Roche Young Commissions 2025 - 2027
One guiding principle of the Lucerne Festival Academy is to foster the relationship among performers, conductors, and composers in order to enhance the performance of 20th- and 21st-century music.

Program
The Roche Young Commissions program is a unique collaboration between Roche, Lucerne Festival and the Lucerne Festival Academy. Since 2003, Roche has worked with its partners to award regular commissions for new musical works by some of the world’s most important contemporary composers. A further expression of the partnership between Roche and Lucerne Festival is the Roche Young Commissions. Every two years, alternating with the ongoing Roche Commissions program, two young composers will be selected and commissioned to write orchestral works. Working closely with two young conductors, the Roche Young Commissions awardees will have two years to complete their compositions, which will premiere at the Lucerne Festival.

Dieter Ammann will consult with the young composers in an advisory capacity at various stages of their work. At the end of the project’s first year and as part of the Lucerne Festival Academy 2026, fragments or sections of each new work will be studied and rehearsed with the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO). These rehearsals will give the composers a unique opportunity to try out different orchestrations and compositional variants with the orchestra. The two new works will then be premiered during the Lucerne Festival Academy 2027.

Selected composers will receive a commission fee of CHF 10.000.-- gross (paid in two parts). In addition, Lucerne Festival will provides financial support to help cover all costs of producing the final performance material if done by the composer herself/himself (according to expenses, max. CHF 2’000.-- gross). We will also provide selected composers with travel and accommodation. 

Dates
August 2025 - September 2027

Timeline
End of August 2025: 4-day visit of Lucerne and Basel. Acknowledgement of the commissions and introductory interaction between Roche and the two selected composers in Basel

Arrival Day: Friday, 29 August, 2025
Departure Day: Monday/Tuesday, 1/2 September, 2025

August/September 2026: First readings of each work-in-progress (try-outs) by the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO)

August/September 2027: Premiere of the two new works in Lucerne

Scoring
Maximum size of orchestra:
3.3.3.3 – 4.4.3.1 – 4.1.1 – 14.12.10.8.6 (total of 80 musicians). The composers are under no obligation to use the maximum orchestral forces. However, the work should call for a minimum of 30 musicians and involve all sections of the orchestra (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings).
Electronics may not be used.

Duration
Minimum:  10 minutes
Maximum: 15 minutes

Profile of participants
The newly commissioned works for the Lucerne Festival Academy will be awarded to highly talented young composers who
•    are not older than 32 years on August 1, 2025 
•    can point to an uninterrupted background in composition
•    already have experience in composing for large ensemble or orchestra
•    can present references from leading musicians regarding their compositional abilities
•    are interested in taking part in the above-mentioned compositional process and in working together with the teachers and performers of the Lucerne Festival Academy and who have the necessary communicative and partnership skills to suit the Academy's activities.

Documents to be submitted online (all documents must be submitted online, and printed scores need to be sent to Lucerne Festival)
• Photo (headshot)
• Curriculum vitae in German or English in tabular format (maximum two pages)
• Two letters of recommendation from leading composers, musicians, conductors, etc.
• Brief statement covering the following:
         - Motivation for and importance of the new commission
         - If possible, preliminary ideas regarding the new commission
• One or two works for large ensemble or orchestra (scored for a minimum of twelve parts; work duration: 3-20 minutes), along with a recording of the work(s). Please submit the scores and the recordings as PDF / audio-files online and send one printed copy to the following address:

Lucerne Festival Contemporary
Roche Young Commissions
Hirschmattstrasse 13
6003 Luzern
Switzerland

Important: The printed scores must be postmarked no later than December 2, 2024 (at the latest).
Later entries of scores are not accepted and connot be considered.

Audition
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 end of February 2025. There is no right of legal appeal. No correspondence regarding the decisions will be conducted.

Artistic Committee
The Artistic Committee consists of Dieter Ammann and members of Lucerne Festival. The decisions of the Artistic Committee cannot be contested.

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

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 02.12.2024.