pour Ensemble Proton Bern
Is there such thing as a musical boundary between the German and French-speaking parts of Switzerland? We open up this question for discussion with works by important representatives from our neighbouring ‘francophone’ cantons, collectively known as the Suisse romande or Romandie.
William Blank was born in Montreux and quickly became one of the most remarkable composers in the Romandie as well as the rest of Switzerland, which is still today recognised internationally. In addition to this international standing, Blank maintains a professorship for composition and the direction of Ensemble Contemporain in Lausanne. Gerard Zinstag was born in Geneva but moved to the German-speaking part of Switzerland, to Zurich relatively early in the piece, where he spends part of his time. His music is influenced in equal parts by the schools of Darmstadt and Paris, by Lachenmann and Grisey.
Dominique Schafer comes from Fribourg but today, lives much further west than Western Switzerland, in the USA. A programme that shows that music knows no boundaries or borders!?
