. The number of works performed in Germany fell by around 13 percent (from 4749 to 4166) and the number of productions by around 14 percent (from 7152 to 6220). The decline in the number of performances in Germany is more dramatic: the reduction from 82,052 to 56,122 performances represents a fall of around 33 percent compared to the previous season.

There has been little change in the order of the most frequently performed works: "Hansel and Gretel" (27 productions) has the highest number of productions in Germany, ahead of Goethe's "Faust" (22 productions) and Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and "The Magic Flute" (20 productions each), followed by "La Bohème", "Nathan the Wise" and "Hamlet" (18 productions each) and the novel adaptation "Tschick" (16 productions).

Original article:
https://www.buehnenverein.de/de/presse/pressemeldungen.html?det=615
 

Georg Rudiger: Last year, the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad was canceled. Now you played the opening concert on July 16 as this year's "Artist in Residence" in the packed church in Saanen. How was that for you?
Daniel Hope: Beautiful. Saanen Church is a very special place for me because I heard my first concerts here as a child with Yehudi Menuhin, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and many others. I feel at home here. To be able to make music here with my friends after this long enforced break touches me deeply. The whole day was emotional for me. This morning, the funeral service for the late Chairman of the Board of Directors and co-founder of the festival Leonz Blunschi took place here, at which I also played.

How did the Menuhin Festival influence your enthusiasm for music?
The wealth of talent and inspiration that emanated from Yehudi Menuhin and his friends is unimaginable. There was the Camerata Lysy of the great Argentinian violinist Alberto Lysy, but greats such as Stéphane Grappelli, Mstislav Rostropovich and Ravi Shankar also came and went. They all played here in this church. That infected my life with music.

What defines the festival in its current form for you?
It's much bigger and much broader than it used to be - director Christoph Müller has done an excellent job with his visionary power. For me, however, the intimate chamber music concerts in the churches in the Saanenland are still the heart of the festival - and not the large orchestral concerts in the festival tent.

You were free to choose the program for your three concerts. The works should only have something to do with the festival motto "London". You opted for programs in which singing is also important.
In my concerts, I always try to tell a story and look for connections between the pieces. Tonight, Edward Elgar was the thematic bracket, whose violin concerto was played by 16-year-old Yehudi Menuhin in 1932 as a stand-in for Fritz Kreisler. In the next concert with the Leipzig vocal ensemble Amarcord, we will take a journey through 500 years of English music, from William Byrd and Thomas Tallis to the music of today. And at the concert with my friend Thomas Hampson, English folk music will play a special role.

Since 2016, you have been the musical director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZKO), which has also been a frequent guest in Gstaad. What makes the orchestra special?
It is a master ensemble - each and every one of us radiates an enormous passion for music, but together we are the strongest. We make chamber music on a big stage. This is the first orchestra I've ever heard in my life. I never dared to dream that I would be able to conduct it many decades later.

The motto of the new season is "Metamorphosis". How will the orchestra transform?
We have probably all undergone a transformation in recent times. It was important to me to present individual musicians from the orchestra because they all have something to say - that's why there are many double concerts or concerti grossi. And we are turning to America, which has also changed a lot over the last twelve months; we have also just recorded an album with this program (Editor's note published by Deutsche Grammophon). With our new five-day festival (Editor's note "Fantasies", June 24 to 28, 2022), we will have an even stronger presence in the city.

Like Yehudi Menuhin, you have no fear of contact with other styles of music. The ZKO also gives two concerts with the Swiss pop musician Marc Sway and plays film music. Are there voices in the orchestra that take a critical view of crossover projects?
As long as the projects are selected with great care, the orchestra is happy to participate. We have now had Till Brönner, a great jazz trumpeter, as a guest, with whom we premiered several commissioned compositions. In March 2022, we will Moby Dick in a staged concert with projection and dance. The music was written by Caroline Shaw.

You also play regularly with the ZKO in Dresden's Frauenkirche, where you have also been programming the concerts as artistic director for three years. What guidelines do you have there?
I am responsible for all classical concerts in the church. Our cantor is in charge of the church music. In my very first year, I created a concert series in the lower church for young artists, which was very well received. I program around 30 or 35 concerts a year in the large church.

What role does this specific location play?
It is not a normal concert venue - that is very important to me. The Frauenkirche is open to all religions. Dialogue and discourse are always sought here. There are many meetings of thinkers, writers, philosophers and human rights activists. The Frauenkirche is a place of exchange, reflection and reconciliation, especially between England and Germany, between Coventry and Dresden, whose churches were destroyed in the Second World War. Classical music is part of this process. It opens people's souls.

The Schüür concert hall was opened in 1992 before the Lucerne Culture and Convention Center was built. Over the past 30 years, the Schüür has established itself as a leading venue for rock and pop in the region and a platform for regional, national and international artists.

However, only minor alterations and repairs have been made to the building since 1992. Despite regular maintenance, renovation work is now necessary. At the same time, an extension is needed. A new two-storey building is to combine all the room extensions. This will be attached to the north and east façades of the concert hall.

The concert rooms on the first floor and upper floor are to be spatially and acoustically separated so that events can be held independently in both rooms. From an operational point of view, it is also important to improve the space available for artists, staff and guests inside and outside the building.

Original article:
https://www.stadtluzern.ch/aktuelles/newslist/1312732

The first prize goes to Irene Roldan Gonzalez, the second to Dmytro Kokoshynskyy and the third to Louise Acabo.

According to its own definition, the competition organized by the Milan-based cultural association La Cappella Musicale arose from the desire to "discover, promote and support young musicians so that they can begin their own artistic careers". The aim of the competition is to promote young talent and disseminate the ancient musical heritage.

The pre-selection jury consists of Maurizio Croci, Céline Frisch and Lorenzo Ghielmi. They select the 12 semi-finalists. The final jury consists of Enrico Baiano, Maurizio Croci, Céline Frisch, Christophe Rousset and Menno van Delft.

Due to the health situation at the beginning of 2021, choral societies and music ensembles were prohibited from meeting and rehearsing under normal circumstances. Performances have been possible again since May 31. The compensation period has been extended following the measures taken at the beginning of the year. The Valais State Council has therefore decided to support these two areas with a further CHF 2.3 million to cover the period from January 1 to May 31, 2021.

Applications for this grant must be submitted to the Department of Culture by the end of September. The corresponding decisions are expected to be made at the beginning of November 2021. In addition, the State Council has decided to extend the additional 20% support that is not compensated by the Covid-19 Cultural Ordinance. This guarantees 100% coverage for cultural enterprises entitled to compensation.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the federal government and the canton of Valais have implemented various packages of measures to support the cultural sector. In March 2020, an aid package of CHF 18.4 million was approved, financed equally by the Confederation and the canton. In March 2021, a further CHF 10.4 million was made available for the cultural sector, of which CHF 5.1 million will be borne by the canton.

More info:
https://www.vs.ch/de/web/communication/detail?groupId=529400&articleId=12470269

The study focuses on the question of "what contribution cultural promotion can make to improve the exchange between the different functional areas - especially between urban and rural areas - while preserving cultural diversity."

The study was carried out by the Brägger office in Dübendorf. Online surveys and telephone interviews with cantonal cultural representatives were supplemented with document analyses and online surveys of selected cities and municipalities.

In conclusion, the study states that "urbanization has led to new realities and challenges for the promotion of culture. However, this has also triggered a variety of developments that ultimately promote cultural diversity and have also brought the different areas (urban and rural areas, functional areas), cultural sectors, cultural professionals, cantonal and communal administrations and ultimately presumably also the different population groups closer together."

The study is available on the website of the Federal Office of Culture.
 

The founding members of the Academy, which will decide on the award for the first time in 2022 and is also intended to accompany and help shape the German pop music scene as a forum, include Herbert Grönemeyer, Shirin David, Nura, Sarah Farina and Roland Kaiser.

The new prize will be awarded by the Initiative Musik, whose sole shareholders are the German Music Council and the Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten (GVL). The Initiative Musik, which is funded by the BKM, has already been presenting the APPLAUS award for live music programs in the pop music and jazz sector since 2013 and has also been awarding the German Jazz Prize since 2021.

More information about the new academy and the prize for pop music can be found at www.initiative-musik.de.

Demographically representative samples were collected in six countries on three continents during the first lockdown from April to May 2020: Over 5,000 people from Germany, France, the UK, India, Italy and the USA answered questions in an online study about their use of music during the crisis. More than half of the respondents stated that they used music to cope with emotional and social stress factors.

Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, comments on the results that it is not the music itself that serves as a coping aid, but the music-related behavior, i.e. the way in which people have changed the way they deal with music during the crisis.

According to the study, people with stronger negative emotions due to the pandemic primarily use music to regulate depression, anxiety and stress. This strategy is used particularly when listening to music. People with a predominantly positive mood use music primarily as a substitute for social interaction. The new genre of "corona music" is of particular importance. This involves specific musical reactions to the coronavirus crisis.

Original publication:
Fink, L.K., Warrenburg, L. A., Howlin, C., Randall, W. M., Hansen, N. C., & Wald-Fuhrmann, M. (2021). Viral Tunes: changes in musical behaviors and interest in coronamusic predict socio-emotional coping during COVID-19 lockdown. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 8:180. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00858-y

Autobiographical memories can be closely linked to music. However, the mechanisms by which associations between music and non-musical knowledge are initially formed and consolidated in long-term memory are not yet fully understood. In experiments, a Californian research team has investigated the connection between earworms and memories evoked by music.

The experiments indicate that the recall of musical fragments serves as a consolidation mechanism for both the music and the associated episodic information.

Original article:
Kubit, B. M., & Janata, P. (2021). Spontaneous mental replay of music improves memory for incidentally associated event knowledge. Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001050

Founded in 1998 by Beat Furrer and Ernst Kovacic, Impuls 2020 had to be canceled due to coronavirus. This year, the events will take place again in Graz. The 12th International Ensemble and Composers Academy for Contemporary Music and the 7th festival are organized by Impuls, the association for the mediation of contemporary music, and the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.

Around 150 people from many countries take part in the academy. It offers composition students and young professionals the opportunity to spend two weeks working with world-class artists, exchanging ideas and continuing their education. The festival offers concerts with music from the 20th and 21st centuries and a rich music education program. The first three of the twelve festival days focus on Austrian composers and performers.

Detailed information on the background, academy and festival can be found on the association's website:

http://www.impuls.cc/de/home.html