Rihm becomes director of the Lucerne Festival Academy

Both contracts are for five years, writes Lucerne Festival. Pierre Boulez, the Academy's founder, will remain in close contact with Wolfgang Rihm, Matthias Pintscher and the Festival team as Honorary President. The Lucerne Festival Academy has served as a training campus in the field of 20th and 21st century music for twelve years. It offers further training for around 120 instrumentalists aged between 18 and 32 as well as for young conductors and composers. Matthias Pintscher helped shape the academy this summer for the third time as a lecturer and conductor, including on the "Day for Pierre Boulez".

The change in management will also be accompanied by modifications to the program: from 2016, a new composition seminar is to be introduced as a workshop in which young composers can work directly on their works with young international musicians. In this way, the promotion of composers will be given an additional focus at the academy in future.

Wolfgang Rihm had already taken over the artistic direction of the Roche Young Commissions this year: Two young composers will receive commissions for works that will be developed over a period of two years as part of the academy and premiered during the summer festival. In addition, master classes for conductors and ensembles are still planned as an integral part of the academy.

In summer 2016, Principal Conductor Matthias Pintscher and the Academy Orchestra will rehearse Stravinsky's Firebird, Mark Andre's "hij 1" and György Ligeti's "San Francisco Polyphony" and present the works in a concluding concert.

Pintscher will also conduct the Ensemble intercontemporain in the academy's opening concert. Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki and American conductor Alan Gilbert will also be conducting the Academy Orchestra. Percussionist Martin Grubinger and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter will also perform as soloists with the Academy Orchestra.