The initiative "for more musical diversity" aims to support independent music creation in the canton of Basel-Stadt with at least one third of the total music funding budget each year. Contributions are to be awarded to freelance musicians as well as for program, venue and structural funding. In addition, the awarding processes for the entire independent music sector are to be standardized and funding structures adapted.

The Government Council is of the opinion that, as part of the renewal of the cultural partnership with the Canton of Basel-Landschaft as of 2022 and the implementation of the popular initiative "Trinkgeld-Initiative", measures have already been introduced that significantly improve the conditions for independent music creation in the Canton of Basel-Stadt and counteract the historically grown imbalance of genres. The government council rejects a further increase in the cultural budget in this context. It is of the opinion that the effects of the recently increased contributions should be awaited before deciding on further measures.

More info:
Canton of Basel-Stadt and City of Basel - Government Council recommends rejection of the "for more musical diversity" initiative

The researchers surveyed a representative sample of more than 2,000 people in Germany about their musical tastes. In their analysis, they focused on fans of five genres of Western music - European classical music, electronic dance music (EDM), metal, pop and rock - and for the first time systematically included sub-genres in a study.

Senior author Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann, Director at the MPIEA, developed a special questionnaire to take nuances into account. In this questionnaire, respondents were also asked to indicate how much they liked the sub-styles associated with the genres studied. By systematically recording likes and dislikes at genre and sub-genre level, the team ultimately obtained a more differentiated picture of individual musical tastes.

The evaluations revealed that very different subgroups can be found within fan groups, which differ according to their preferences for certain subgenres. A total of five subgroups emerged: According to Fuhrmann, three subgroups can be identified across all fan groups that like all sub-styles of a genre to roughly the same extent - either all very much, on average or rather less. However, two further subgroups differentiate: they either prefer subgenres that can be described as "harder" or more sophisticated, or the "softer" subgenres that can be classified as mainstream.

Original publication:
Siebrasse, A., & Wald-Fuhrmann, M. (2023). You Don't Know a Person('s Taste) When You Only Know Which Genre They Like: Taste Differences Within Five Popular Music Genres Based on Sub-Genres and Sub-Styles. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1062146. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1062146

According to its press release, 15 years ago the Schwyz Cultural Commission launched an information sheet in the form of a leporello, which had become outdated. The decision was therefore made to give it a completely new look: fresher, more colorful and in the format of a magazine; in addition, unlike today, much more use is made of images and shorter texts. A mix of journalistic forms on 20 pages invites you to read and provides information about the Commission's activities.

The first issue, which is included as a one-off promotion in all newspapers in the Canton of Schwyz, contains numerous references to current and future cultural events, as well as articles on the School Theater Days at the Goldau University of Teacher Education, the Central Switzerland Artists' Studio in Berlin and a report on the Einsiedeln filmmaker Franz Kälin.

In future, "szene", as the Kulturblatt is now known, will be positioned as an independent publication that is sent to subscribers free of charge and appears twice a year. Subscription applications can be sent by e-mail to "szene@sz.ch" or by post to Kulturkommission Kanton Schwyz, P.O. Box 2202 in 6431 Schwyz.

The Master's degree program is aimed (subject to approval by the University of Applied Sciences Council) at music students with a Bachelor's degree who want to explore and expand their performance skills. In a community of teachers, lecturers and coaches from the fields of choreography, directing, theater and so on, students experiment with their own projects and search for new ways of experiencing music.

The course enables contact with local and international institutions, festivals and venues, the realization of own scenic projects and diverse artistic experiences. It sees itself as a "community of peers, mentors and lecturers who support graduates in the realization of their individual artistic vision".

More info: https://www.fhnw.ch/de/studium/musik/musik-und-szene-in-transformation

Bjørn Sagstad has been Professor of Wind Orchestra Conducting at the Basel University of Music FHNW since September 2021. He graduated from the conservatories in Bergen, Trondheim, Tromsø and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and is Associate Professor of Conducting at the Grieg Academy of Music/UiB in Bergen. He is also course coordinator and mentor for the Maestra program. Maestra is a Norwegian initiative to promote female conductors.

Founded in 1924, the Nidarholm Music Society (Musikkforeningen Nidarholm) has around 75 members between the ages of 18 and 60, consisting of amateurs, music students and professionals. The band has achieved solid placings in the Norwegian national championships over the past ten years. In 2019, it won the Norwegian Janissary Championships, it was able to defend the title in 2022 after two years of very variable and sometimes low activity during the pandemic.

The federal government has taken the Covid crisis as an opportunity to analyze the challenges facing culture in Switzerland with the involvement of the cantons, cities and municipalities as well as cultural associations from all sectors. Based on this assessment, the Federal Office of Culture (FOC), Pro Helvetia and the Swiss National Museum are realigning the focus of their activities in the new cultural message, according to their press release. To this end, they have defined six fields of action:

• Culture as a world of work: The Confederation will contribute to the appropriate compensation and social security of professional cultural workers and advocate fair framework conditions and equal opportunities in the cultural sector.
• Updating cultural funding: The federal government is focusing more strongly on the work phases upstream and downstream of production.
• Digital transformation in culture: The federal government takes new digital and hybrid formats of production, dissemination and communication into account in its funding activities.
• Culture as a dimension of sustainability: The Confederation continues to develop the strategy for a high level of Baukultur and contributes to tackling climate change, protecting biodiversity and promoting renewable energies. It takes measures to support sustainability in the cultural sector and promotes social cohesion through broad access to culture, be it through the promotion of inclusion, new forms of cultural participation or the strengthening of amateur culture.
• Cultural heritage as a living memory: The Confederation is committed to a nationwide initiative for the appreciation and communication of Switzerland's tangible, intangible and digital cultural heritage. This commitment also includes promoting the professional and ethical handling of historically significant cultural heritage in Switzerland.
• Governance in the cultural sector: The Confederation is committed to greater cooperation and coordination in the cultural sector and with other sectors, is committed to a strong Swiss presence in international cultural policy and is developing a monitoring system with key figures on the cultural sector.

More info:
https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-95623.html

Kaija Saariaho studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg (with Klaus Huber) and Paris, where she has lived since 1982 and conducted research at IRCAM. She has written operas and vocal works such as "Château de l'âme" (1996), "Oltra mar" (1999) and the oratorio "La Passion de Simone", which depicts the life and death of the philosopher Simone Weil.

Saariaho was the recipient of the Grawemeyer Award, the Polar Music Prize and the BBVA Foundation's Frontiers of Knowledge Award, among others, making her one of the most highly endowed composers of her time. In 2012, Saariaho was elected an honorary member of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM).

In 2022, Saariaho's work "Vista" was performed at the Lucerne Festival by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Susanna Mälkki.

The Board of Trustees of the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana has appointed Barbara Widmer as Artistic Director and Samuel Flury as Administrative Director. The management has successfully led the foundation after the previous artistic and administrative director Christian Weidmann stepped down on October 1 last year after just over two years in office. The new management will take office on September 1.

After studying music and graduating in musicology and Italian literature at the University of Zurich, Barbara Widmer completed an MAS in cultural management at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana. After various activities in the cultural sector, she has been working for the Fondazione per l'Orchestra della Svizzera italiana since 2010, first as artistic assistant, then as head of artistic production. In January 2022, she was appointed a member of the FOSI management. Since October 1, 2022, she has held the position of Artistic Director ad interim.

Samuel Flury, born in 1981, comes from Schaffhausen and Graubünden and grew up in Lugano, where he completed his studies in business administration and business law at SUPSI. He joined the Fondazione per l'Orchestra della Svizzera italiana in 2019 as Head of Operations and Finance and was later appointed Deputy Director. Since October 1, 2022, he has held the position of Administrative Director ad interim. Samuel Flury is also a lecturer in the Master's degree program in Business Law and White Collar Crime at the University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI).

Simon Blatter was born in Brig in 1995. He began trumpet lessons at the age of nine at the Oberwallis General Music School. After completing his music baccalaureate at the Kollegium Spiritus Sanctus in Brig, he attended the Zurich University of the Arts, and from 2017 he completed his studies at the Basel University of Music. He is principal trumpeter of the Danish Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester and the Finnish Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. The prize is endowed with 10,000 Swiss francs.

Breaking isolation by sharing emotions in concerts and music workshops is the mission of the association "Les Concerts du Cœur". Founded in 2017 in Sierre by soprano Laure Barras, the association offers musical moments for people who have difficulty accessing concert halls, whether they are elderly, hospitalized, disabled or living in poverty.

The performances organized by the association "Les Concerts du Cœur" are part of a comprehensive cultural mediation. The various elements of the performances are designed for the different contexts and characteristics of the audience. The association also aims to open up new horizons for talented young musicians by introducing them to a social aspect of their profession.

At the start of the 2020/21 season, Märki took over the artistic direction of the Staatstheater Cottbus as artistic and opera director. The Staatstheater is the only multi-genre theater in the state of Brandenburg. With its artistic productions in the fields of musical theater, drama, ballet and concerts, it is also recognized beyond the region.

Born in Bern in 1955, Stephan Märki became director of the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam in 1993. In 2000, he moved to the Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle (DNT) in Weimar as General Director. In 2011 and 2012, he merged the Bern Symphony Orchestra and the Stadttheater Bern to form the four-genre Konzert Theater Bern. In 2012, he took over the management of the Konzert Theater Bern until his immediate resignation in 2018. His resignation was the result of a relationship with the theater's Head of Communications that was incompatible with the theater's governance.

It is important to people in Germany (91%) that cultural offerings in theaters are preserved for future generations. A large majority (76%) are also of the opinion that they should continue to be financed with public funds. The offerings are part of cultural identity (82%) and education (91%) in Germany. These are the findings of the new "Relevance Monitor Culture" conducted by the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Liz Mohn Center.

With the nationwide representative forsa survey, the Liz Mohn Center has for the first time investigated the importance of cultural offerings in Germany. The results show almost unanimous support among the population: the work of theaters is important, should be further promoted and preserved for the future.

Original article:
https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/de/themen/aktuelle-meldungen/2023/mai/enormer-rueckhalt-fuer-kulturangebote-in-deutschland

The team that conducted the study analyzed more than 23,000 songs that appeared in the weekly UK top charts from 1953 to 2019. It found that energetic, danceable songs that evoked positive feelings such as joy and happiness were positively associated with warm, sunny weather and negatively associated with rainy, cold weather. Similarly, in terms of expected seasonal patterns, the popularity of energetic and positive music increased in summer and decreased in winter.

However, the results also show that these results depend on the popularity of the respective songs: While the weather mainly had an influence on the placement in the top 10 of the charts, there was hardly any correlation for less popular songs. This suggests that weather conditions can help a song to the top of the charts under certain circumstances.

Original article:
https://www.aesthetics.mpg.de/newsroom/news/news-artikel/article/here-comes-the-sun-de.html

Uri Smilansky was born and raised in Israel, where he studied violin, viola, composition, but above all recorder and viola da gamba. In 2001, he moved to Basel to study viola da gamba and baroque recorder at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where he graduated with honors in 2006. He worked at the Schola as a project and teaching assistant and returned in 2015 to teach medieval aural training and ensemble work for a semester.

In 2010 he completed his doctorate on the music of the Ars Subtilior at the University of Exeter. This was followed by a postdoctoral position at Exeter on the edition of works by Guillaume de Machaut (2010-2014), a teaching position at Shakespeare's Globe (2015), a teaching fellowship at King's College London (2016-2019) and a second postgraduate research fellowship at the University of Oxford (2019-2022). Uri has published widely in academia and is a member of the board of the International Machaut Society.

In 2008 he co-founded a long-term teaching program at the Burgfürsteneck Academy for professional and musical-cultural further education, and since 2014 has been running shorter intensive courses as co-founder of Sherborne Early Music. He has performed and recorded a wide range of repertoire as a soloist and with groups such as Ensemble Leones, In Echo, the Taverner Consort and Players, Musicians of the Globe, La Morra, Earle his Viols, Perlaro, the Phoenix Ensemble and Dulce Melos. He is co-founder and director of the ensembles Le Basile and A Garden of Eloquence.

According to the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, the new string converts vibrations directly into an electrical signal: The string becomes its own pickup and is a microphone for vibrations and touch along its entire length. A special functional layer made of a polymer with so-called piezoelectric properties is responsible for this. Piezoelectricity is a phenomenon in which electrical voltage is generated when the pressure on the material is changed. When the string is played, the oscillating change in vibration creates a mechanical tension that makes it possible to obtain a clear signal of the respective tone.

The characteristic sound colorations that were previously produced by the resonating body can now be simulated and added electronically. Both the sound body and the reverberation in the room can be changed digitally at any time. According to the university, this enables a wide range of design options that are predetermined and unchangeable with traditional instruments.

Original article:
https://www.uni-weimar.de/de/medieninformationen/titel/musikinstrumente-mit-neuartigen-saiten-funktionieren-ohne-resonanzkoerper-und-tonabnehmer/

Born in 1986, Manuel Troller is active as a guitarist and composer in various musical fields, according to the city's press release. He impresses as a musician with determination, clarity, precision and ease. With the internationally active formation "SchnellerTollerMeier", he has been playing uncompromising music between free improvisation, hardcore, modern composition and brute rock music since 2006, but is also at home in pop music.

By "exploring the limits of his instrument using preparations, extended techniques, sound alienation and a keen sense for the moment", he has become a sought-after guitarist in Switzerland. The list of collaborations, concerts and invitations to national and international festivals is long and testifies to his extraordinary and astute musical artistry. In 2021, Troller was awarded the Swiss Music Prize.