Bringuier will take up the post in Liège at the beginning of September 2025. The contract has a term of four years. He succeeds Gergely Madaras, who took on the role for six years. The Hungarian conductor will return to the OPRL as a guest conductor from the 2026/27 season.

Bringuier was music director of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich from 2014 to 2018 and of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León in Valladolid from 2009 to 2012. Since 2019, he has been an associate artist of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, his home town. He was recently appointed Principal Conductor there for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons.

The Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège is the only professional symphony orchestra in the French-speaking part of Belgium. It was founded in 1960 by Fernand Quinet, then director of the music conservatory in Liège, and was initially known as the Orchestre de Liège. The orchestra's main aim is to disseminate the Belgian-French repertoire, but also to explore new repertoire and premieres.

The Violin making school Brienz convinced the jury with her copy of an instrument by Antonio Stradivari. The competition, organized by the Musée de la Musique/Philharmonie Paris and the Talents et Violon'celles Foundation, is aimed at both current and trainee violin making professionals. As in 2022, the Swiss school was able to prevail against other European schools in the Talents de demain category.

She not only won first prize ahead of France (Ecole Nationale de Lutherie Mirecourt) and Italy (Cremona International Violinmaking School), but also the jury's special Coup de coeur prize. The instrument, built by student Eva Schulz (third year of apprenticeship), a replica of the famous "Sarasate" by A. Stradivari from 1724, will be purchased by the Musée de la Musique, Paris, and made available to young music students in the future.

Urbanski takes over in Warsaw from Andrzej Boreyko, who was also chief conductor of the Bern Symphony Orchestra from the 2005/2006 season to the 2009/2010 season. Urbanski will take over the leadership roles in Bern and Warsaw from the upcoming 2024/25 season.

The Symphony Orchestra of the Warsaw National Philharmonic is a Polish orchestra founded in 1901 and based at the Warsaw National Philharmonic. It takes part in the International Chopin Competition and the Warsaw Autumn Festival.

Staier studied with Lajos Rovatkay and Ton Koopman and worked with Musica Antiqua Köln. From 1987 to 1995 he was professor of harpsichord and fortepiano at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He gives master classes worldwide and has also worked as a conductor and orchestra leader for several years.

The Bach Medal of the City of Leipzig has already been awarded to the Thomanerchor Leipzig (2023), Sir András Schiff (2022), Hans-Joachim Schulze and Christoph Wolff (2021) for "special services to the cultivation of Bach's works", Angela Hewitt (2020), Robert Levin (2018), Masaaki Suzuki (2012), Herbert Blomstedt (2011), Philippe Herreweghe (2010), Nikolaus Harnoncourt (2007), Ton Koopman (2006), Sir John Eliot Gardiner (2005), Helmuth Rilling (2004) and Gustav Leonhardt (2003).

The researchers focused on the question of what happens when customers change their music streaming subscriptions to services such as Spotify, Apple Music or Deezer - i.e. take out, upgrade, downgrade or cancel a subscription. Are they more willing to spend additional money on live concerts or analog or physical music albums after a conversion? These so-called spillover effects are particularly relevant in the current market environment, as the payouts from music streaming services are low for many artists.

There were positive consequences for the live market. The switch from no or a free streaming service to a premium subscription led to a particularly strong increase in the willingness to pay and demand for live events. Cancelling the subscription, on the other hand, caused them to drop significantly.

However, the change in music subscriptions had no impact on analog or digital album purchases. This could indicate that live music usefully complements the consumption of music subscriptions in the streaming sector from the customer's perspective, while albums tend to serve other segments and are therefore not influenced by music subscriptions.

Original article:  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10949968231186950

The mirror is a calculation aid for planning your own projects and should be used when submitting funding applications in the field of music. These are fee ranges - the hourly rate can therefore vary depending on professional experience and project context.
can be determined individually.

The recommended hourly rates refer to the labor costs, i.e. the contractor's wage. They include fees, social security, taxes and duties as well as average vacation and sick days, but do not include VAT.

An overpayment is possible and is also customary in the market, especially for managerial positions. The salary scheme of the trade union GPA für Vereine / Leitfaden für faire Bezahlung in der bildenden Kunst (Basissätze in der selbständigen Arbeit) serves as the basis for calculation.

More info:
https://oemr.at/wp-content/uploads/OeMR_Fair-Pay-Honorarkatalog_veroeffentlicht_110124.pdf 

The work contribution enables creative people to carry out research, "develop ideas, experiment with forms and formats and increasingly engage in an open-ended process", as the city writes. It is intended as a lump-sum contribution that can be used to cover fees, expenses or living costs, for example.

The work grant is aimed at individuals and groups and will initially be introduced in 2024 in the three areas of jazz/rock/pop, classical/new music and literature. CHF 700,000 is available annually for this purpose. The monthly rate of CHF 5,000 per person serves as the basis for calculating the amount of the contribution. The maximum amount for a work contribution is CHF 20,000.

At the same time, the Culture Department has updated the formal and content-related criteria for funding applications. They are no longer part of the cultural mission statement, but are integrated into the guidelines of the respective departments. They are intended to "take better account of current social and artistic conditions" and help to "increase the transparency and comprehensibility of procedures and funding decisions".

As part of a public tendering process, the cantons of St. Gallen, Thurgau, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Glarus have put the communication mandates for the overall project "kklick - Kulturvermittlung Ostschweiz" as well as for the St. Gallen/Appenzell Ausserrhoden office and the Thurgau office out to tender for the period 2024-2027, according to a coordinated press release. The contract for all three mandates was awarded to Wirkpunkt GmbH headed by Kati Michalk, Richi Küttel and Rebecca C. Schnyder.

This will not change anything for the cantons of St. Gallen and Appenzell Ausserrhoden, as their joint office was already managed by Wirkpunkt. The mandate for the office of the Canton of Glarus was not put out to tender and will continue to be managed by Danièle Florence Perrin. Stefanie Kasper, who managed the office of the Canton of Thurgau for ten years, did not apply for the vacancy and has left kklick at the end of December 2023 to pursue new challenges. The new contact person for the canton of Thurgau is Richi Küttel from Wirkpunkt.

kklick - Kulturvermittlung Ostschweiz is a cooperation project between the cultural offices of the cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Glarus, St. Gallen and Thurgau. The intercantonal platform for cultural mediation has been online since August 2014 and is active as a contact point for questions relating to the topic of cultural mediation in schools in the region. kklick communicates cultural mediation offers from cultural providers (institutions such as museums, theaters, cinemas or individuals such as cultural mediators or artists), bundles information on cultural mediation and promotes the use of cultural education offers in schools.

The BKA association receives annual funding of CHF 75,000 for the operation and maintenance of a comprehensive, digital cultural events calendar. The aim is to provide the population of Bern with "a low-threshold and free overview of the city and regional cultural offerings", writes the City of Bern.

The Verein Berner Kulturagenda (BKA) is an association of around 250 cultural institutions in Bern. The association is financed by membership fees, contributions from municipalities and the canton. With the dissolution of the municipal association Anzeiger Region Bern at the end of 2023, the BKA lost its sponsoring medium. The association has therefore reoriented itself and developed a new online agenda. Editorial contributions and the publication of the BKA in printed form are financed by member contributions.

83-year-old Christoph Eschenbach was born in Wrocław, Poland, the home town of the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic. He will take over the post from the 2024/2025 season as the successor to Giancarlo Guerrero, who has held the post since the 2017/2018 season. Eschenbach conducted the Konzerthausorchester Berlin until 2023.

The Wrocław National Forum for Music (NFM) is a concert hall with four halls founded in 2015 to mark Wrocław's nomination as European Capital of Culture. The largest can seat up to 1800 people. The Forum also includes the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, founded in 1945. It was named after Witold Lutosławski in 1994 and renamed the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic in 2015 with the inauguration of its new headquarters.

According to Bachtrack, one remarkable result of the last ten years is the steady increase in contemporary music programming. Its share has risen from around 6 to 14 percent worldwide. The trend is reflected in many countries: in the United Kingdom from 6 to 15 percent and in the USA from 7.5 to 20 percent. In some countries, such as Japan, Austria and France, there are comparatively fewer performances of contemporary music, but an increase can also be observed in these countries.

The rise in performances of contemporary music goes hand in hand with an increase in performances of music by female composers - and especially by living women. Sofia Gubaidulina, Caroline Shaw, Unsuk Chin and Anna Clyne are all among the 100 most-performed in 2023. Also in the top 100 are Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn and Lili Boulanger. In 2023, 22 of the 200 most performed composers are women - in 2013 there were only 2.

Bachtrack was founded in 2008. The site lists around 30,000 concerts, opera and dance events every year and also publishes around 150 concert reviews per month. The site is published in English, French, German and Spanish.

In 2023, Bachtrack recorded 31,309 different events (around 4,000 more than in the previous year). This includes more than 16,000 concerts, 9,000 opera performances and almost 6,000 dance events. This year, it was also possible to evaluate the data from the last ten years, i.e. since 2013. This allows statistically significant conclusions to be drawn about the world of classical music and the changes it is undergoing.

More info: https://bachtrack.com/de_DE/classical-music-statistics-2023

The city parliament is responsible for approving the subsidies for eleven of the 23 contracts. By increasing contributions by a total of one million francs per year, "the city council is reaffirming its intention to support the cultural institutions in continuing to provide a professional service for the benefit of Winterthur as a city of culture", writes the city administration.

The city of Winterthur currently supports twenty cultural institutions whose subsidy contracts expire at the end of December 2024. The city council wants to conclude new contracts for the next performance period from 2025. To this end, it has reassessed the contractual relationships. Current, socially relevant topics such as the consideration of fair fees and wages or the observance of ecological and social sustainability were also taken into account, the city writes further.

The city has planned twenty contracts with institutions that already have a subsidy agreement. It now intends to support three further cultural institutions. These are the Tanzfest Winterthur association, Theater Ariane and Lauschig, an association for cultural mediation. With their cultural programmes, professional organization and as employers, they meet the cultural policy and operational requirements to receive multi-year support.

Subsidies within the competence of the city parliament include the Winterthur Music Festival Association and the Music Association of the City of Winterthur. Contracts with the Afro-Pfingsten association and the Esse Winterthur jazz association are the responsibility of the city council.

More info:
https://stadt.winterthur.ch/gemeinde/verwaltung/stadtkanzlei/kommunikation-stadt-winterthur/medienmitteilungen-stadt-winterthur/befristete-subventionsvertraege-fuer-die-kultur

After more than thirty years on stage and a great international career, she has decided to retire from the stage. In future, she wants to devote herself entirely to her professorship for song, oratorio and concert at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts.

Sweeney Todd at Zurich Opera House is her farewell production. She talks about this and her signature role Octavian, her passion for song and her new, somewhat quieter life in Vienna in the Opera House podcast.

The mezzo-soprano began her musical training at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and studied singing with Walter Berry and Gerhard Kahry at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna from 1984. In 2007 she was appointed Kammersängerin of the Vienna State Opera, and in 2009 she was made an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. She devotes particular attention to lieder and concert singing.

Link to the podcast:
https://www.opernhaus.ch/backstage/zwischenspiel-ein-podcast-aus-dem-opernhaus-zuerich/folge-62/

As part of a study, a team from the Potsdam Institute conducted interviews with 25 members of a German orchestra. It analyzed 13 interviews that appeared on the blog of the Orchestra of Change - an established sustainability initiative - and compared the statements with six examples of discourse, such as public declarations, position papers and project descriptions from institutions.

The team encountered pronounced forces of inertia: both musicians and institutions only showed interest in selected aspects of sustainable development and rarely criticized common practices in the industry. The researchers concluded that the historically established values of excellence and the preservation of a cultural heritage that is seen as immovable force the rules of the game to be maintained and hinder practical steps to slow down the concert business.

More info:
https://www.rifs-potsdam.de/de/news/werte-und-traditionen-des-klassischen-musikbetriebs-behindern-wandel-zur-nachhaltigkeit

Radulescu taught organ at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts. He was also a freelance composer and juror at composition and organ competitions as well as a Bach interpreter and editor of early organ music. From 1971 to 1990 he directed the organ master classes of the Principality of Liechtenstein and from 1990 the International Bach Academy of Porrentruy (Switzerland). From 2002 to 2004, he was project manager for the interpretation, preparation and performance of Beethoven's symphonies on historical instruments.
In 2004 he completed the recording of the complete organ works of J.S. Bach on the organ of the Jesuit Church in Porrentruy.

As a composer, he was influenced by his early involvement with Hindemith and Webern as well as his exploration of the works of Schönberg, Boulez, Varèse, Ligeti, Bruckner, Messiaen and Orff.