Valérie Probst

Valérie Probst, Secrétaire générale du Concours Suisse de Musique pour la jeunesse CSMJ, answers the questions of the Revue Musicale Suisse

Comment allez-vous après cette année ?

Improvisation is the order of the day, especially in professional life. Life is somewhat arrêtée. Informal meetings, spontaneity, friends, cultural life on a large scale - all of this is terribly lacking. We are used to everything, it's disturbing.

The lack of perspective is difficult to live with professionally. We plan as if normality were to return at any moment, hoping that our projects will not be canceled at the last minute. We are waiting for everything. All scenarios are possible. Déconstructing the projects is a task that requires a lot of energy. From a professional perspective, the cancellation of the 2020 competition and the failure to implement it was a difficult experience. We will do everything we can to ensure the 2021 competition runs smoothly.

Quel est votre souvenir le plus marquant de cette année de pandémie ?

I was in Zurich at the time of the first confinement. The city was quiet, silent, denuded of all circulation. It was very busy during this period, people were doing sports, taking advantage of the situation to do everything that was not possible to do in normal times. A kind of férierie and insouciance contrasted terribly with the drama of the situation linked to the pandemic. That impressed me a lot. I must say that at the time, no one imagined that this situation would last so long.

According to you, how has the pandemic changed the profession of musician or the work of your association?

I am only talking about our institution. By trying to adapt ourselves, we have been looking for solutions. In the case of the competition, digitalization was an unavoidable topic. This was discussed at length by the Classical Music Commission and the Board of Trustees. These fundamental and unavoidable questions of our time were to some extent anticipated by Pandémie and much of the work invested today will remain useful in the future. In our case, the identity of the project has been discussed. In my opinion, this remission in question has consolidated the consensus. We are a very united team at all levels and are convinced by the actuality of our commitment. This has been a very enriching experience. More than ever, we want to support young musicians in Switzerland, while remaining faithful to the very essence of our competition.

Quelle question aimeriez-vous poser au Conseil fédéral ou que voudriez-vous qu'il fasse pour relancer la vie musicale ?

A country like Switzerland must provide the necessary financial resources to compensate for the sanitary decisions taken by the Federal Council. If the confinements are unavoidable, if the extinction of all cultural life is indispensable, then all the institutions concerned must be compensated fairly. There are not only the concert halls that contribute to the cultural life of a country, but also the cafés, restaurants, theaters, meetings...