Deepen experiences
The Entrada 2023, hundreds of classical music auditions, took place over the weekend of March 31 to April 2. The jazz and pop auditions followed on April 16. Those in Free Space and Composition will take place on the final weekend of May 18 in Lugano.
Various activities are planned under the heading "Follow-Ups" in order to deepen the competition experience of award winners. The weekend with hundreds of live performances and just as many consultations with the various expert juries is a thing of the past. This year's jazz and pop competition also took place on April 16, and in three weeks' time, the actual conclusion of the 2023 competition will take place in Lugano with the finals and live performances of the Free Space and Composition competitions. However, this is by no means the end of the youth music competition's activities for 2023. Under the heading "Follow Ups" on the competition website, there are various activities that have become increasingly important in recent years and make a decisive contribution to the sustainability of the competition.
New projects
An innovation in this area is that these activities will be carried out for the first time in 2023 together with the Loc.Artium association (www.locartium.ch) are offered. The non-profit association serves to promote and support young musical talent. In collaboration with partner organizations, it organizes artistic projects with a special focus on interdisciplinarity. The organization is still under construction. The direction in which future projects can go is shown by the three activities about which the homepage already provides information: From August 28 to September 2, a workshop for contemporary music and music technology entitled "Inventions - Out of the Box" will take place at the Zurich University of the Arts. 36 participants will explore various aspects of contemporary music creation in an interactive way.
From August 2 to 4, the "Worlds Beyond Orchestra" will be working on the cross-style concert project "The Jazz Symphony" under the direction of Daniel Schnyder. From August 4 to 10, the string players will perform in clubs and at festivals in Switzerland and Austria.
The third project that Locartium is organizing this autumn is also under the direction of Daniel Schnyder. It is called "The Other Concert" and is aimed at young musicians, composers, improvisers, actors and dancers who are researching creative new forms for concert formats. The workshop will conclude with an original concert on September 7 at Moods in Zurich.
The projects "Inventions" and "The Other Concert" are supported by the Fondation SUISA and the Accentus Foundation, the project "The Jazz Symphony" by the Hirschmann Foundation. All projects are organized by the Loc.Artium association and take place in collaboration with the Swiss Youth Music Competition and the Association of European Music Competitions (EMCY). Selected young people between the ages of 17 and 24 are eligible to take part. The participation fee is moderate. The registration deadline is April 16. However, there are still a few places available for those who are quick to decide.
Proven activities
The existing range of "Follow Ups" will largely continue in 2023: There is the Ruth Burkhalter Foundation, which enables selected prizewinners to take part in the Junior Baroque Academy in Gstaad and awards an associated scholarship. The Hirschmann Foundation has been supporting participation in European masterclasses for years, and in 2023 will be supporting Daniel Schnyder's workshop.
In the European environment, there is also the opportunity to obtain an EMCY profile. EMCY, the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth, publishes on its homepage www.emcy.org The festival raises the profile of selected prizewinners and paves the way for them to perform at home and abroad.
The prizewinners also greatly appreciate the many opportunities to perform, including as part of the Herbst concert series at the Helferei, at the Lucerne Festival, at the Swiss Music Schools Association's Forum for Musical Education, at the Arbon Cultural Center and at the ESSE-Bar jazz club in Winterthur.
In the jazz and pop category, individual prizewinners are also given the opportunity to make a professional studio recording at the Jazz Campus Basel or the Zurich University of the Arts. Further activities for winners of the music competition can be found on the homepage www.sjmw.ch.
