Top-class academy summer

08.07.2022

Press release

1922: Foundation of the IGNM August 1922. Salzburg becomes the first international meeting place for numerous contemporary composers - Rudolf Réti and Egon Wellesz organize "International Chamber Music Performances" at the Mozarteum. Béla Bartók, Paul Hindemith, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhauds, Ethel Smyth, Anton von Webern and many more meet at Café Bazar to establish the first international peace project in music after the First World War: On August 11, 1922, the International Society for New Music is founded - as an interest group for composers* and interpreters of contemporary music. "At the time of its founding, the society had a diplomatic purpose: to bring people together to experience music that had been banned four or five years earlier. The IGNM was a project of (new) listening. After the Second World War, the society then showed another facet: to actively promote high-modern music by young composers*, to break up old patterns and to work out something new," says musicologist and project manager of an IGNM exhibition on the occasion of the anniversary Matthew Werley. 2022: ARCO - Art, Research and Creation Opus Exactly 100 years later, the Mozarteum University, in cooperation with Gmem Marseille, is launching a new project dedicated to the intensive promotion of contemporary music: for the first time, the International Summer Academy 2022 will host ARCO - Art, Research and Creation Opus, a French-Austrian academy for contemporary composition. "ARCO is the further development from an academy for contemporary music founded by the French composer Yann Robin and the former German-French Summer Academy OPUS XXI, both of which followed the idea of placing highly renowned French ensembles alongside international young composers, towards a joint and professional finalization of their works up to the public performance. The state funding that ensembles in France receive for outreach work, the awarding of composition commissions and for concerts makes it possible to finance an extraordinarily high level of professionalism that would not be affordable in other contexts," explains Rector Elisabeth Gutjahr. The presidents of France and Austria have assumed patronage of the project. since 2019, selected participants in ARCO have been receiving intensive coaching and immediate feedback on their works in direct work with renowned coaches such as Henry Fourès, Eva Reiter, Yann Robin and Johannes Maria Staud, as well as the ensembles Les Métaboles, Ensemble Multilatérale and the Tana Quartet. ARCO has so far taken place twice in Marseille in a former tobacco factory - due to the pandemic - and in the future will alternate annually at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. The core team of ARCO focuses primarily on composition; this year, for the first time, vocalists from the Mozarteum University as well as a conducting student will also participate. "It really is a festival, very international and with top-class commissioned compositions. In this respect, it creates a very unique format that you won't find a second time," Elisabeth Gutjahr is pleased to say. the two academies not only offer a unique atmosphere for the participating musicians, but also hold an exciting summer in store for the audience. The two opening concerts will kick things off: ARCO on July 9 in the Max Schlereth Hall and the Summer Academy on July 11 in the Solitär. The ARCO program then leads to, among other things, a production at the Marionette Theater and a special concert experience at the Museum der Moderne. At Mirabellplatz 1, there will be small lunchtime concerts, and two large final concerts. "Visitors will experience an arc this summer over a program that begins very contemporary with ARCO, leads into the classical and romantic periods at the Summer Academy, and concludes with the competitions and events at the Festival - including a concert celebrating the 100th anniversary of the International Society for New Music and a special performance to mark its founding day at Café Bazar. In addition to the Festival, during the summer you can see young talent 'in real time' and be there live when something new is being created," says Elisabeth Gutjahr, describing the special features of this year's "Academy Summer" at the Mozarteum University. the details of the Summer Academy program have also already been determined: Alexander Gilman will perform a brilliant opening concert with his LGT Young Soloists, selected students will show their skills in the concert hall of Schloss Höch as part of the cooperation with the Flachau Municipality and the Cultural Association, and the intensive courses 'Young Excellence' guarantee a great program for the final concert on August 5," says Hannfried Lucke, Vice Rector of the Mozarteum University and artistic director of the Summer Academy. In addition to already familiar names, this year's program will also welcome new guests, including former Summer Academy laureate and concert pianist Herbert Schuch, violinist Latica Honda-Rosenberg, Graz pianist Markus Schirmer, Alexander Gilman, violin professor at the renowned Royal College of Music in London, cellist Valentin Radutiu, internationally acclaimed bass-baritone and KS Andreas Schmidt, and Munich violinist Barbara Doll. For the first time, all master classes and additional courses as well as concerts will be concentrated at Mirabellplatz 1, and the spatial separation of vocal and instrumental classes of past years will be eliminated; an exciting opportunity for new things and for even more intensive, interdisciplinary exchange between students and teachers. baroque Summer Academy in Siena For those who would like to experience the entire program of the International Summer Academy this summer, there is a special highlight coming up in September - SOAK goes Siena! Together with the Italian Accademia Musicale Chigiana, the Mozarteum University established the Baroque Summer Academy in 2021: Master Classes to deepen the study of Baroque music in Siena. Eight teachers from the Department of Early Music will travel to the musically glorious Italian city for concerts, master classes and an opera performed in concert, and together with the participants will create a program worth seeing as the "final festival" of the Summer Academy in Tuscany.