"If you don't move with the times, you move with the times"

Interview: Annette Kappeler - Michael Bühler studied music with a major in clarinet, has a master's degree in business administration and completed his doctorate with a study investigating the (negative) effects of ritualization on the classical concert. He can also look back on an impressive career as an artistic director and orchestra manager - including at Zurich Opera House and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. He will bring his diverse experience to his work at the university from October 2021.

Michael, which of your many skills and qualities do you think are central to your new role as Rector of a university?

I think that my multifaceted curiosity, my openness and my interest in social and technological change will have a significant impact on my work.

How can I understand that?

Well, over the last few years, I have closely followed how the demands on cultural professionals and cultural institutions have changed fundamentally: Media usage behavior has become multimedia, so that younger consumers today are hardly able to sink into contemplative silence at a classical concert and devote themselves solely to the music. Attention spans have shortened drastically. This can lead to younger people quickly becoming bored or simply no longer being able to concentrate "just" on the music.

But these social and technological developments seem to have left the classical concert without a trace. So it is hardly surprising that there is a lack of younger female visitors and that the average age of the audience is skyrocketing!

And what does this mean for the conservatoires?

State-subsidized music academies are given a great incentive to grow. It is still unclear how quality can be maintained.

In my view, the focus should be less on growth and more on the track record on the labor market - and thus the question of how female musicians react to these challenges becomes central.

So should training programs adapt even more to these current developments?

Absolutely! We need to prepare our students even better for the fact that no one is waiting for the 345th intake of the Spring Sonata is waiting - no matter how brilliantly it is played. In order to stand out, the musician must succeed in making herself heard and interacting with the audience through persistent self-marketing or a sustained presence on social media. In terms of change management, we must not only lead students to musical excellence, but also make them entrepreneurially fit for the job market. Or in the words of Friedrich Schiller: "If you don't move with the times, you move with the times".

What role can a private university like Kalaidos play in the Swiss educational landscape? What sets it apart from other music universities?

As Kalaidos is the only private university of applied sciences that does not receive any state subsidies, we are subject to this economic pressure ourselves and have to ask ourselves every day: How can we improve our training programs so that students can be successful?

Because we are only successful as an institution if they are successful. Even if this may sound harsh, it corresponds to the market-oriented reality - and we want to continue to face this challenge in the future in the interests of our students.

Do you plan to contribute your own research work and results to the university's work?

Yes, as I just mentioned, it seems crucial to me that we constantly try to keep our finger on the pulse of the times. And that also means looking for solutions to new challenges in an academic way. If these findings then flow directly into the course, students are certainly well prepared.

Annette Kappeler

... is head of the Master's program in Pedagogy at the Kalaidos University of Music.