Three generations

Viviane Nora Brodmann, musicologist, 29 years old

"It's been over 20 years now, but I still remember individual moments: I'm sitting in the Grosse Tonhalle at the final concert of 'Mittendrin' and looking at the illuminated stage. That was impressive. I also remember how we were allowed to try out the instruments. First the harp, then the string instruments: Everyone wanted to go to the violins, so I went to the cello. They are warm memories. I started playing the piano during this time. My parents and grandparents gave me access to classical music at a very early age. They took me to the opera when I was just three years old. With 'Mittendrin', it was important for me that my classmates, for whom it was all new, could also experience this world."

Joni Theiler, pupil, 8 years old

"I already knew the Tonhalle Zurich from the outside, but had never been inside before visiting with our class. The concert hall is beautifully old and somehow new at the same time. I thought it was great that a real musician from the orchestra gave us children an interview. We were all allowed to ask questions. I learnt that up to 100 musicians can play in a concert and that they even rehearse six times a week. It's a lot of work to put on a concert. Then we were allowed to listen to a real rehearsal. I was surprised at how loud and stormy an orchestra can get and that everyone speaks English with the conductor."

Marc Kissóczy, conductor of the first concert of the student events, 63 years old

"Before I conducted the first final concert of 'Mittendrin' on 15 November 1999, I stood in for a world premiere at a rehearsal of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. Apparently our collaboration was well received, so that I was then offered this student concert as my first complete programme with the orchestra. I was delighted, very excited and proud. The whole Tonhalle Zurich was full of these fleas, it was a lovely and fun atmosphere. Among other things, we played the Polonaise from 'Jewgeni Onegin' by Tchaikovsky, the 'Procession of the Sardar' by Ippolitov-Ivanov and the song 's'Näbeltuech', which Samuel Langmeier, one of the cellists of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich at the time, had arranged. I archived the rehearsal plans for the concert for myself. In my documents, I also found an enthusiastic letter of thanks from a mother whose son took part in the programme, which the then Commercial Director Jürg Keller replied to."

Translated with DeepL.com