Fiona O'loughlin

In 1874, Heinrich von Herzogenberg (1843-1900) hosted a Brahms festival in Leipzig, where the two men became friends. Brahms (1833-1897) also met Julius Röntgen (1855-1932) there. Subsequently, the three men rubbed shoulders in what became known as the Brahms circle.

The tradition of bringing out New Year publications on 2 January 2, 'Berchtold's Day', goes back as far as the seventeenth century. Societies and guilds provided printed books, illustrations or music to the young people of the city in return for a financial contribution, which went towards the heating of the society rooms. Founded in 1629, the Stadtbibliothek initiated the practice by distributing a New Year engraving by Hans Conrad Meyer with a poem by Johann Wilhelm Simmler for the year 1645, founding this form of New Year offering. A 2005 CD of piano music by the Winterthur composer Johann Carl Eschmann marked the revival of the old tradition in a new guise. The New Year release CD 2024 brings together works by six composers, male and female, all of whom except one were born and trained in French-speaking countries. The cellist Isabel Gehweiler is a prizewinner of the European Bursary for Young Artists and as a composer she has produced a body of work encompassing chamber music and orchestral compositions, which are regularly performed at international festivals.