Hochschule der Künste Bern

Ein Departement der Berner Fachhochschule

Newsletter HKB Music

March 2025

Dear music lovers

We will soon be in the diploma season with a large number of final productions, to which you are cordially invited. But there are still some other exciting projects to come before May, which you can read about here. 

Best regards - the HKB Music team 

Concert evening with Beat Furrer 

On this rich evening, HKB students will first present chamber music works (6 pm) and then further orchestral works (7.30 pm) by and with Beat Furrer at the conductor's desk, one of the most important Swiss composers of the present day. As the founder of Klangforum Wien, he has helped shape contemporary music in Europe. HKB lecturer Olivier Vivares will be the soloist in his 2019 clarinet concerto and singers from the Cantando Admont ensemble will also take part.  

Thu, 10.4.2025, 6 pm / 7.30 pm - Yehudi Menuhin Forum, Bern 

Clip: Playtime 2025

Playtime is an opportunity to experience a kind of annual showcase of the music department's work, which demonstrates the wide stylistic breadth of the programme and also serves as a testing ground for new formats. Our festival clip gives a brief insight into the 2025 edition, which took place in January.  

Concert with the HKB Chamber Orchestra

Under the direction of our lecturer Philip A. Draganov, the HKB Chamber Orchestra presents a brilliant programme of moving literature: Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires) by Astor Piazzolla (arr. Leonid Desyatnikov) and Der Tod und das Mädchen by Gustav Mahler. The soloists on stage are Elizaveta Zubenko, Iva Marinova, Gina Lanzerin and Marleen Gujer.

Sat, 26.4.2025, 7.30 pm - Yehudi Menuhin Forum, Bern 
Sun, 27.4.2025, 5 pm - Florhof Music Centre, Zurich

Personnel news

The following new lecturers will be teaching with us from the fall semester: The exceptional pianist Zlata Chochieva (successor to Tomasz Herbut), the Scottish tuba player Ross Knight (successor to Rex Martin) and the accordionist Janne Valkeajoki (successor to Teodoro Anzellotti). Anna Draganov and Magí Garcías will also be joining the piano accompaniment section. 

HKB Sound Arts at Archipel

Around twenty HKB students from the Sound Arts department will collaborate and support artists such as Natascha Diels, Tetsuya Umeda, Thierry Madiot and Vanessa Rossetto with their projects on site at the renowned Archipel Festival in Geneva. At the same time, students can perform their own works on an acousmonium and create contributions for the festival radio zine. And our wind-dynamic research organ will be given a special festival spot. 

Mon– Sun, 7–13.4.2025 – Geneva 

Keep up to date:

Picture above: The new students in the Master's degree programme in Opera present their first project at the Playtime Festival 2025 at Volkshaus Biel (photo: AS, HKB).

Picture below: As a tribute to Luigi Nono, the concert evening ‘Traveler, there is no road’ took place at Playtime 2025 (photo: PK, HKB). 

Bern Academy of the Arts, Music Division, Ostermundigenstrasse 103, 3006 Bern

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