Kultur | lx, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Mudam Luxembourg, is launching a call for applications for Luxembourg’s national participation at the Venice Biennale – 60th International Exhibition of Contemporary Art.

The 60th edition will take place from 20 April to 24 November 2024. Appointed in December 2022 by the Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia, the Brazilian curator and current artistic director of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand – MASP, Adriano Pedrosa, will be the General Curator of the 2024 Biennale. The theme of the general exhibition is not yet known.

By supporting Luxembourg’s regular participation in the Venice Biennale, the Ministry of Culture ensures the presence of Luxembourg artists at one of the most important contemporary art events, thus contributing to the international influence of its artistic scene.

Artists applying must be of Luxembourg nationality or reside in Luxembourg. In the case of a collective of artists, at least one of the members must meet this criterion. In addition, they must have a track record of professional activity as visual artists. Artists’ collectives or artists with a multidisciplinary orientation are also invited to apply.

A single jury will follow the entire selection process. It will bring together several national and international experts:

Applicants will be selected in two stages:

1. Shortlist applicants
Deadline: 26 February 2023
Shortlisted applicants notification : The week of 6 March 2023.

2.Project selection
Deadline: 23 April 2023.
The winning project will be announced on the week of 1 May 2023.

More information HERE.

12Also in 2022, classical music and jazz from Luxembourg made its way into the international press. Here are some impressions.

Maxime Bender Universal Sky, Fall & Rise, CamJazz

“At a time where self-written compositions are more a norm than a exception, the pieces distinguish themselves by their ability to not place the writing process at the forefront, but rather to convey a strong and accessible musical message. “Universal Sky” weaves an interlacing of sound colors going from intangible and air echoes with pure energy and jerky rythms, creating a perfect contrast between the four instruments. Maxime Bender turns out to be a goldmine of inspiration, sound and idea” – Fränkische Zeitung

“(…) so many references-reverences that only strengthen this dreamy odyssea, simoultaneously melancolic and solar”– Jazz Magazine

 

Zala & Val Kravos, Piano Duet, Ars Productions

“a beautiful and lively CD, full of vitality” – Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier, En pistes!, France Musique

“A brother and a sister, both pianists, present Piano Duet, a great record. Mozart and Schubert hold the most prominent position, but you can also discover Françoise Choveaux’s Fantaisies. These two rascals deserve an attentive ear!” – Frédérick Casadesus, Le Club de Mediapart

“With the duo Zala and Val Kravos, a double star has emerged that will continue to shine for a long time to come. This young duo has great potential, as their debut CD proves.” – klassiekcentral.be

 

Francesco Tristano, on early music, Sony

“For the most part of the album, the percussive is very much in the foreground, the groove and the rhythmic component that Francesco Tristano particularly appreciates in early music.”– Rainer Baumgärtner , rbbkultur

“The Juillard School-trained pianist presents the early music solidly: in the nimble fugue-like movements (Prélude from Bach’s English Suite No. 2 in A minor), the voices mesh like the cogs in clockwork.” – Thorsten Preuβ, BR Klassik

 

Sascha Ley, In Between, Jazzhaus Musik

“[Sascha Ley] creates a world with its own parameters, based primarily on reduction and pure accuracy of expression. “In Between” : One indeed lands in an in-between realm. It is an exciting place.” – Susanne Müller, Jazz Podium

“With her musical concept, Sascha Ley seems to me to be a personality who stands somewhat apart from the so-called jazz scene and is very interesting not only for that reason.” – Jazzfun.de

 

Pascal Schumacher, LUNA, Neue Meister

“Luna” is even more contemplative and tender, also because Schumacher used softer mallets than usual. The Luxembourger layers with great sensitivity vibraphone, synth surfaces and reduced beats, sometimes reminiscent of ambient pioneers such as Cluster” – Jan Paersch, JazzThing

 

Sabine Weyer & Dimitri Maslennikov, Brahms Connection, Quartz

“One of the very best albums for cello and piano that I’ve ever heard in four decades as a reviewer.” – Phil’s Classical Reviews

“Overall, despite many individual differences in detail, Dimitri Maslennikov and Sabine Weyer convincingly establish a common viewing height between these deeply romantic masterpieces” – Stefan Pieper, Orchester Graben 

 

Gilles Grethen, State of mind, Double Moon

“An album filled with lyrical images, with beautiful and clear guitar and trumpet solos.” – Jazzfun.de

 

Albena Petrovic, Dreamlover

“There are beautiful things in this score by Albena Petrovic” – En Pistes contemporain!, France Musique

Taking advantage of the Luxembourg Art Week, Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg organised from 9 to 11 November a focus on the Luxembourg art scene for contemporary art professionals.

During three days, about twenty professionals from 5 countries who had come to Luxembourg, visited art centres, museums and artists’ studios.

For this third Focus on the Visual Arts, Kultur | lx offered foreign professionals studio visits curated by Marianne Derrien, independent curator, art critic, teacher and vice-president of c|e|a, the French association of curators in France.

Five artists opened the doors of their studios to guide visitors into their unique worlds: Aline Bouvy, Hisae Ikenaga, Vera Kox, Letizia Romanini and Aïda Schweitzer. These were moments of intimate and profound exchange that allowed each of them to confront another view of their work and other horizons of expectation.

In addition to Marianne Derrien’s selection, Kultur | lx shares with professionals the conviviality and dynamism of the Luxembourg cultural scene by sharing the initiatives of artists and cultural institutions in Luxembourg.

Thus, during a privileged visit, the professionals were able to discover the exhibitions of Tacita Dean and Waters’ Witness by Tarek Atoui at Mudam, Anachronisms by Deimantas Narkevičius and New Minett curated by Sandy Flinto, Pierrick Grobéty and Daniel Marinangeli at the Konschthal Esch as well as Jours de lenteurs by Adrien Vescovi at the Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’Art Contemporain.

The Luxembourg artist Eric Mangen generously opened the doors of Monique Becker’s studios and Yann Annicchiarico, winner of the portfolio grant who, accompanied by Clément Minighetti, curator at Mudam, presented his publication Des papillons de nuit et de l’échelle de Muybridge.

Finally, on the fringes of this curated programme, Kultur | lx organised on Friday 11 November a round table on the professional support of artists. Luxembourg and international professionals and artists exchanged on these questions from a keynote speech by Nathalie Filser on the condition of the artist today, followed by two round tables on the importance of the critical entourage of artists and on the evolution of residency mechanisms.

Through the implementation of this system, Kultur | lx intends to stimulate circulation and exchanges between the national and foreign scenes. The next focus on visual arts by Kultur | lx  will be held in 2023, the whole team is already looking forward to it and would like to thank the Luxembourg artists and professionals who have contributed to these days with their commitment and professionalism.

As part of its mission to disseminate and promote the Luxembourgish creation, Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg was delighted to welcome a delegation of professionals from Germany, Switzerland, France, Hungary, Belgium, as well as the Netherlands on the occasion of a Focus dedicated to contemporary music.

These two days took place during the Festival 33,7, that was organised by the Kulturfabrik and United Instruments of Lucilin on last September 16th and 17th in the frame of Esch2022. During 2022 minutes of music, the musicians and performers involved in the project celebrated musically the European Capital of Culture, as well as its population.

It also was possible to discover works from Lucilin’s repertoire by Luxembourgish composers such as Claude Lenners, Marcel Reuter, Catherine Kontz, Alexander Müllenbach. Lucilin also commissioned numerous works to Luxembourg artists Tatsiana Zelianko, Camile Kerger, Roland Wiltgen, Gast Waltzing (Grammy Award winning composer), Nigji Sanges and Francesco Tristano. Last but not least, works by Albena Petrovic, Pascal Schumacher, Roby Steinmetzer and Marco Pütz were featured by the Ensemble. These works were performed along with those of Philippe Manoury, François Sarhan (FR), Fausto Romitelli (IT), Igor Silva (PT), and so many others, in order to form an extensive cartography of the population of Esch-sur-Alzette.

Kultur | lx organised a speedmeeting session, a central moment of the Focus enabeling Luxembourgish composers and musicians to meet the international delegation. This connection opportunity, as part of Kultur | lx’s networking missions, led to great exchanges that will certainly open opportunities for Luxembourg artists in the future.

These meeting made great sense as Kultur | lx took also advantage of the Focus to announce its entry in the Impuls neue Musik Fund from 2023. Luxembourg will therefore join France, Germany, and Switzerland, as an Impuls member.

Get to know Impuls neue Musik.

 

Do you want to expand your professional network? Addressing contemporary art professionals is a key element in this process.

Dates: October 18, 2022
Timing: 09h00 – 13h30 | 14h00-18h00
Venue: Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain

The objective of this workshop will be to prepare you to present your work in different situations and through different media in order to better communicate with professional audiences. You will focus on three types of communication situations: the portfolio, social networks and real or virtual studio visits.

Kultur | lx is pleased to welcome Margret Wibmer to lead this workshop dedicated to visual arts.

This hands-on workshop is for professional visual artists working in all types of media. You will have time to discuss your specific project with an experienced instructor/mentor and other participants, refine your approach and present it to other professionals.

Who is eligible to participate?

Participation conditions:

More information and application here.

Maxime Bender « Universal Sky » – Fall & Rise (CamJazz)

Mixing contemporary post-bop with elements of soul-jazz (and a totally unexpected cover of a Bruce Springsteen tune), Maxime Bender’s Universal Sky make unashamedly contemporary music that majors on melody and flow. Individual, but recalling Wayne Shorter, the leader’s tenor and soprano saxophone works over beds of guitar, organ and drums that stay harmonically open, mobile and always graceful. In a period where self-written music is the norm rather than an exception, these tracks stand out in not drawing overdue attention to the writing process, preferring to deliver a strong, accessible musical message.

Under the supervision of music producer Ermanno Basso, Fall & Rise was recorded in September 2021 by Charles Stoltz at Holtz Sound Studio in Tuntange, Luxembourg, mixed in March 2022 by Stefano Amerio at Artesuono Recording Studio in Cavalicco (UD), Italy, and mastered by Danilo Rossi.

Release on September 16th 2022

Line-up:
Maxime Bender, tenor & soprano saxophone
Manu Codjia, guitar
Jean-Yves Jung, organ & piano
Jérôme Klein, drums

Source: Brian Morton, CamJazz
Maxime Bender was supported by Kultur | lx – promotion support

Gilles Grethen Quartet – State of mind (Double Moon Records/Challenge Records)

The sophomore album State of Mind of the quartet around guitarist and composer Gilles Grethen further develops the band’s sound situated between traditional and modern jazz. This time however, the 4 musicians are joined by 11 strings, which results in a constant dialogue: between the quartet and the string orchestra; between swing, modern jazz inspired by Mark Turner or Kurt Rosenwinkel, and experimental soundscapes; between composed parts and free improvisation. But Grethen not only explores new sounds in his compositions, but also – from contemplation to delirium and delusion to transcendental experiences – different states of mind.

The pairing of the quartet with an orchestra is the logical next step in Gilles Grethen’s artistic work, which focuses on composition and arrangement for a wide variety of ensembles, from jazz duos and big bands to symphonic orchestras and film music.

Release on October 21st 2022

Source: Stephanie Baustert Management
Gilles Grethen Quartet was supported by Kultur | lx – promotion support 

Alena Baeva – Wieniawski, Dobrzynsky & Kurpinski: Orchestral Works (NIFC)

On the occasion of the Chopin and His Europe Festival in Warsaw on August 28th 2019, the Orchestra of the Eighteen’s Century and violinist Alena Baeva performed Wienawski Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor under the baton of Jose Maria Florenci. The performance, that was actually recorded, has just been released on Fryderyk Chopin’s Institute label NIFC. Already praised, BBC Music Magazine named it “Recording of the month”.

“This [recording] was one of the most memorable experiences of my life”, Alena Baeva says, who had to adapt her musical technique to perform the Concerto. Discover all the details on the recording here.

“The sheer musical brilliance of Alena Baeva’s collaboration with the Orchestra of the 18th Century under the baton of José Maria Florêncio makes their performance of the [Wieniawski] Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor essential listening.” – BBC Music Magazine

Listen here.

New Talent : Veda Bartringer – The Butterfly Effect

The result of Veda Bartringer’s personal research, the Veda Bartringer Quartet was born in 2021. After her jazz studies at the Conservatoire de Bruxelles, she gathered all the ideas she nurtured during this time in her self-written compositions. Thanks to her knowledge of classical and jazz guitar, lyrical chant and piano, she seeks to include her numerous points of view in her tracks and to play with these different elements. Veda plays a contemporary jazz featured by a strong feminine sensitivity, still not so well represented in this music style. Musicians Julien Cuvelier, Boris Schmidt and Maxime Magotteaux joined her in this sound journey and have been helping Veda to enter more deeply in these different worlds.

For her first EP called The Butterfly Effect, the musician took her impressions on the nature as a basis to create sound images out of them. As the guitarist grew up in a little town near the forest, she always felt a strong connection to the environment. The principal motive of the record is the image of the butterfly, which represents renewal and inspiration.

The quartet will present its EP on September 2022 at neimënster.

Sascha Ley, In Between (JazzHausMusik)

Way beyond her home country Luxembourgian vocalist and performer Sascha Ley is well-known for her original and undogmatic projects. As a renowned actress, multilingual singer, poet and improviser, she treads her musical paths in the field of jazz, free improvisation, imaginary folklore and contemporary music light-footedly and far away from any mainstream conventionality.

Sascha Ley describes the musical structure of her first solo album for JHM, “In Between”, as follows: “Here, using sonorous and textual collages in the manner of a personal notebook, I deal with present and nostalgia, dreams and wishes, free spaces and finiteness, intuition and change.” Her distinctive sound coloring enables Sascha Ley to present an immense vocal bandwidth in a multitude of sound variations: voice and small instrumentation being sometimes theatrical, sometimes minimalistic, always searching for musical and condensing solutions in the realm of experience; things between lines and times, beginning and end, of life and experience, emotions, intellect and opposites which allow to live, experience and grow.

Sascha Ley is not only a stupendous vocalist but also produces dreamlike, suggestive soundscapes within her sound experiments as an instrumentalist, performer and interpreter of extraordinary texts. The use of extended vocal and instrumental techniques, as well as her amazing narrative artistry, leavethe listener simply amazed at some points on “In Between”. She invited French musician Jean Pascal Boffo as a guest on some tracks; in his studio Amper he supervised the recordings and edited the improvised vocals live.

Sascha Ley has trained with Shelley Hirsch, Meredith Monk and Sainkho Namtchylak. Other current projects include her duo with double bassist Laurent Payfert (JHM 267) and collaborations with Georg Ruby, both as a duo and with his project VILLAGE ZONE (JHM 279).

CD release concert on October 9th at neimënster Abbey. (More information here)

Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg joins the project 33,7, organised by the ensemble United Instruments of Lucilin and the Kulturfabrik, in order to promote the composers and the Luxembourg contemporary creation.

On September 16th and 17th, Kultur | lx will invite professionals from the European contemporary music scene in order to give them the occasion to discover the diversity of the Luxembourgish compositions and creations that will be presented at 33,7. More than a moment of discoveries, and in view of Kultur | lx’ collaboration with Impuls neue Musik, this focus shall encourage encounters and initiate artistic collaborations, as well as synergies. This approach marks a first step towards Kultur | lx’s integration of international networks that allow the circulation and sustainability of the compositions.

About 33,7
33,7, which will take place on 17 and 18 September 2022, is a gigantic musical cartography representing the eclectic population of southern Luxembourg and the neighbouring French towns. This diversity will be transcribed into 2022 minutes (33.7 hours!) of music commissioned or borrowed by United Instruments of Lucilin from composers of different nationalities represented on the territory of Esch2022.

During this week-end, United Instruments of Lucilin will present works from their repertoire by Luxembourgish composers such as Claude Lenners, Marcel Reuter, Catherine Kontz and Alexander Müllenbach. Lucilin also commissioned numerous works to Luxembourg artists Tatsiana Zelianko, Camile Kerger, Roland Wiltgen, Gast Waltzing (Grammy winning composer), Nigji Sanges and Francesco Tristano. Last but not least, works by Albena Petrovic, Pascal Schumacher, Roby Steinmetzer and Marco Pütz will be featured by the Ensemble. These works will be performed along with those of Philippe Manoury, François Sarhan (FR), Fausto Romitelli (IT), Igor Silva (PT), and so many others, in order to form an extensive cartography of the population of Esch-sur-Alzette.

Complete programme and line-up here.

In anticipation of Kultur | lx’s collaboration with Impuls neue Musik starting in 2023, we invite you to a webinar with Sophie Aumüller, Director of the Fund, and Bernhard Günther, member of the Impuls Artistic Committee and Artistic Director of the Wien Modern and ZeitRäume Basel festivals.

This session, taking place on the 27th of June at 10:30 AM, will give you the opportunity to discuss with both speakers, who will present Impuls neue Musik and their call for projects for 2023.

About Impuls neue Musik

Founded in 2009, Impuls neue Musik is a fund that promotes exchanges between France, Switzerland and Germany in the area of contemporary music. It finances music projects that involve partners from the aforementioned countries, making the fund a Franco-German network. Project partners can be artists, ensembles, venues, festivals, universities, academies, research institutes, cultural associations and institutions.

To familiarize yourself with the funding criteria of Impuls neue Musik, we invite you to read this link carefully.

Since Impuls neue Musik is a network dedicated to creative music, this webinar is aimed at anyone with a connection to contemporary music. This can involve any art form (music, performance, visual art…etc.) or any type of project that has a strong connection to contemporary music (concerts, festivals, music theater, artist residencies, academies, sound installations).

The speakers

Bernhard Günther has been Artistic Director of the Wien Modern Festival since 2016. Between 2012-2022 he also directed the festival ZeitRäume Basel – Biennale for New Music and Architecture, which first came to public attention in 2015, as well as being the chief dramaturge of the Philharmonie Luxembourg from 2004-2016, where he was responsible for the festival rainy days, among others. After unfinished studies at the Musikhochschule Lübeck (violoncello) and the University of Vienna (musicology, theater studies, linguistics, etc.), he joined mica – music information center austria in 1994 as editor of the encyclopedia of contemporary music from Austria, where he served as curator and deputy managing director until 2004.

He has been intensively involved with new music and its environment for more than 25 years as a passionate visitor and organizer of concerts in a wide variety of genres and formats, as an author, editor, dramaturge and curator for various publishers, media and event organizers, as a jury member (including the Kranichsteiner Music Prize, German Music Council, Impuls neue Musik) as well as an occasional musician.

Sophie Aumüller, born in Munich, studied Romance philology in Freiburg, Berlin and Paris. She first worked as an editor, translator and reader in the field of literature and film, and has been active in the music sector since 2004. In 2008 she founded the Shared Sounds festival at Radialsystem V in Berlin, which ran until 2010. In 2011, she co-initiated and directed the Vokal¬fest chor@berlin.

Since 2011, she has been directing the Franco-German-Swiss Fund for Contemporary Music Impuls neue Musik. She also serves on numerous juries, most recently for the cultural support program of the Berlin Senate (until 2021), as well as the Ensembleförderung Musik program of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Deadline to register: 26th of June 2022
More information & registration here.

As part of its mission to support Luxembourg artists, Kultur | lx is taking up the “next step” action initiated in 2021, which consists of giving artists a training session dedicated to the market of a specific territory. On June 7th and 8th, Kultur | lx will offer classical and contemporary musicians a training course dedicated to the classical music market in France.

The course will be given by Marion Lesaffre-Pommier, founder of prélude-s (after 15 years at the Cité de la musique-Philharmonie de Paris), and will address the essential points for developing a strategy to present and promote a project in France. In particular, the various networks and professionals involved in the dissemination of classical music will be presented, as well as support mechanisms for touring, and keys to promote your project in France.

The training will start each day with a theoretical presentation, and will be followed by a round-table discussion with French professionals from the classical music sector (to be announced later).

The workshop will be conducted in English.

About Marion Lesaffre-Pommier

Marion Lesaffre-Pommier, a certified professional coach, created prélude-s in 2021, after 15 years at the Cité de la musique-Philharmonie de Paris where she developed an innovative training and support system for the professionalization of musicians. Today, she accompanies individual and collective transformations in the cultural sector, the performing arts and the social and solidarity economy. Her expertise in the cultural sector enables her to support the development of individuals in their various professional activities and of teams in a context of transformation of cultural life and new challenges.

She has a degree from a business school and a post-graduate diploma in training trainers. She is trained in systemic coaching, NLP, transactional analysis and the Aristotle approach.

Deadline to apply: June 3, 2022
More information & registration here.

Direct-to-Fan Workshop with Music Ally

General Workshop : April 19, 2022 – 4:00pm to 7:00pm (open to all applicants)
Mentoring Session : April 20, 2022 – 4:00pm to 5:30pm (applicants selected by committee) 

Kultur | lx is thrilled to continue working with Music Ally for our industry-focused workshops and training sessions. As a global leader in digital training for the music industry, Music Ally has trained thousands of industry professionals and artists. A knowledge and skills company, it provides insight to indies, publishers, major labels as well as artists and managers globally. Their mission is to help the music industry embrace digital platforms and build sustainable careers for artists across the globe.  

The upcoming Direct-To-Fan Workshop will be split into two sections. The first half will involve a presentation on email marketing, which is a vital component of an artist’s marketing mix. By the end of the presentation, you will know how to choose an email marketing platform, build your mailing list and design captivating emails for your fans. There will also be an opportunity for Q&A and participation in Music Ally’s training module in advance of the workshop. 

In the second half of the session, we will be joined by Jessie Scoullar and Joe Vesayaporn for a panel discussion around direct-to-fan marketing. Jessie is the founding director of Wicksteed Works, a company focused on empowering musicians to maximise their audience and sales potential through connection, communication and coordination of direct-to-fan campaigns. Joe Vesayaporn works for Music Glue, a specialist e-commerce platform for the music business which allows artists to sell physical and digital music, merchandise, and event tickets in multiple currencies and languages direct-to-fan. Both panelists have collectively run campaigns for artists like Laura Marling, Mumford & Sons, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Elvis Costello, Eurovision, Paul McCartney, and Iron Maiden among several others.  

REGISTER HERE

We look forward to welcoming you to this workshop series on Tuesday, April 19th!  Music Ally will also be hosting private mentoring sessions on Wednesday, April 20th (applicants selected by a committee). 

Save the date!
Upcoming workshops :
23/05 – Short Form Video Masterclass – Time TBD
20/06 – Livestreaming and social commerce – Time TBD