Application for the Lucerne Festival Academy 2024
Wolfgang Rihm Artistic Director
Pierre Boulez † Founder and Honorary President
Ruth Reinhardt, Sir George Benjamin, and Beat Furrer Guest Conductors
Simon Höfele and Jörgen van Rijen Soloists

Dates
16 August - 9 September 2024
Arrival Day in Lucerne: Friday, 16 August (no late arrivals possible)
Departure Day from Lucerne: Monday, 9 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. To mark its anniversary, the Lucerne Festival Academy is looking back and also ahead. The program will include works by the Academy’s founder Pierre Boulez (including Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna) and its Artistic Director Wolfgang Rihm (including In-Schrift). You will also premiere new works by Andrew Norman as well as by Lisa Streich and Beat Furrer, the two composers-in-residence of the 2024 Summer Festival. Furrer himself will conduct. You will work with Sir George Benjamin to rehearse his Concerto for Orchestra and on Morton Feldman’s Coptic Light. You will also collaborate with the trumpeter Simon Höfele and the conductor Ruth Reinhardt, both of whom were significant influenced by their work as former Academy participants.

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.

Click here for the information booklet.

Program
You can find the program of the Lucerne Festival Academy 2024 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: 1.8.2024). 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: 1.8.2024). 
– 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 2024. 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, 18 February 2024 (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.

The closing date for applications is 18.02.2024.