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Registration for BCC 2025 is open now!

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Registration for BCC 2025 is open now!

The fifth edition of the Basel Composition Competition (BCC) will take place from 30 January to 2 February 2025. Composers can register here on the website until 13 September 2024, and submit a new, unpublished work for chamber or symphony orchestra.

The distinguished jury consists of jury president and composer Michael Jarrell, as well as internationally renowned composers Liza Lim, Augusta Read Thomas, Andrea L. Scartazzini, and the director of the Paul Sacher Foundation Dr. Florian Besthorn. After the application deadline, they will select ten to twelve compositions, which will be announced on 30 September. In February 2025, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Basel Symphony Orchestera, and the Basel Sinfonietta will perform those at the Don Bosco Music and Cultural Center in Basel. The three to four best compositions will be awarded at a final concert on 2 February 2025 and will receive prize money totaling CHF 100,000, including an audience award, which will be presented for the first time in 2025. In previous years, Víctor Ibarra (2017), Benjamin Scheuer (2019), Yiqing Zhu (2021), and Leonardo Silva (2023) received the 1st prize.

In 2017–18 years after his death – Paul Sacher’s spirit will be revived once again as the most compelling works of the 21st century are brought to Basel for the first edition of BCC. No person is more representative of the Basel musical scene than Paul Sacher (1906-1999). He devoted himself tirelessly to the music of his century in his various roles as conductor, as commissioner of new works and as sponsor and member of numerous guilds and institutions. Amongst the works commissioned by Paul Sacher are Béla Bartók’s “Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta”, Bohuslav Martinů’s “Toccata e due Canzoni”, Igor Stravinsky’s “Concerto en ré” as well as Arthur Honegger’s Fourth Symphony. In 1973, Sacher founded the Paul Sacher Foundation which gained international reputation as a leading research institution after acquiring the estate of Igor Stravinsky and collections from Anton Webern and Bruno Maderna.

The jury for 2025 ist complete and the registration opens on 15 February 2024.

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The jury for 2025 ist complete and the registration opens on 15 February 2024.

We are delighted to have found two exceptional composers in Liza Lim and Augusta Read Thomas, who will complete the jury together with Michael Jarrell (President), Andrea Scartazzini and Florian Besthorn (Paul Sacher Foundation). Registration for the 2025 competition opens on 15 February. Further details and the updated regulations will be published on 31 January 2024.

The jury of the 4th Basel Composition Competition is happy to announce this year's winners:

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The jury of the 4th Basel Composition Competition is happy to announce this year's winners:

The jury of the 4th Basel Composition Competition is happy to announce this year's winners:

1st prize (CHF 60’000.-): «Lume» by Leonardo Silva (*1989, BR)

2nd prize (CHF 25’000.-): «- ~ minus ~ IX for five string quartets and ensemble» by Masato Kimura (*1981, JP)

Two 3rd prize (CHF 7500.- each): «Umbilical cord for Chamber Orchestra» by Nana Kamiyama (*1986, JP)  & «chameleon» by Jinseok Choi (*1982, KO)

INTRODUCTION

No person is more representative of the Basel musical scene than Paul Sacher (1906-1999). He devoted himself tirelessly to the music of his century in his various roles as conductor, as commissioner of new works and as sponsor and member of numerous guilds and institutions. Amongst the works commissioned by Paul Sacher are Béla Bartók’s “Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta”, Bohuslav Martinů’s “Toccata e due Canzoni”, Igor Stravinsky’s “Concerto en ré” as well as Arthur Honegger’s Fourth Symphony.
In 1973, Sacher founded the Paul Sacher Foundation which gained international reputation as a leading research institution after acquiring the estate of Igor Stravinsky and collections from Anton Webern and Bruno Maderna.

In 2017–18 years after his death – Paul Sacher’s spirit will be revived once again as the most compelling works of the 21st century are brought to Basel for the first edition of “Basel Composition Competition” (BCC), an international event open to the public, conceived and organised by Artistic Management GmbH in cooperation with the Paul Sacher Foundation and directed by the Head Juror, Wolfang Rihm. Since then the competition was held four times. President of the jury is Swiss composer Michael Jarrell.

During the selection process, the jury will shortlist ten to twelve pieces to be performed at the competition by the the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra and the Basel Sinfonietta. The three winning works shall be awarded monetary prizes totalling CHF 100,000. 

THE NEXT EDITION OF “BASEL COMPOSITION COMPETITION” WILL TAKE PLACE FROM 30 JANUARY TO 2 FEBRUARY 2025.

 

COMPETITION

The “Basel Composition Competition” was created in honour of Paul Sacher, inviting musicians of all ages and nationalities to bring their works to Basel for their world premiere. Three of these works will be selected through a careful process during the period of February 2025 and will then be awarded monetary prizes at the closing ceremony. 

The competition regulations 2025 can be downloaded here (PDF).
Le règlement du concours 2025 peut être téléchargé ici (PDF).
Las bases del concurso 2025 se pueden descargar aquí (PDF).
Das Wettbewerbsreglement 2025 kann hier heruntergeladen werden (PDF).

Percussion list Basel Chamber Orchestra (2025) (PDF).
Percussion list Symphony Orchestration (2025) (PDF).

AWARDS

The three winning compositions shall receive the following prizes at the closing ceremony:

First Prize: CHF 60,000
2017: Víctor Ibarra (*1978): "In Memoriam"
2019: Benjamin Scheuer (*1987): "versungen"
2021: Yiqing Zhu (*1989): "DeepGrey"
2023: Leonardo Silva (*1989) "Lume"

Second Prize: CHF 25,000
2017: Pasquale Corrado (*1979): "After last October"
2019: Alex Nante (*1992): "Helles Bild"
2021: Artur Akshelyan (*1984): "Three Pieces for Orchestra"
2023: Masato Kimura (*1981): "- ~ minus ~ IX for five string quartets and ensemble"

Third Prize: CHF 15,000
2017: Hannah Hanbiel Choi (*1982): "Hide and Seek"
2019: Takuya Imahori (*1978): "Con Mille fiori che sbocciano così belli"
2021: Miguel Morate (*1978): "COMME S'EN VA CETTE ONDE"
2023: Nana Kamiyama (*1986): "Umbilical cord for Chamber Orchestra"  & Jinseok Choi (*1982):  "chameleon" (both receive a prize money of each CHF 7500.-) 

The finalists shortlisted to participate in the Competition shall be awarded an acknowledgement of CHF 1,000 each (the awards are inclusive of the recognition prize).

JURY 2025

MICHAEL JARRELL

Head Juror, Composer

MICHAEL JARRELL

Head Juror, Composer

Born in Geneva in 1958, Michael Jarrell studied composition at the Geneva Conservatory with Eric Gaudibert and at various workshops in the United States (Tanglewood, 1979). He completed his training with Klaus Huber at the Freiburg Staatliche Hochschule für Musik im Brisgau. Starting in 1982, his works have received numerous prizes: prix Acanthes (1983), Beethovenpreis from the city of Bonn (1986), Marescotti prize (1986), Gaudeamus (1988), Henriette Renié (1988), Siemens- Förderungspreis (1990) and Musikpreis der Stadt Wien (2010).

Between 1986 and 1988, he was in residence at the Cité des Arts in Paris and took part in the computer music course at Ircam. He resided at the Villa Médicis in Rome during 1988/89, and then joined the Istituto Svizzero di Roma in 1989/90. From October 1991 to June 1993, he was composer in residence with the Lyon Orchestra. Beginning in 1993, he became professor of composition at the University in Vienna. In 1996, he was composer in residence at the Lucerne festival, and then was heralded by the Musica Nova Helsinki Festival, which dedicated the festival to him in 2000.

In 2001, the Salzburg Festival commissioned a concerto for piano and orchestra entitled “Abschied”. The same year, he was named "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres". In 2004, he was named professor of composition at the Geneva Conservatory.

    LIZA LIM

    Composer

    LIZA LIM

    Composer

    Liza Lim (*30.8.1966 Perth / Australia) is a composer, educator and researcher whose music focusses on collaborative and transcultural practices. The roots of beauty (in noise), time effects in the Anthropocene and the sensoria of ecological connection are ongoing concerns in her compositional work. 

    Her four operas: The Oresteia (1993), Moon Spirit Feasting (2000), The Navigator (2007) and Tree of Codes (2016), and the major ensemble work Extinction Events and Dawn Chorus(2018) explore themes of desire, memory, ritual transformation and the uncanny. Her genre-crossing percussion ritual/opera Atlas of the Sky (2018), is a work involving community participants that investigates the emotional power and energy dynamics of crowds.

    Liza Lim has received commissions from some of the world’s pre-eminent orchestras and ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC, SWR and WDR Symphony Orchestras, Ensemble Musikfabrik, ELISION, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, International Contemporary Ensemble, Arditti String Quartet and JACK Quartet. She was Resident Composer with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2005 and 2006. Her music has been featured at the Spoleto Festival, Miller Theatre New York, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Venice Biennale, Lucerne Festival, and at all the major Australian festivals.

    Her Annunciation Triptych, performed in 2022 under the direction of Cristian Mâcelaru in its entirety for the first time, draws a broad line from the Greek poet Sappho to Mary, the virgin Mother of God, to Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed, founder of Islam. The composer considers the stories of these three women as comments on ecological, spiritual and transcultural issues of our times. To Liza Lim, who grew up as the daughter of Chinese parents in Australia and has taught intermittently in Europe, relations between different cultures have been a life-long subject of interest. 

    Lim is Professor of Composition and inaugural Sculthorpe Chair of Australian Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where she leads the ‘Composing Women’ program. 

    Recognition for her work includes the Don Banks Award for Music (2018), the Peggy Glanville Hicks Residency (1995), Paul Lowin Prize for Orchestral Composition (2004), Fromm Foundation Award (2004) and DAAD Artist-in-residence Berlin (2007-08). She has been awarded the 2021 Happy New Ears Prize of the Hans and Gertrud Zender Foundation and is a Fellow of the Wissenschaftskollleg zu Berlin in 2021-22.

    Her music is published by Casa Ricordi Berlin and on CD labels such as Kairos, Hat Art, WERGO, HCR and Winter & Winter.

      AUGUSTA READ THOMAS

      Composer

      AUGUSTA READ THOMAS

      Composer

      The music of Augusta Read Thomas (b. 1964 in New York) is nuanced, majestic, elegant, capricious, lyrical, and colorful — "it is boldly considered music that celebrates the sound of the instruments and reaffirms the vitality of orchestral music" (Philadelphia Inquirer).

      A composer featured on a Grammy winning CD by Chanticleer and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Thomas’ impressive body of works “embodies unbridled passion and fierce poetry” (American Academy of Arts and Letters). The New Yorker magazine called her "a true virtuoso composer." Championed by such luminaries as Barenboim, Rostropovich, Boulez, Eschenbach, Salonen, Maazel, Ozawa, and Knussen, she rose early to the top of her profession. The American Academy of Arts and Letters described Thomas as “one of the most recognizable and widely loved figures in American Music."

      She is a University Professor of Composition in Music and the College at The University of Chicago. Thomas was the longest-serving Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for conductors Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez (1997-2006). This residency culminated in the premiere of Astral Canticle, one of two finalists for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Music. During her residency, Thomas not only premiered nine commissioned orchestral works, but was also central in establishing the thriving MusicNOW series, through which she commissioned and programmed the work of many living composers. For the 2017-2018 concert season, Thomas was the Composer-in-Residence with the Eugene Symphony Orchestra, while Francesco Lecce-Chong served as Music Director and Scott Freck as Executive Director. Thomas was MUSICALIVE Composer-in-Residence with the New Haven Symphony, a national residency program of The League of American Orchestras and Meet the Composer.

      Thomas won the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, among many other coveted awards. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Thomas was named the 2016 Chicagoan of the Year.

      In 2016, Augusta Read Thomas founded the University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Composition, which is a dynamic, collaborative, and interdisciplinary environment for the creation, performance and study of new music and for the advancement of the careers of emerging and established composers, performers, and scholars. Distinguished by its formation within an uncompromising, relentlessly searching, and ceaselessly innovative scholarly environment, which celebrates excellence and presents new possibilities for intellectual dialogue, the Center comprises ten integrated entities: annual concert series featuring the Grossman Ensemble, CHIME, visiting ensembles, distinguished guest composers, performances, recordings, research, student-led projects, workshops and postdoctoral fellowships.

      Not only is Thomas one of the most active composers in the world, but she is a long-standing, exemplary citizen with an extensive history of being deeply committed to her community. She is the former Chairperson for the American Music Center; Vice President for Music, The American Academy of Arts and Letters; and Member of the Conseil Musical de la Foundation Prince Pierre de Monaco.

      In February 2015, music critic Edward Reichel wrote, "Augusta Read Thomas has secured for herself a permanent place in the pantheon of American composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. She is without question one of the best and most important composers that this country has today. Her music has substance and depth and a sense of purpose. She has a lot to say and she knows how to say it — and say it in a way that is intelligent yet appealing and sophisticated."

      Recent and upcoming commissions include those from the Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with the San Francisco Opera and other opera companies, PEAK Performances at Montclair State University and the Martha Graham Dance Company, The Cathedral Choral Society of Washington D.C., The Indianapolis Symphony, Tanglewood, The Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony, Boston Symphony, the Utah Symphony, Wigmore Hall in London, JACK quartet, Third Coast Percussion, Spektral Quartet, Chicago Philharmonic, Eugene Symphony, the Danish Chamber Players, Notre Dame University, Janet Sung, Lorelei Vocal Ensemble, and the Fromm Foundation. 

      Thomas has the distinction of having her work performed more frequently in 2013-2014 than any other living ASCAP composer, according to statistics from the performing rights organization (New York Times). Her discography includes 90 commercially recorded CDs.

       

        ANDREA L. SCARTAZZINI

        Composer

        ANDREA L. SCARTAZZINI

        Composer

        Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini (born 1971 in Basel) read German and Italian studies at the University of Basel and studied composition under Rudolf Kelterborn (Basel) and Wolfgang Rihm (Karlsruhe). As part of his studies, he also attended the Royal Academy of Music in London for a semester in 1999/2000.

        In 2004, he was composer in residence at Witten/Herdecke University, and in 2011 and 2018 an artist in residence at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai; in 2012/13 he was a Fellow of the International House of Artists Villa Concordia in Bamberg.

        He has won numerous awards, including the Composers’ Prize of the Ernst von Siemens Foundation in Munich, the Jacob Burckhardt Prize of the Goethe Foundation in Basel, and the Alexander Clavel Prize, Riehen.

        His works have been performed at major festivals (the Salzburg Easter Festival, Lucerne Festival, International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, Prague Premieres and elsewhere) by many ensembles and orchestras (including Quatuor Diotima, Collegium Novum Zürich, Ensemble Contrechamps, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Phoenix, Kammerorchester Basel, basel sinfonietta, Berner Symphonieorchester, Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and others).

        His major works are the operas “Wut” (Theater Erfurt 2006, Theater Bern 2010), “Der Sandmann” (Theater Basel 2012, Oper Frankfurt 2016) and “Edward II” (Deutsche Oper Berlin 2017).

        Scartazzini is to collaborate with the Jena Philharmonic over several years, having become its composer in residence in the autumn of 2018. He is engaged in a multi-part work with references to the Gustav Mahler cycle, which is to be performed by Simon Gaudenz and the Jena Philharmonic in collaboration with other orchestras.

          DR. FLORIAN BESTHORN

          Director of Paul Sacher Foundation

          DR. FLORIAN BESTHORN

          Director of Paul Sacher Foundation

          Dr Florian Henri Besthorn received his musical education in his hometown of Munich, after which he studied the humanities, finishing in 2016 with a musicological dissertation at the University of Basel. In addition to his academic research, he has been a lecturer at various chamber music courses and a conductor for youth orchestras. He has been director of the Paul Sacher Foundation since the summer of 2022; previously he researched and worked at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and the Humboldt University in Berlin, among others. Research interests, lectures and publications focussed on 20th/21st century music, conductor figures in the 20th century, sketch research and the interaction between composers and writers.

            FAQ

            • FOR WHICH INSTRUMENTATION SHOULD I COMPOSE?

              The BCC will consider new orchestral works for chamber orchestra or symphony orchestra. Make sure to read the competition regulations very carefully in order to make sure that your work is eligible for the competition. Chamber music works and orchestral works are treated equally in the selection process.

            • MAY I SUBMIT A PREVIOUSLY COMPOSED WORK?

              The competition is open to new, non-premiered works. Previously unfinished compositions finished in time for the competition may be submitted, as long as they have not yet been premiered in whole or in part and haven't received any prize yet.

            • CAN I SUBMIT A WORK THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN PUBLISHED?

              The BCC will consider new orchestral works with the following instrumentation which have never previously been performed (in whole or in part) and have never won an award. The work may already have been published, but it must be ensured that the BCC holds the performance and recording rights.

            • MAY I SUBMIT A WORK ONLY FOR STRINGS?

              A work composed solely for strings is acceptable. However, the section should be at least 4-3-2-2-1 and must not exceed the chamber orchestra instrumentation of 6-6-4-4-2.

            • WHEN ARE THE DEADLINES?

              The deadline for the registration and the submission of the scores (electronic form and hard copy) is the 13 September 2024. The competition will take place form 30 January until 2 February 2025.

               

            • MUST ALL SPECIFIED INSTRUMENTS BE FEATURED?

              The exact instrumentation for all of the three orchestras is specified in the regulations. Exceptions are not allowed. Works for solo instruments and orchestra will not qualify.  

            • WHICH WOODWIND INSTRUMENTS CAN BE USED? AND WHICH OF THEM AS SECONDARY INSTRUMENT?

              For the chamber music instrumentation the following woodwind instruments may be included (as indicated also as secondary instrument (only 1 / player)):
              Flute, Piccolo, Alto Flute
              Oboe, Cor Anglais
              Clarinet, E flat Clarinet, Bass Clarinet (only 1 player)
              Bassoon, Contrabassoon (only 1 player & not as secondary instrument)

              for the symphony orchestra instrumention the following woodwind instruments may be included (as indicated also as secondary instrument):
              Flute, Piccolo (only 2nd & 3rd player), Alto Flute (only 2nd & 3rd player)
              Oboe, Cor Anglais (only 3rd player)
              A/Bb Clarinet, Eb Clarinet (only 1st player), Bass Clarinet (only 3rd player)
              Bassoon, Contrabassoon (only 3rd player)

            • IS IMPARTIALITY GUARANTEED BY ANONYMITY?

              In order to evaluate the submitted compositions regardless of the composer’s personality, the Jury shall review them anonymously. The composers’ name shall only be revealed upon announcement of the nominated works. All applicants are requested to submit their scores without featuring their name. The composer’s full name and address should be included in the envelope or a separate sheet of paper enclosed with the application, so the Competition Bureau may process the application correctly. 

            • MAY I SUBMIT THE FULL SCORE ELECTRONICALLY?

              The full score must be submitted in print or in manuscript. Please send one copy to the address Stiftung Basel Composition Competition c/o Artistic Management GmbH, Eptingerstrasse 27, CH-4052 Basel within the deadline (the date of the postmark is irrelevant). Furthermore, the score or manuscript must also be uploaded in electronic form during the registration process to the registration plattform on 442hz.com . 

            • Why does the score have to be submitted in printed form?

              For a careful evaluation and selection by the jury, the jury insists on seeing the scores in printed form. Unfortunately, it is not possible to have the score printed by the competition office. It is therefore necessary to send a hard copy or the manuscript by post. The score does not necessarily have to be bound, but it is important that it is legible, otherwise it cannot be judged.

            CONCERTS

            The culmination of the Basel Composition Competition will be the four-day finals, featuring the world premiere of twelve new works. Three to four of these compositions shall receive awards.

            CONCERTS 2025

            TICKET BOOKINGS

            Tickets for 2025 will be on sale on kulturticket.ch and other standard pre-sale establishments in Basel in December 2024.

            CONDUCTORS 2025 & ORCHESTRAS

            Roland Kluttig

            Conductor

            Roland Kluttig

            Conductor

            As "one of the few conductors in the world who performs the newest music as adeptly as Beethoven, Wagner, and Sibelius" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), Roland Kluttig can be experienced on international stages in opera and concert with a wide-ranging repertoire. A particular focus of his work are the compositions of Schumann, Wagner, Berg, Debussy, Janáček, and Sibelius. 

            In the 2023/24 season, he will make his debut with the Lower Saxony State Orchestra Hannover and the Bremen Philharmonic. With the RSO Vienna, he performs at Wien Modern, among others; re-invitations also take him to the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Staatsorchester Stuttgart, the hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, the Czech Philharmonic Choir and Philharmonic Orchestra Brno, the Theater Heidelberg, and the Norrlandsoperan and Wermland Opera in Sweden. With the latter, he will intensify his collaboration as Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Advisor from 2024. 

            After very successful productions of Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-Bleue and Szymanowski's Król Roger at the Graz Opera, he served as principal conductor there from 2020 to 2023. The Austrian premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas' opera Morgen und Abend and Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman and Janáček's Katja Kabanova stand out from this period, as do concerts with the Graz Philharmonic at the Musikverein Graz and the Konzerthaus Wien. In 2021, moreover, his conducting of Morton Feldman's Neither at the Salzburg Festival with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna was hailed in the press as a "stellar hour."

            During his time as General Music Director at the Landestheater Coburg (2010 - 2020), productions of Wagner's Lohengrin and Parsifal attracted national interest. He was nominated as Conductor of the Year by Opernwelt magazine for his conducting of Beethoven's Fidelio. Since 2000, he has enjoyed a close collaboration with the Stuttgart State Opera. Among other things, he brought out the spectacular new production of Strauss' Salome there in 2015 and a new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in 2019.

            Roland Kluttig has also been invited as a guest conductor at the Frankfurt Opera (Euryanthe) the Hamburg State Opera (Die tote Stadt) the Leipzig Opera, the Mannheim National Theater, the Opéra Nice Côte d'Azur, the Opéra national du Rhin, the Swedish Norrlandsoperan (Wozzeck and Peter Grimes); in concert he has worked with the Philharmonia Orchestra London, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Prague Philharmonia, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and many others.

            His recordings of Schoenberg's Moses und Aron with the Stuttgart State Opera and Weinberg's The Passenger with the Graz Opera received very positive reviews in the international press. He has also recorded works by less prominent composers whose music is close to his heart, including Erwin Schulhoff with the DSO Berlin and Silvestre Revueltas with the Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, of which he was Musical Director in the 1990s. Roland Kluttig studied in Dresden and has been sponsored by the Eötvös Institute, the Conductors' Forum of the German Music Council, the Akademie Schloss Solitude and the Herbert von Karajan Foundation.  

              Tito Ceccherini

              Conductor

              Tito Ceccherini

              Conductor

              Italian conductor Tito Ceccherini has made a name for himself especially with interpretations of works from the 20th Century as well as contemporary repertoire. He skilfully combines a focus on details with an understanding of the larger structure of a work - the Deutschlandfunk, for example, hailed his interpretation of Janáček's From the House of the Dead: "Tito Ceccherini crystallises (...) these disparate but tremendously colourful musical levels with aplomb and precision and does not lose sight of the overall architecture of the three-act work".

              In the season 2023/24 Tito Ceccherini returns to the Orchestra della Toscana, and will conduct the world premiere of a piano concerto by Federico Gardella as well as works by Sibelius and Nielsen with the Deutschen Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in Rockenhausen and Mannheim. Compositions by Filidei and Sibelius are programmed for a concert with the Orchestra dell’Opera Carlo Felice in Genoa, and he leads a new opera by Lucia Ronchetti with the SWR Symphony Orchestra at the Schwetzinger SWR Festspielen. He will also be a guest again with the Remix Ensemble and the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música in Portugal.

              In opera he celebrated a great success with Jenske Mijnssen’s new production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites at the Opera Zurich in spring 2022, following his first invitation at the house with Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre in 2019. He gave his house debuts at Theater Basel with Verdi’s La Traviata (direction: Benedikt von Peter) in 2022 as well as at the Staatsoper Stuttgart with Janáček’s Katja Kabanova in 2023 (direction: Jossi Wieler/Sergio Morabito). Since 2009 he has been working regularly at Teatro La Fenice in Venice where he conducted works such as Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (2020), Sciarrino’s Luci mie traditrici (2019), Battistelli’s Richard III (2018; direction: Robert Carsen, winner of the Franco Abbiati Music Critics Award), Krenek’s Gefalo e Pocri (2017), and Sciarrino’s La porta della legge (2014). Other houses where he has been a reoccurring guest include Oper Frankfurt (Bellini I puritani 2018, Janáček Aus einem Totenhaus 2018, Strawinsky The Rake’s Progress 2017) as well as Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse (Mozart Entführung aus dem Serail 2017, Berlioz Béatrice et Bénédict 2016, Dallapiccola Il prigioniero / Bartók Blue Beard’s Castle 2015 – direction: Aurélien Bory). Following the sensational world premiere of Sciarrino’s Da gelo a gelo at the Schwetzinger Festspiele in 2006, he led numerous premiers and first performances including most recently Lucia Ronchetti’s Inferno at Oper Frankfurt in 2021.

              Tito Ceccherini emerges also as conductor of international renowned symphony orchestras. As such he has worked with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Orquesta Estable del Teatro Colón, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, the Radio Orchestras of Stuttgart, Cologne, Frankfurt and Turin as well as many other leading orchestras in Italy, Spain and Portugal. Among his regular partners are the most important ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble intercontemporain, Collegium Novum Zurich or Ensemble Contrechamps.

              Tito Ceccherini is founder of the Ensemble Risognanze, with whom he performs master works of the chamber music repertoire from Debussy to today documented on several CDs. His extensive discography includes recordings with Sony, Kairos, Col legno and Stradivarius, who have been awarded with the Diapason d’or, the Midem Classical Award and the Choc du Monde de la Musique among others.

              Born in Milan he studied piano, composition and conducting in his home town at the Conservatorio "Giuseppe Verdi“ before he continued his education in St. Petersburg (Russia), Stuttgart and Karlsruhe (Germany).

                Pablo Rus Brosceta

                Conductor

                Pablo Rus Brosceta

                Conductor

                Rus Broseta studied composition and saxophone at the Conservatory of his native Valencia, with further studies in conducting in Lyon, at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and Universität der Künste Berlin; and he has received invaluable guidance from Bernard Haitink, Pierre Boulez, François-Xavier Roth, David Zinman, Kurt Masur, and Steven Sloane. 

                He served as Assistant Conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège in the 2009/10 season, and the Dutch National Opera Academy in 2010. In 2011, he founded the Spanish chamber orchestra Grup Mixtour, which he still directs today. There, he aims to revitalize concert experiences through eclectic programming of music from different eras and with diverse aesthetics. He previously served as Assistant and then Associate Conductor of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.

                Pablo Rus Broseta is music director of the Orquestra de la Generalitat Valenciana and regularly works with orchestras such as the WDR Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfónica de Porto and the Ensemble Modern and performs at festivals such as Klangspuren Schwaz, the Festival Musica in Strasbourg, the Donaueschinger Musiktage and the Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik.

                His repertoire ranges from Rameau to John Adams, with a particular focus on the symphonic repertoire. In recent years, he has had the opportunity to work closely with composers such as Wolfgang Rihm, Hans Zender, Thomas Adès, Magnus Lindberg, Francisco Coll and Pierre Boulez.

                  BASEL SINFONIETTA

                  BASEL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

                  BASEL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

                  EDUCATION PROGRAMME

                  They become visible at the latest at the competition concerts: all those students from the high schools of the region who have been up close and personal with “their” composers for a week as part of the Basel Composition Competition, accompanying them during their performance in Basel. 

                  Since its first iteration, the Basel Composition Competition has been performing extensive mediation work relating to New Music. This work is organised as a “sponsorship project”: each nominated composer is allocated to a school class, which grapples with the work in the run-up to the festival and does so intensively during the rehearsal and concert phase. 

                  This form of mediation achieves the students’ direct identification with their composer, allowing low-threshold access to the latest New Music at a very personal level. There is also an opportunity for the accompanying teacher to put together during festival week an individual programme tailored to the current level of knowledge of the class, and to its needs and workload. 

                  Beat Kunz, education programm management
                  beat.kunz@baselcompetition.com

                  Download PDF

                  Link to Look Back

                   

                  Video about the Education Project 2023

                  • read more

                    Thanks to the generous support of foundations and sponsors the students attend all the BCC concerts for free – but the innovative format of the BCC mediation work provides not only opportunities for attending concerts, but also for central conversations with musicians, attending orchestral rehearsals, interviews with the composers and exchanges with other participating classes. For once the students are not just invited to concerts, they also invite “their” composer to their school, where the music creators answer the young people’s critical, humorous and sometimes quite challenging questions. 

                    At the BCC concerts one ultimately encounters optimally prepared and informed young people in the audience, who are among the most attentive listeners, sharing “their” composers’ excitement and joyfully congratulating them on success in the competition. 

                    The participating classes process their impressions of festival week and all their encounters in the course of the Basel Composition Competition in the form of an Instagram story (e.g. https://www.instagram.com/alex.nante/), in the framework of concert reports, large-format posters, a documentary film, illustrations, visualisations or a podcast. 

                    A festival like the Basel Composition Competition offers high school students the unique opportunity of a week-long deep-dive together with their teachers into the field of “New Music” and thereby to 

                    experience for once in their full impressiveness the novel, unfamiliar and exciting sounds of contemporary music, to question their own listening habits and to refine their personal reflections about music. 

                  • Statements

                    «Many students are not aware that one can still be a professional composer today. When young people now get to know such a person in the course of the Basel Composition Competition and are granted insight into this unusual artistic way of life, completely new perspectives of the development, impact and purpose of “New Music” are opened up. The contemporary (and yet entirely analogue) handling of instruments of all kinds is unfamiliar to most students, just like their notation. – How does one in fact read a work that can’t be heard on any recording…?»

                    Nathalie Spörri-Müller, music teacher at Kirschgarten high school

                     

                    «“ always found making young people curious about “New Music” or “Contemporary Music” in the classroom a little dry. I was therefore delighted to get the chance to invite a contemporary composer. And then suddenly there’s a flesh-and-blood person standing there in the room! Bringing his lustre with them, his strange ideas. We accompany him to his competition. We share his excitement. And at the end we are happy with him or disappointed. But I see it in my students: this experience with New Music is not just “school” – it will remain a little part of their life. What more could a music teacher want?»

                    Martin Metzger, music teacher at Bäumlihof high school

                  • The key points of the sponsorship project in brief

                    In the run-up to the Basel Composition Competition: 
                    - Contact between teacher/class and composer 
                    - First acquaintance with the work (all classes receive free study scores) 

                    During festival week (rehearsal phase): 
                    - Composer visits class 
                    - Class attends rehearsals 
                    - Conversations with orchestral musicians possible by arrangement 

                    Concerts during festival week: 
                    - Each class attends the festival concert of “their” composer 
                    - The class takes part – in consultation with their teacher – in the finale and the award ceremony. 

                    After the Basel Composition Competition: 
                    The students process their impressions in the form of a concert report, a poster, a (video) documentary, etc. 

                  PARTNER

                  PAUL SACHER FOUNDATION

                  The Paul Sacher Foundation was founded in 1973. At first its purpose was to preserve Paul Sacher’s musical library. A short while later, the holdings began to be systematically expanded, and its purpose started to change. Today, the Foundation is an international research centre for the music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with close to 120 estates and collections from leading composers and performers.

                  The main purpose of the Paul Sacher Foundation resides in the optimum care and study of its source materials. The Foundation also facilitates and supports scholarly research into its archival holdings by granting access to the documents available on its premises. 

                  The house situated at the Münsterplatz in Basel is equipped with several reading rooms, storage depots, and a special air-conditioned storeroom to house the original documents.
                  The Foundation has also built up a large library specialising in twentieth- and twenty-first-century music. Like the associated record library and video collection, this library is kept up-to-date on a regular basis to ensure that the standard literature is always ready to hand. The Foundation also engages in the scholarly investigation and study of its holdings through projects and publications of its own.

                  More Information: paul-sacher-stiftung.ch

                  University of Music FHNW

                  In cooperation with the University of Music FHNW, pre-concerts with focus on the works of current jury members are organized.

                  THANKS TO

                  CONTACT

                  TEAM

                  The “Basel Composition Competition” is run by Artistic Management GmbH and shall take place in Basel.

                  Basel Composition Competition
                  c/o Artistic Management GmbH
                  Eptingerstrasse 27
                  CH-4052 Basel

                   

                  CHRISTOPH MÜLLER

                  Artistic Manager

                    BEAT KUNZ

                    Education Project Manager

                    SPONSORSHIP

                    Foundation Basel Composition Competition

                    Sabine Duschmalé - President
                    Christoph Müller - Member of the Board
                    Franziskus Theurillat - Member of the Board

                     

                    PRESS

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                    T: +41 61 202 75 33
                    M: +41 78 890 1993
                    helene@artisticmanagement.eu

                    Ophelias Culture PR
                    Ulrike Wilckens
                    T: +49 (89 67 97 10 50
                    letter@ophelias-pr.com

                     

                    Press release and file 15 February 2024

                     

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