Ticino Musica Summer Festival

What is Ticino Musica? What is so special about this festival? To find out, you should take two weeks in the summer to experience the special atmosphere at the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland, to feel the spirit that spreads between a singing lesson here and a viola lesson there. Anyone who immerses themselves in this atmosphere realizes that Ticino Musica is one thing above all: dynamism and movement. The festival, led by Gabor Meszaros as artistic director since 2009, is taking place for the 21st time this year.

Slovenian composer Vito Žuraj, for example, gained his first experience abroad with Ticino Musica. The encounters he had with other musicians at that time are essential elements in what is now a great career for this artist. He is now a lecturer in instrumentation, music informatics, instrumentology, Gregorian chant and notation for contemporary music at the University of Music in Karlsruhe and has also been a professor of composition and music theory at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana since 2016, just like Michael Jarrel, whom Žuraj once met at a Ticino Musica master class.

Vito Žuraj remembers: "Ticino Musica was the first master class I attended; it was my first contact with the music world outside Slovenia. The encounter and exchange with composers outside my home country was the discovery of a new world for me, became a turning point in my work and set many things in motion: From then on, I began to develop my own musical language."

Žuraj subsequently took part in Ticino Musica three more times (2001 to 2003). Each time he worked together with other musicians. He is still in contact with them. His experience of Ticino Musica was always characterized by feverish activity, but also by contemplative calm. "The whole atmosphere is extremely inspiring for composers. You have time to work intensively and have the opportunity to do so with different teachers."
 

For pianist Gloria Campaner, the festival was once a summer highlight, the most important musical event in the summer months. "Ticino Musica meant a lot to me as I was growing up. I already took advantage of it in my early high school days. I came from a small tourist town on the Adriatic. The summer months there were hardly characterized by music. There was a lack of musical stimulation. Ticino Musica was a stroke of luck for me. I found the atmosphere beautiful and enriching. The contact with my teacher, colleagues, friends and other musicians was something precious. The atmosphere touched me deeply and led me not only to make music my profession, but also to see it as the meaning of life. The chamber music experiences at Ticino Musica were extremely important for me. They made me more and more curious to share music with others." Making music together, improving together: that is the secret of Ticino Musica's master classes. They are not just a school for music, they are also a school for life. "The encounters at Ticino Musica were also important for me. They often led to good and lasting friendships that still exist today. They often led to wonderful musical collaborations, as in the case of cellist Johannes Moser, whom I met for the first time 14 years ago at Ticino Musica."

The world-famous clarinettist Julian Bliss finds it important to make contacts and cultivate relationships at Ticino Musica. He particularly appreciated the fact that the learning experiences from the masterclasses were immediately put into practice at concerts organized by Ticino Musica in the centers of Lugano, Bellinzona and Locarno, but also in very remote locations. "It's so important to be able to perform. I thought the places where the concerts took place were simply beautiful. Playing Schubert or Sheperd on a mountain is something unique, an experience that I carry with me to this day." Even today, the clarinettist would advise any young musician to enrol in a Ticino Musica master class. Why? "You learn. You learn all the time. You also learn when you talk to another musician about why they play a certain piece in a certain way, what their secrets are."

Tuba virtuoso Ries Schellekens also considers attending a master class to be an essential experience, despite the fact that YouTube and social networks have become so important for musicians of the younger generation. "It's something completely different," he says. "I attended Rex Martin's master class: an unforgettable experience. The way he talked about his approach to the instrument really opened my eyes. It's still useful to me today for playing the instrument and also for teaching." According to Ries Schellekens, a young musician needs three things: ambition, perseverance and modesty. In his opinion, these three qualities are in line with the philosophy of Ticino Musica.

Daria Zappa from Minusio in Ticino knows that Ticino Musica is also a great opportunity for local musicians. "Ticino Musica made it possible for me to deepen my studies where I grew up." She had studied violin in Germany and in Freiburg i. Br. in particular. "At Ticino Musica, I worked with Franco Gulli: he was already over 70 at the time and his playing was excellent. The master class with him only lasted two weeks, but it was extremely intensive. I benefited a lot."

"Sometimes you learn more at these masterclasses and festivals through the combination of individual and group lessons than in a whole year," says Schellekens. "But one week is not enough, especially if you learn a completely new way of playing, as I did with Rex Martin. You need much more time to internalize what you've learned and put it into practice. Thanks to Ticino Musica, I made amazing progress and got one of the ten tuba positions in the Netherlands."

They are success stories as well as stories of friendships and encounters; above all, they are stories of a great love: the love of music. Ticino Musica nurtures this love and makes it blossom anew every summer.