Winners include 16-year-old Vaud musical prodigy Mélodie Zhao
Mélodie Zhao, Leenaards Foundation scholarship winner
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The Leenaards Foundation has given CHF500,000 in prizes and scholarships to encourage artists in the region. One of the winners is 16-year-old Mélodie Zhao of Saint Prex, who last summer became the youngest ever person to receive a master’s degree in music from the Geneva Conservatory.
She will use her CHF50,000 scholarship to pursue private studies with Pascal Devoyon and other renowned professors around the world. Zhao began playing piano at age 3, gave her first concert at age 5 and began performing with orchestras at age 9. She will join post-graduate piano classes at the University of Arts in Berlin and post-grad classes in orchestra conducting, in Geneva in addition to training with mentors such as Devoyon.
The foundation was created in 1980 by a Belgian couple, Antoine and Rosy Leenaards, who made their fortune then retired to Switzerland. Their only son and heir died at age 58 and the couple created the foundation in his memory with CHF230,000. By the time Antoine died 15 years later he left a fortune worth CHF325 million to the foundation, which annually gives awards to encourage the cultural life of the region.
Three prizes worth CHF30,000 each, in recognition of a career, were given Tuesday evening to:Jacqueline Veuve, filmmaker, André Corboz, architectural and urban historian, and Jean Scheurer, painter.
Eight scholarships worth CHF50,000 each were awarded to young people at a crucial point at the start of their careers, to help them continue developing. This year’s winners, in addition to Zhao:
Antoinette Dennefeld, mezzo-soprano, Douna Loup, writer, Sylvie Neeman Romascano, writer and editor, Mélodie Zhao, pianist, Frédéric Cordier, artist, Guy-François Leuenberger, pianist-composer, Michael Rampa, painter and Adrien Rovero, industrial designer.
Zhao is young, but she has already made a name for herself; her most recent concert at Victoria Hall in Geneva 12 October in commemoration of the 200th birthday of Liszt, was sold out and she has recently completed a new recording, her second: Douze Etudes d’exécution transcendante de Liszt (Claves label). Her first recording at age 13: the 24 Etudes de Chopin. The Leenaards Foundation notes that her new “interprétation is recognized for its perfect virtuosity and profound musicality”.
Background, “Prodigy M Zhao gives rare Chopin complete Etudes concert”, GenevaLunch 28 February 2010
Title: Geneva book and press fair
Location: Geneva
Link out: Click here
Description: Local and international authors meet for several days in Geneva. From manga to German newspapers, from cooking books in English to independent rock magazines. Special children books and more can be found at this great fair.
Start Date: 2010-04-28
End Date: 2010-05-05
Title: Haitian solidarity evening
Location: Webster University
Link out: Click here
Description: Speakers from Caritas and Unicef.
Date: 2010-02-11
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – “Inside Switzerland”, which was started in 2007 as a glossy Swiss-wide magazine providing news and features in English, has ceased publication of both the quarterly print magazine and its online newsletter. The magazine was published by Schweizer and Davies Media in Zurich, which was founded by Jennifer Davies and Sabine Schweizer.
Davies is an arts presenter on World Radio Switzerland.
Editor-in-chief Schweizer notes in her letter to readers that the publication “has not been able to withstand current financial pressures.”
The quarterly print publication sold for CHF35 for four issues before it folded.
Image: ©2009 Helvetiq
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Quick – what’s the Matterhorn called in French and how long is the Swiss president’s term of office? How many cantons does Switzerland have and what makes raclette different from other cheeses? Don’t know?
Whether you are new to Switzerland or have been here all your life it is difficult to truly fit in if you are not familiar with the local cultural heritage. There is a new way to build up knowledge and have fun at the same time: a game called Helvetiq, originally designed to help people applying for Swiss nationality, which comes out in English 1 August, Switzerland’s national holiday. The game came out in French earlier this year and sold 7,000 copies in its first eight months. Among other buyers: communes, including Vevey, Crans-près-
Celigny, Attalens and Penthalaz, have bought it to help local people prepare to become citizens.
Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Genève, Fre) – An audit on the state of the Museums of Art and History is peppered with phrases like old-fashioned, feudal management, inconsistent display, reports the Tribune. The report was presented to city councilors and museum employees Thursday 7 May. Its devastating conclusions prompted the immediate resignation of the Caesar Menz, the director.
