102nd Annual General Meeting of SMG
The 102nd Annual General Meeting of the Swiss Music Research Society took place on December 3, 2021. Some long-standing members of the Board of Directors were bid farewell, but new people were also welcomed to the Board of Directors and to new positions.
Helen Gebhart - In addition to the SMG Central Society's Annual General Meeting, an enjoyable supporting program was actually planned at the Lucerne School of Music on the Südpol campus, including a guided tour of the building, a chamber music concert and an aperitif. Unfortunately, this was prevented at short notice for the second time by the Covid-19 pandemic, as the number of infections had just risen massively. As a result, the long-planned supporting program was also cancelled. As a result, the members present had to make do with a general meeting on Zoom. The only advantage was that people who would not have been able to travel to Kriens were able to attend. It is to be hoped that an Annual General Meeting can be held in person again in 2022, so that social interaction is possible again.
Cristina Urchueguía, President of the SMG, led through the Annual General Meeting and reported on various events that were able to take place despite the pandemic, such as a dance course in the Bern section.
Three long-standing members of the Board of Directors were bid farewell at the Annual General Meeting: Anselm Gerhard, Felix Meyer and Luca Zoppelli have all served on the Board for over 20 years and have thus played a key role in shaping the work of the SMG. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them once again for their valuable work on behalf of the SMG.
In accordance with the Articles of Association, elections were also held again. The nine other members of the Board of Directors were re-elected by the members, and Christoph Riedo, Assistant Professor in Geneva, was also elected as a new member of the Board of Directors.
With the departure of Luca Zoppelli, the position of Vice President had to be filled. Adriano Giardina, a member of the Board of Directors, stood for election and was unanimously elected to the post. Cristina Urchueguía, who was re-elected as Central President, asks him the following questions about himself, music and music research.
Adriano Giardina, what connects you to music and music research?
Je suis enseignant-chercheur à l'Université de Fribourg. I work on the music of the Renaissance and on the history of musical interpretation. I also conduct the Ensemble La Sestina, based in Neuchâtel and specializing in 16th century polyphony. I love music as a sonic, aesthetic and social experience and as an object of historical and theoretical knowledge, in fact as art at the intersection of the senses and the intellect.
You are both a musician and a musicologist, how do you see the relationship between musical practice and music research?
The double case that I have is a window open on two universes that have a common object, but which are used in different ways. More particularly, my knowledge of the world of interpreters is useful to me in my work on the history of musical interpretation and my musicological skills help me in my "historically informed" practice as a chef.
What can musicians learn from musicologists and vice versa?
Les musicien-ne-s curieuses et curieux peuvent faire leur miel des connaissances académiques à propos des sources musicales, des conditions historiques d'exécution des musiques et plus généralement des contexts esthétiques et culturels dans lesquelles elles sont nées.
Musicologists perform their profession even better when they are involved in musical practice in the following fields: musical edition, organology, all aspects of musical performance, the sociology of the concert, and so on. In addition, musical analysis is very often applied to the écoute!
Musicians and musicologists sometimes find it difficult to talk to each other. How can we promote communication and collaboration on an equal footing?
Musicological research and musical practice often have different agendas, and that's just as well. Musicologists and musicians can indeed exercise their profession with success, regardless of one another!
However, it is always profitable to master a maximum of things, or at least to know their existence. As it is difficult to be omniscient, especially nowadays, one must never hesitate to seek advice from other professionals about the shortcomings that one is forced to face.
From an institutional point of view, the ideal would be to regroup the teaching of music and musicology, as well as research, under the same roof, on the model of the Faculty of music anglo-saxonnes, sans toutefois les séparer des autres branches du savoir...
What do you want from SMG in this regard?
Qu'elle soit un espace de dialogue entre chercheuses et chercheurs affilié-s à divers typ d'institutions, entre musicologues et musicien-ne-s et entre professionnel-le-s de la musique et mélomanes. In addition, it is a unique platform for bringing together people from three different cultures and languages.
