Full of energy through the Aargau

Sometimes it entices with "Fuel", sometimes with "Night" or, as this year, with "Karma". Whatever motto the Aargau Youth Symphony Orchestra (JSAG) chooses for its tour programs, it always seems a little daring and promises something unusual. Under the artistic co-direction of conductor Hugo Bollschweiler and project manager Stefanie Braun, this orchestra with its 70 musicians aged between 16 and 26 is flying high. Both have set their sights high; in the recent past, both have made their mark with a clever, motivating program dramaturgy, which is also perceived abroad and which confirms the cultural canton of Aargau in the best possible way. Year after year, it is therefore a pleasure to see how much the young orchestra members grow in the classical-romantic concert repertoire as well as in newer and Aargau music.

But nothing comes from nothing. The JSAG and the Freiamt Youth Orchestra (JOF) under Anne-Cécile Gross are nurtured and cared for as part of a unique mediation and education project by Künstlerhaus Boswil, the "place of music", which is also the source of another renowned home-grown project: the Boswil Summer, initiated by Andreas Fleck. If you continue the circle from Boswil to Brugg, you inevitably end up with the Siggenthal Youth Orchestra (SJO) and its tireless director Marc Urech. Why is that important? Without Urech's encouragement, the six-piece klezmer band Otrava - some of whose members also play in the JSAG - would probably not exist. And in 2022, this connection will bear special fruit: the JSAG has entrusted Otrava with a world premiere - a concerto for klezmer band and orchestra.

Even for a clever ensemble like Otrava, which in its own words plays a "Balkan stew with a pinch of Pavarotti", this is no easy task. But they master it brilliantly and - framed by Franz Schubert's overture to the Magic harp and Igor Stravinsky's rarely performed Symphony in E flat major op. 1 - this special music can be heard in many shades. Mischa Tapernoux, composition/violin, Salome Etter, clarinet, Lukas Eugster, guitar, Romain Nussbaumer, trombone, Yves Ehrsam, percussion, and Caspar Streich, double bass, place themselves in the middle of the orchestra and lead it to the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, for whom klezmer was the musical expression of their longing for identity, for an emotional, spiritual and geographical home, their hope for "good karma". Lamentation, joy, ecstasy, dance and love mingle in exemplary fashion in A Glezele Vayn, Misirlou or in Geamparalele lui Mišaa Romanian dance in 7/8 time, which is based on the dance sequence short-short-long or 2-2-3. The music should be fast and ever faster, but above all virtuosic, according to the motto "more is more". This is exactly how it is played by the soloist sextet and the orchestra: The whipping rhythm is driven forward with exuberant playfulness which, thanks to Hugo Bollschweiler's careful direction, never gets out of control.

It's captivating and quickly gives rise to the thought: Couldn't this concert for klezmer band and orchestra become a trademark of the JSAG? However, the current members of Otrava are continuing their studies partly in Switzerland and partly abroad. Will they still have time to perform together? If not, who could succeed them? In any case, it would be a shame if this captivating work could no longer be heard apart from in Boswil, Lindau, Rheinfelden and Lenzburg, the stops on the Karma tour.

Another musical success story in the area is the Musikalische Begegnungen Lenzburg, MBL, which was founded in 1984. Whether at Lenzburg Castle, the Old Community Hall, the Alte Bleiche, the town church or the Kraftreaktor, this two-week festival focuses on a mix of orchestral concerts, chamber and vocal music, electronic music (with Ondes Martenot) as well as organ and brass concerts. Like the JSAG with "Karma", the MBL have an exciting motto: "Klangstrom - Stromklang". They were inspired by Städtische Werke, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year with the slogan "Experience a year full of energy". "Our festival," explain Andrea Hofstetter and Daniel Schaerer, who are the artistic directors, "aims to build a bridge from electrical energy from the socket to music." Each of the concerts therefore stands for a specific form of energy. The JSAG has an abundance of it, which is why it will also be playing at the opening on August 19 in Lenzburg and will certainly score points with the combination of emotion, passion and dynamism that is so typical of this ensemble.

The author attended the concert on August 7 in Boswil.
"Karma" can be heard again on August 19, 2022, 7.15 pm, at Lenzburg Castle:
https://www.kuenstlerhausboswil.ch/show-item/karma/