Der österreichische Komponist Alfred Huber schreibt seit einiger Zeit an einer Symphonie zum Thema Widerstand gegen den Faschismus. Die Symphonie wird in ca. einem Jahr fertig sein. Parallel läuft eine Arbeit mit dem Studiengang Medientechnik der FH Oberösterreich. Remy Franck hat Alfred Huber dazu befragt.
Alfred Huber
Alfred Huber, Sie untersuchen mit Studierenden des Studiengangs Medientechnik und Design Bachelor der FH Oberösterreich in Hagenberg die Frage, ob nicht-vokale klassische Musik eine politische Botschaft vermitteln kann. Gleichzeitig schreiben Sie an einer Symphonie zum Thema Widerstand gegen den Faschismus. Damit haben Sie die Frage ja eigentlich schon beantwortet. Oder ist die Sache nicht so einfach?
Die Frage ist zu allererst, was ich grundsätzlich übermitteln will und was ich übermitteln kann. Kunst kann ja keine Fragen beantworten, sondern bestenfalls stellen. Was kann Musik im Wesentlichen aussagen? Wir denken, dass eine explizite Aussage mittels Musik gar nicht möglich ist. Und hier kommt die FH Oberösterreich, an welcher mein Sohn Johannes studiert, ins Spiel. Zur Symphonie entsteht gleichzeitig auch ein Film, sozusagen die Illustration des Inhalts. Read More →
Die Mezzosopranistin Corinna Scheurle und die Pianistin Klara Hornig haben ein Album aufgenommen mit Liedern zu den Themen Abschied, Schmerz und Vergänglichkeit. René Brinkmann sprach mit den beiden Musikerinnern darüber, warum sie sich gerade für diesen Themenkomplex für ihr Debütalbum entschieden haben und warum es auf dem Album gerade deshalb auch um die Schönheit und den Wert des Lebens geht.
Corinna Scheurle & Klara Hornig
(c) Simon Pauly
Auf Ihrem Album ‘Schwarze Erde’ setzen Sie die ungarische mit der austro-deutschen Liedtradition in Beziehung zueinander. Wie kamen Sie auf diese, auf den ersten Blick eher ungewöhnliche Kombination?
Corinna Scheurle (CS): Ich bin zweisprachig aufgewachsen, meine Mutter ist Ungarin. Ich wurde in Deutschland geboren, bin dann aber in Österreich groß geworden, insofern sind mir alle drei Kulturen und Sprachen vertraut. Als ich anfing, das ungarische Volks- und Kunstliedrepertoire zu erforschen, merkte ich, wie wunderbar und besonders und wie demzufolge zu Unrecht unterrepräsentiert diese Musik ist. Ich möchte gerne meinen Beitrag dazu leisten, dieses Repertoire öfter zu Gehör zu bringen. Read More →
Anastassia Boutsko from ICMA Jury member Deutsche Welle has made an interview with Serbian violinist Lana Zorjan, winner of the 2024 Discovery Award.
Lana Zorjan
You are just fifteen and already a seasoned musician who can look back on a great career: numerous solo appearances with great orchestras, major prizes… But how did it come that you are a musician?
That will probably sound almost too simple: I come from a family full of musicians. My parents are musicians, my dad is an opera singer, mother is a violinist, she’s a violin teacher. Both granddads are also musicians. Read More →
Filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon has been awarded a Special Achievement Award at the International Classical Music Awards 2024 (ICMA). Patrick Jézéquel from ICMA'sa French Jury member ResMusica, made the following interview.
Bruno Monsaingeon
(cx) Alexis Joly
Bruno Monsaingeon, at the very beginning of Filmer la musique, you legitimize your undertaking by saying that « if words stumble over sounds, images reinforce them. » Does that mean you’re filming as a musician, given that you’re a violinist?
I could never have made my films without my knowledge of the repertoires of the violin, the piano, the cello and the quartet. What’s more, as a filmmaker myself, I necessarily have a relationship with the score. The idea is not to make a documentary about music, but to film it for its own sake. Read More →
Die argentinische Querflötistin Maria Cecilia Muñoz und die kanadische Pianistin Tiffany Butt haben im März ihre neue CD Libertad: The Will to Freedom herausgebracht. Beatrice Ballin sprach mit Maria Cecilia Muñoz über diese Einspielung.
Maria Cecilia Muñoz
(c) Eve Grynberg
Ihre neue CD heißt Libertad – Freiheit. Was bedeutet Freiheit für Sie als Musikerin? Und was bedeutet Freiheit für Sie als Individuum?
Das ist eine interessante Frage, denn ich finde es schwierig, eine Grenze zwischen dem Musiker und dem Individuum zu ziehen. Statt von einer Trennung zwischen Musiker und Individuum zu sprechen, können wir von externen Aspekten sprechen, die hauptsächlich mit dem Kontext zusammenhängen, und von internen Aspekten, die mit den Prozessen der persönlichen Bildung und des Wachstums verbunden sind. Read More →
In 2024, the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra’s recording with Cyrille Dubois was awarded a prize at the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA). Máté Ur from ICMA jury member Papageno spoke with György Vashegyi, the artistic director of the two ensembles, about their award-winning recording and the Haydneum – Hungarian Centre for Early Music, which he founded.
György Vashegyi
(c) Csibi Szilvia
As a conductor, researcher, and leader of major Hungarian cultural institutions, you have a wide range of responsibilities. Which one is closest to you?
At about the age of 15, I decided that music would be my vocation, the most important thing in my life, after my family. I founded the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra in the early 1990s, when I was still a university student, and I also began my teaching career at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, and although I have conducted several symphony orchestras over the years and have been asked to conduct several times at the Hungarian State Opera, these ensembles are still of fundamental importance to me. Read More →
Guitarist Cassie Martin is the winner of the ICMA Classeek Award 2024. Charlotte Saulneron from the French Jury member ResMusica made the following interview with her.
Cassie Martin
Since 2018 Cassie Martin has traveled the world, won several awards, and participated in numerous festivals. Her repertoire combines early, contemporary and world music. As a Eurostrings artist in 2020, she took part in Gautier Capuçon’s Un été en France 2022 tour and then represented France in Sergio Assad’s The Woman and the Guitar project.
Your repertoire ranges from Bach to traditional world music: Brazilian, Austrian, Italian and French. Where do you want to go with your next project, be it on stage or on record?
I have a lot of plans. Of course, I’d like to continue introducing the public to the vast, little-known repertoire of the guitar, from the Baroque to the contemporary. One of my current concert programs is entitled La guitare à travers les siècles, in which I take the listener on a journey through time, showing all the facets of this beautiful instrument. Read More →
ICMA Artist of the Year Renaud Capuçon “My life is music. I constantly want to learn, to progress and to discover new things”
Renaud Capuçon is Artist of the Year 2024 of the International Classical Music Awards. One look at his touring calendar or discography is enough to understand the extraordinarily broad range of musical activity the French violinist is engaged in. Capuçon's activities go beyond soloist and chamber music work - he is a mentor, an artistic director of festivals, a conductor and artist committed to social and civic causes. The French musician remarkably managed to find time for a short conversation with Ariadna Ene-Iliescu, a collaborator of ICMA Jury member Radio România Muzical.
Renaud Capuçon
(c) Marc Ribes
You have been named Artist of the Year of the International Classical Music Awards. What does this award mean to you?
It’s a great honour for me, of course, as a musician, as a violonist. I’ve known this association and this prize for a long time and I was absolutely surprised, because I didn’t know that I would be nominated. So when I got it, I was very happy! It’s an honour and it’s also a responsibility for a musician in these times when classical music has to be really defended. Read More →
What in 2009 might have seemed like a utopian undertaking is now an established reality in the field of musicological research and musical production: Palazzetto Bru Zane. Stefano Pagliantini from the Italian ICMA Jury member Musica talked with Alexandre Dratwicki, scientific director of the French Romantic Music Centre Palazzetto Bru Zane whose recording label is Label of The Year at the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA).
Palazzetto
(c) Michele Crosera
2024 marks an important milestone for Palazzetto Bru Zane: 15 years of activity at the highest levels, label of the year at the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA), winner of the “Premiere recordings” section with the recording, in the usual and luxurious format of the book — CD, of Ariane by Jules Massenet. Read More →
Italian Orazio Sciortino (*Syracuse, 1984) has been chosen by the jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) for their annual Composer Award. He is a musician with a wide-ranging catalog and an intense dedication to the interpretation of the classical repertoire as a pianist. Ismael G. Cabral from the Spanish ICMA Jury member Scherzo made the following interview.
Orazio Sciortino
©Marco Perulli
At what point in your career does this ICMA award come to you?
It’s not easy to have a perception of yourself, of the road you have traveled. I think I might be able to answer that question in 20 years, or maybe more. I will be 40 years old, and that is a round and relevant number at which it might make sense to take stock. Read More →
