HOMAGE TO PIERRE BOULEZ 

Write an Homage to Pierre Boulez for Lucerne’s 2025 Summer Festival
Lucerne Festival will celebrate the 100th birthday of Pierre Boulez, founder of the Lucerne Festival Academy, by commissioning four new works to be performed by an Ensemble of the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO) during the 2025 Summer Festival in Lucerne. 

The new works will be premiered in a concert presented by the Lucerne Festival Academy on Saturday, 23 August 2025 at Lucerne Hall in the KKL. They will be performed by an Ensemble of the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra and participants in the Contemporary-Conducting Program. The rest of the program consists of “Derive 1” by Pierre Boulez and a new piece by Marco Stroppa.

Timeline
Score and parts must be delivered per PDF no later than 2 June 2025.

Duration
The commissioned work shall have a duration of 8 min.

Scoring
Maximum: 2.3.1.3 - 3.3.3.1 - 2hp, 2pno/cel, 7perc - 12.10.8.6.4
Minimum: 1.1.1.1 - 1.1.1.1 - 1hp, 1pno/cel, 3perc - 5.4.3.2.1
Electronics and amplification may not be used.

Fee
The selected composer will receive a commission fee of CHF 7,500.-- gross, which is inclusive of the hiring fee for material. We will also provide the selected composer with travel and accommodation to attend the rehearsals for the concert on August 23, 2025. Composers who are not available to attend the festival may still apply. 

Documents to be submitted online (Please note that all documents must be submitted online)
• Photo (headshot)
• Curriculum vitae in English in tabular format (maximum two pages)
• Brief statement in English covering the following:
             - Motivation for and importance of the new commission
             - Preliminary ideas regarding the new commission
• Scores of two works along with a recording of each. Please submit the scores and the recordings as PDF / audio-files.

Selection
The Artistic Committee will decide on the commission 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.

Artistic Committee
The Artistic Committee consists of members of the Contemporary Leaders and 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.