INTRODUCTION
No person is more representative of the Basel musical scene than Paul Sacher (1906-1999). He devoted himself tirelessly to the music of his century in his various roles as conductor, as commissioner of new works and as sponsor and member of numerous guilds and institutions. Amongst the works commissioned by Paul Sacher are Béla Bartók’s “Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta”, Bohuslav Martinů’s “Toccata e due Canzoni”, Igor Stravinsky’s “Concerto en ré” as well as Arthur Honegger’s Fourth Symphony.
In 1973, Sacher founded the Paul Sacher Foundation which gained international reputation as a leading research institution after acquiring the estate of Igor Stravinsky and collections from Anton Webern and Bruno Maderna.

In 2017–18 years after his death – Paul Sacher’s spirit will be revived once again as the most compelling works of the 21st century are brought to Basel for the first edition of “Basel Composition Competition” (BCC), an international event open to the public, conceived and organised by Artistic Management GmbH in cooperation with the Paul Sacher Foundation and directed by the Head Juror, Wolfang Rihm. 

During the selection process, the jury will shortlist ten to twelve pieces to be performed at the competition by the the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra and the Basel Sinfonietta. The three winning works shall be awarded monetary prizes totalling CHF 100,000.

FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS OF THE SECOND “BASEL COMPOSITION COMPETITION” IN FEBRUARY 2019, THE THIRD COMPETITION WILL TAKE PLACE ON 3-7 MARCH 2021.

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They become visible at the latest at the competition concerts: all those students from the high schools of the region who have been up close and personal with “their” composers for a week as part of the Basel Composition Competition, accompanying them during their performance in Basel. 

Since its first iteration, the Basel Composition Competition has been performing extensive mediation work relating to New Music. This work is organised as a “sponsorship project”: each nominated composer is allocated to a school class, which grapples with the work in the run-up to the festival and does so intensively during the rehearsal and concert phase. 

This form of mediation achieves the students’ direct identification with their composer, allowing low-threshold access to the latest New Music at a very personal level. There is also an opportunity for the accompanying teacher to put together during festival week an individual programme tailored to the current level of knowledge of the class, and to its needs and workload. 

Beat Kunz, education programm management
beat.kunz@baselcompetition.com

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