Application - Lucerne Festival

Lucerne Festival Academy 2025
Composer Seminar
by Dieter Ammann and Unsuk Chin

Dates
Arrival Day: Tuesday, 12 August, 2025
Composer Seminar: Wednesday, 13 August - Sunday, 24 August, 2025
Departure Day: Monday, 25 August, 2025

Program
This two-week-long Composer Seminar provides eight young composers an intense dialogue with Dieter Ammann, Unsuk Chin, and international young performers. During the first week, participants discuss their music with both coaches in plenary sessions and in one-on-one discussions. In the second week, the composers will be joined by the IEMA-Ensemble 2024/25 and young conductors of Lucerne Festival’s Contemporary-Conducting Program to rehearse their new works for ensemble written for the Composer Seminar to be premiered as part of the Summer Festival 2025.

Profile of Participants
– Advanced composition students and professional composers
– Age limit: 32 as of August 1, 2025 (not older than 32 years on August 1, 2025)
– Course language: English

Documents to be submitted (all documents must be submitted online)
– Photo (headshot)
– Curriculum vitae in German or English (maximum of two pages)
– Scores of two to three final works of different instrumentation
– Recordings in mp3 format of at least one of the submitted works

The course management will decide on active participation upon receipt of the registration forms and scores. The results of the selections will be announced by mid-January, 2025. There is no right of legal appeal. No correspondence regarding the decisions will be conducted.

Cooperations
The IEMA-Ensemble 2024/25 will work during the second week of the Composer Seminar with the composers on new ensemble pieces, to be premiered as part of the Summer Festival 2025.
More information on IEMA.

Four works of the Composer Seminar 2025 will be selected and performed in Tokyo, Hakuju Hall on November 29, 2025, organized by KAJIMOTO with the support of Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, titled “Lucerne Festival Academy in Japan 2025”. [www.kajimotomusic.com]

New works
Composers must create a new piece lasting about eight minutes, for an ensemble of seven to eleven instruments, selected from the following instrumentation:
One flute (including piccolo and bass flute), one oboe, one clarinet (including bass clarinet), one bassoon, one piano, one percussion, two violins, one viola, one violoncello, one double bass.
Please note that electronics may not be used.

Application deadline
Monday, 2 December, 2024 (23:59 CET, Swiss time)

Delivery dates for new works
February 24, 2025: Confirmation of instrumentation including list of percussion instruments
June 6, 2025: Delivery PDF score and parts to Lucerne Festival

Course fee
There is no fee for active participation in the Composer Seminar.

Travel
The Lucerne Festival Academy will cover the travel expenses for each active participant.

Accommodation
Lucerne Festival will arrange and cover the costs of accommodation for each active participant in a local host family.

Meals
Each active participant will receive a per diem for meals.

Scores
Each participant must provide his/her own scores.

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.