Thanks to the New York Times: Exhibition at Basel Museum for Music will be extended
The educational programme for schools is fully booked and the media response has been huge. This stir of interest has prompted the organisers of “Auf Takt! Metronome and Musical time” at the Basel Historical Museum to extend the exhibition until 4th February next year.
The media response to the exhibition has been extraordinary: As a result, the “fascinating and occasionally light-hearted show” has made it onto the front page of the New York Times. A special offer for schools under the theme “metronome, conductors baton, their own pulse” has been met with the highest demand. With the extension of the exhibition, the museum has made it possible for even more pupils to experience the topic.
The core of the exhibition is the private collection of Englishman Tony Bingham. More than 175 metronomes are on display which, next to the story of metronomes, refer to essential themes in the world: the relativity of time, the measurement of music, the self-discipline of mankind, and the incessant rhythm of the heart.
The supporting programme will be extended: The public guided tours and the cooperation concert at the Birds Eye Jazz Club will also be pursued. There is going to be a new tour, in which pianist Martyna Kazmierczak will provide a narrative tour on historical instruments. In the middle of October the theatre collective of Moira Gillièron, Ariane Koch, and Zino Wey will report on their new work as well as the musical ecstasy of conducting. Presentations on applause reaction, on “Motor Drive” by Stravinsky or on the rhythmic-lashing dancing on the last day of the exhibition will crown the events series.
On 20th August the Poème symphonique by Györgi Ligeti will be performed in the courtyard of the Museum of Music: at the same time the pendulums of 100 metronomes are going to start. Rhythmic sound waves, which constantly change, will be audible, and the sound will become lighter as the metronome pendulums slowly become still. For the concert it is necessary for the Basel Historical Museum to enlist the help of the people of Basel. The museum is inviting anyone with a metronome to lend it to the concert by bringing it to the museum beforehand. The concert begins at 4pm. Entry is free and the bar will be open.
Police will block traffic from travelling through Spalenburg during the “Em Bebbi sy Jazz” festival for security reasons
The cantonal police of Basel-Stadt are to erect a perimeter around the 34th Jazz festival in Basel using solid moveable concrete blocks. It follows the positive experiences at other major public attractions such as the Christmas Market or the Swiss National Day celebrations, when the festival areas were sealed off. The police say the public should be able to enjoy the “Em Bebbi sy Jazz” festival in a carefree manner.
As always the cantonal police have examined all potential risks to ensure that the Jazzfest remains a happy and safe festival. As before, there is still no new information regarding any change to the threat situation in either Basel or Switzerland. As an additional security measure, the cantonal police will however be visibly present in relation to the general international terrorism threat, as with previous large events. In addition, large moveable concrete blocks will be put in place to protect the festival area in a bid to limit access possibilities. Affected local residents with access permits which allows them to go through the
bollard system above the Spalenberg. The Pro Innerstadt und Läbe Innerstadt clubs will receive written information by the cantonal police of Basel-Stadt.
Similar measures will be put in place for the Klosterbergfest, which is to be held from 25th to 27th August, and the cantonal police will also inform those affected before the event.
Felix Platter-Spital: nuclear medicine has made it possible for earlier Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis
A team at the university of geriatric medicine in Basel at the Felix Platter-Spital has established a new nuclear medicine which acts to provide an early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. In doing so, the hospital has expanded its widely recognised leading position in the field of university geriatric medicine.
The Memory Clinic at the hospital has, through a close and successful collaboration with the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the University Hospital of Basel, established the new method of providing an early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
Professor Reto W Kressig, Medical Director at the Felix Platter-Spital, who also holds the position of chair of geriatric studies at the University of Basel, worked alongside Professor Thomas Leyhe and Professor Andreas Monsch, head of the Memory Clinic at the Felix Platter-Spital, as well as Professor Damian Wild, head of nuclear medicine at the University Hospital Basel. The team is delighted by the important success for Basel and explain the procedure with the following statement: “With help from weak radioactive substances, it was possible to discover that protein deposits (so-called Beta-Amyloid) were present in the affected brain.”
The new procedure, which is applied in this form only in few clinics worldwide, can be exclusively used in the memory clinic in connection with scientific studies thanks to this success. A diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease can still be made earlier. The course of the disease and especially the efficiency of new medication can be observed better and assessed