Lucerne Festival Academy 2025
Application for the Lucerne Festival Academy 2025
Wolfgang Rihm † Artistic Director
Pierre Boulez † Founder and Honorary President
Michelle Di Russo, Vimbayi Kaziboni, Jonathan Nott, David Robertson, Elena Schwarz, and Sebastian Zinca Guest Conductors
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Claire Chase, Winnie Huang, Anthony Millet, and Tabea Zimmermann Soloists
Dates
15 August - 8 September 2025
Arrival Day in Lucerne: Friday, 15 August (no late arrivals possible)
Departure Day from Lucerne: Monday, 8 September
Course
Through daily rehearsals and workshops, participants of the Lucerne Festival Academy will work on contemporary orchestral, ensemble and chamber music repertoire by an exciting range of composers. In the summer of 2025, you will have the opportunity to work with such conductors as Vimbayi Kaziboni, Jonathan Nott, David Robertson, and Elena Schwarz, as well as soloists including Pierre-Laurent Aimard and the two “artistes étoiles” of Lucerne’s Summer Festival: the violist Tabea Zimmermann and the performer and composer Winnie Huang. One focus will be on works using electronics by composer-in-residence Marco Stroppa. We will celebrate the 100th birthday of the Academy’s founder, Pierre Boulez, by studying and performing pathbreaking works: in addition to Répons, Figures – Doubles – Prismes, and Notations for orchestra, the program includes the revival of Poésie pour pouvoir, a work that Boulez withdrew from his catalogue. In addition, you will prepare brand-new pieces by Dieter Ammann, Chaya Czernowin, Dai Fujikura, and Olga Neuwirth, among others, many of which will receive their world premieres.
Each participant’s work will be supervised by internationally acclaimed conductors, composers, and musicians. Academy participants will perform the works which they have prepared in several concerts that are part of the programming for the Summer Festival.
There is no fee for the application and for active participation in the Lucerne Festival Academy. Travel, accommodation, and meals, as well as instrumental parts are provided by Lucerne Festival.
The programs for the Lucerne Festival Academy 2025 were developed under the direction of Wolfgang Rihm who died in July 2024.
Click here for the information booklet.
Program
You can find the program of the Lucerne Festival Academy 2025 here.
Profile of Participants
– Advanced music students and professional musicians
– Age limit: For the first participation in the Lucerne Festival Academy, the age limit is 28 years (cut-off date: August 1, 2025). For musicians from the Academy Network who have already attended the Academy once, the age limit for re-registration is 32 years (cut-off date: August 1, 2025).
– Participation: You can attend the Academy a maximum of three times.
– Course language: English
Documents to be submitted online
– Photo (headshot)
– Curriculum vitae in English (maximum of two pages)
– Video recording of the required audition repertoire and the excerpts
Audition
The Lucerne Festival Contemporary Leaders will decide on active participation upon receipt of the registration forms and recordings. The results of the selections will be announced by mid of March 2025. There is no right of legal appeal. No correspondence regarding the decisions will be conducted. Applicants must include a recordings of themselves playing the required audition repertoire; the recording must be uploaded online. Please note that the recording must not be edited in any way.
Application deadline
Sunday, 16 February 2025 (23:59 Swiss Time; CET)
Course fee
There is no fee for active participation in the Lucerne Festival Academy.
Travel
Lucerne Festival will cover the travel expenses of each active participant.
Accommodation
Lucerne Festival will arrange and cover the cost of accommodation of each active participant in a local host family.
Per Diem / Meals
Each active participant of the Lucerne Festival Academy will receive a daily lump sum of CHF 40 for the main meals.
Scores/Parts
Lucerne Festival will provide all instrumental parts for the orchestral and ensemble repertoire.
Contact
academy@lucernefestival.ch
DATA PROTECTION AND PRIVACY
By submitting the application documents, the applicant confirms that he/she has been informed of Lucerne Festival's privacy notice. The privacy notice is available at the following link.
Anmeldeschluss ist der 16.02.2025.