Haute école de musique de Genève
Joëlle Rubli, Head of communications et public relations
022 327 31 36
079 225 69 72
joelle.rubli@hesge.ch
Aga Khan Music Initiative
Sandy Clavien
Media consultant
079 372 68 14
sandy@sclavien.ch
FRENCH PRESS RELEASE (Français)
PRESS RELEASE | Geneva, 1st November 2016
The MULTIMOD PERFORMER–COMPOSER FESTIVAL will be held from 3 to 6 November 2016 at Geneva’s Haute école de musique (HEM). Turning the spotlight on performer–composers from around the globe, the four-day festival will welcome a host of international composers and feature concerts, workshops and lectures under the overall theme of “Multiple Modernities”. This innovative and free festival is designed not only for students, artists and other music professionals, but also for the general public.
For the launch of this first-ever festival, HEM has joined forces with Aga Khan Music Initiative (AKMI) to present the opening concert featuring the Chinese pipa virtuoso, Wu Man, with an ensemble of musicians from East and West, led by the Syrian saxophonist and composer Basel Rajoub. Together, they will create an event that blends musical traditions, contemporary arrangements, improvisations and new compositions.
MULTIMOD FESTIVAL
Titled Multimod (Multiple Modernities), the festival aims to highlight the work of contemporary performer–composers and to promote new creative artists of many ethnicities and cultures.
These creative activities not only draw on a range of cultural and aesthetic sources, they also interweave varied musical processes, such as improvisation, composition, and multimedia.
Presenting numerous leading international artists, the festival comprises concerts, lectures, workshops, and masterclasses designed to appeal to artists, students and academics, as well as the general public.
No reservations or registration.
A PARTNERSHIP BUILT TO LAST
The opening day of the Multimod Festival will consolidate the collaboration between HEM and the Aga Khan Music Initiative, a programme of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. The Music Initiative, whose mission is to encourage the dissemination and development of musical traditions, has enabled artists from Asia and the Middle East to participate in the festival.
The opening day, 3 November, will feature a workshop entitled “From Local Talent to Global Connections: cultural development work of the Aga Khan Music Initiative”, led by its director, Fairouz Nishanova, and the ethnomusicologist and Senior Programme Consultant, Theodore Levin. This will be followed by the opening concert entitled “Contemporary Music from the Ends of the Silk Route” which will celebrate musical encounters from Syria and China, inspired by traditional secular music created along the Silk Road.
HAUTE ÉCOLE DE MUSIQUE DE GENÈVE
The Haute école de musique de Genève, (HEM) offers courses in every aspect of music-making, including instrumental performance, singing, reading, composition and improvisation. Its scope extends across a historic and stylistic field from medieval to contemporary music, as well as non-European music.
The Geneva HEM originated from the professional sections of two older institutions: The Conservatoire de musique de Genève (), Switzerland’s oldest Conservatory, founded in 1835, and the Jaques-Dalcroze Institute, founded in 1915. Since 2009 the HEM has been part of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO), a major French-language university with 19,000 students.
The school is attended by over 600 students from five continents; one hundred of them study at its Neuchâtel branch. They are trained by about one hundred highly qualified permanent and guest teachers, all of them running an active artistic or academic career. The school’s university-level courses are officially recognised by the Swiss government and provide excellent professional openings for its graduates.
Firmly rooted in local cultural life and located at the heart of one of Europe’s most beautiful regions, HEM is an internationally respected artistic and educational community. The school frequently organises public events, either alone or in partnership with Geneva’s many musical institutions.
Find out more about the HEM Geneva at:
www.hemge.ch
AGA KHAN MUSIC INITIATIVE
A programme of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Launched in 2000 to support musicians and music teachers in their efforts to preserve, transmit and develop musical heritage in contemporary forms, the Aga Khan Music Initiative began its work in Central Asia and then extended its activities to support musicians and artistic communities in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. The expansion was part of a policy to consolidate the centuries-old common heritage of Central Asia and the Middle East within the modern framework of cultural globalisation.
Since its inception, the Initiative has helped musicians, music educators and others involved in cultural activities to rework the musical traditions of the Silk Road into contemporary forms and contexts firmly rooted in local cultural heritage. More generally, the initiative’s intention is to concentrate on the role the revitalisation of this musical legacy can play in underpinning the cultural and intellectual pluralism of the nations it serves. Its work adds an artistic dimension to the activities of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), with which it shares the same key objectives.
Find out more about the Aga Khan Music Initiative at:
www.akdn.org/music
www.vimeo.com/akmi
English Press Release (English)