XXI. Internationale Begegnung der Musik

Today, it may be hard to believe, but, only forty years ago, when the internationally-celebrated Spanish piano virtuoso Maria Luisa Cantos arrived in Switzerland – a polity generally understood as straddling Western and Central European cultures – few, if any, musicians had ever heard Spanish classical music.  At that time, though already considered an authority on German and French piano music (after graduating from the Conservatoire of Barcelona when she was sixteen years old, she had the extraordinary privilege of studying those repertoires in depth at both Paris and Vienna), Cantos’ art took a diplomatic turn: the promotion of Spanish and Swiss music and culture became her focus.  To that end, she began collecting innumerous scores by Spanish composers, all of which were unavailable in Switzerland (sorry International Music Score Library Project [IMSLP], Maria Luisa beat you to it), and taught them to aspiring and professional pianists through rigorous, inclusive pedagogical activities.  (Since 2007, her collection resides at the Institute for Musicology at the University of Zurich.)  On December 5^th, Stiftung Musica Española Schweiz, the umbrella organization representing Cantos’ international diplomacy, will welcome participants from all over the world to the XXI. Internationale Begegnung der Musik – the yearly apogee of the Foundation’s work – at their uniquely elegant headquarters at Bözberg.  Don’t happen to be in Switzerland on December 5^th? There’s good news: UR-Music & Arts, the specialists in live/virtual events, will be glad to welcome you in to the party.