Daniel FueterBorn 1949 in Zurich, piano studies at
the Zurich Conservatory and the then
Zurich College of Music. Teaching and
Concert Diplomas. Since 1973 active
both educationally and administratively
in music. Composer of incidental music, chansons,
songs, piano and chamber music, choral works and
music for theater. Larger works include an opera, an
operetta with libretto by Thomas Hürlimann, a chamber
opera on texts by Lukas Bärfuss and an oratorio
on a text by Jürg Jegge. Appears in concert as lied accompanist.
Teaches lied accompanying at the
Zurich University of the Arts. Father of two daughters,
grandfather of two granddaughters and one grandson.
Married to the pianist Eriko Kagawa.
Michael EidenbenzMichael Eidenbenz was born in 1962.
He is organist and was for many years
music jounalist for newspapers and publications,
among others music critic
for the Zurich Tages-Anzeiger and editor
of the periodical «Dissonance». Since 2007 he is
Director of the Music Department of the Zurich University
of the Arts.
Oliver HilmesOliver Hilmes, born in 1971, studied
History, Politics and Psychology in Marburg,
Paris and Potsdam. He completed
his doctorate with his work on the political
history of music and worked in the
Directorship Offices of the Berlin Philharmonic. His
books about contradictory and fascinating women,
«Widow in Delusion. The Life of Alma Mahler-Wergel»
and «Mistress of the Hill. The Life of Cosima Wagner»
were best sellers. His most recent work is entitled
«Franz Liszt: Biography of a Superstar». Invitations for
readings and presentations have brought Hilmes to
numerous cities within Germany and Austria and all
the way to Los Angeles. Oliver Hilmes is the manager
of the Karg-Elert Association.
Isabel MundryIsabel Mundry was born in 1963. She
studied composition in Berlin and
Frankfurt with Frank Michael Beyer,
Gösta Neuwirth and Hans Zender. After
several years in Paris and Vienna, she
taught composition and music theory in Frankfurt am
Main. She has been professor for composition at the
Zurich University of the Arts since 2004. She gave
master classes in Darmstadt, Copenhagen, Royaumont,
Tiflis, Japan and Korea, among other places. In
2002/03 she was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg
Berlin. She was Composer-in-Residence at the Lucerne
Festival, the Mannheim National Theater and the
Dresden Staatskapelle, to name a few. She ist a member
of the Berlin and Munich Academies of the Arts.
Her compositions are published by Breitkopf&Härtel.
Bernard FoccroulleBernard Foccroulle was born in 1953 in
Liège (Belgium). His international career
as a concert organist began in the
1970's. His repertoire extends from the
Renaissance to the present, as dozens
of first performances attest. He has made over 40 recordings.
Besides his career as concert organist and
composer of many works for the most varied instrumental
combinations, Foccroulle was, from 1992 to
2007, Artistic Director of the theater La Monnaie in
Brussels, an internationally well-known opera house.
Since 2006, he has directed the Festival of Aix-en-Provence.
In 2010 he was named professor of organ at the
Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels.
Roland WächterRoland Wächter's early musical experiences
date back to days as choir boy
in the Abbey School of Einsiedeln. At
university he studied German and English
language and literature. Since
1984, he has been music editor for Swiss Radio DRS
2. From 1995 to 2010 he was Chief Editor of the Music
Journalism Department, and in 2010 was named Music
Producer at Swiss Radio's Zurich Studio. He is the
author of numerous interviews, composer and performer
portraits, and reviews of concerts and CDs.
Notes.
(
On account of time constraints, this note will be added to in forthcoming days and I will post an announcement of finalisation)
Video of Cameron Carpenter
QuoteGreatest luxury is time. In order to achieve that one has to be commercially successful and channel that financial success back into one's work
CC is due to come to Zurich
Isabel Mundry - composer
People like noises and sounds that come from nowhere. . . . . For this reason (???not understood, missed???) the clarinet scores over the oboe. People like a creative concert - an organ plays for longer than a human life.
Roland Wachter
What is the importance of the organ in concerts? I'm a bit confuised wondering if organ concerts aren't happening or whether they are not perceived. There have been only 3 organ concerts in the Zurich Tonhalle in 20 years. I lack that data. On perceives that one has to travel to hear a concert. Difficult to say how they are percieved: on Swiss radio we never report on the organ - there are hardly any reports of organs or concerts. On RS2 we used to have organ music till 15 years ago but we polled our listener and no-one was listening to the programme. It was an early Sunday evening and an important prime slot, but everyone had turned off to it. So now there is no programme on organ music - but there is similarly no slot for choir or brass. It's seen as a special interest group. When do you pander to special intrerest groups? We deceided that the organ is best served with historic music such as Baroque: after 1750 there is a question mark. Organ music is less suitable after this date because the part of the organ within the ensemble is smaller.
Michael Eidenbenz
Is there such a thing as a typical audience? I know every single person in the audience of my concerts! (audiences are that small) They are usually colleagues. People just visit Zurich and come to cathedrals for an hour of silence. If the media don't report about organ concerts, people don't know what it's all about. There aren't people (journalists) who know anything about the repertoire. This symposium is one of the Big Events we have ever had in the organ world.
Bernard Foccroulle
We suffer from a separation from the music world. We see concerts of Baroque and other music getting full houses but with the organ we don't. My experience is opera - but organ is the opposite end of the spectrum. We are doing a Charpentier opera in Paris and then the next event comes to St Maximin to hear and experience how it was heard.
Continues . . . .
. . . continuation
Bernard Foccroulle
Shouldn't we be more proactive? Should we use the concert hall organ in different ways? Accompany dance? Video artists? Try to build something for concert halls in a way different to the traditional abstract organ concert? There is a big difference between Europe and Asia: there are few churches in Japan. Accordingly the organ is a concert hall instrument and concerts are experienced in a different way. In contrast Europe is the native place of organs and associated culture.
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Isabel Mundry
Expression of the terror of the instrument - the new composition we heard yesterday - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywRs__M6l4o with "soundsticks". Should one retain a link to tradition? * Do you count on heritage or in contrast rely on sound phenonomae? With the organ, the visibility of the artist is rare. The audience is exposed to only the sound and the organ is an instrument where everything is audible. The sound is either on or off - this element is frightening. The instrument is geared to harmony but modern music is harmonically poor. Compositional thinking has to be different for the organ. Composing for the organ made me develop as a composer.
* Mention of ??Matthias Steinhauer?? composer
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Michael Eidenbenz
As an organist how do you cope without being heard? People have no clue as to modern music or Baroque, so an audience do not approach these with any preconceived ideas. We experiment on our small numbers of church goers who are open eared.