A tradition of engagement
Roche Commissions: An international cultural project

Roche Commissions is an exemplary model for cooperation within cultural sponsoring; The partners involved are LUCERNE FESTIVAL, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Cleveland Orchestra and Roche. Launched in 2003, Roche Commissions regularly awards commissions for new musical works by outstanding contemporary composers. The commissioned work is premiered by the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by  Franz Welser-Möst in the course of LUCERNE FESTIVAL in Summer. The following season, the same orchestra performs the piece for the first time in the United States at Carnegie Hall.

Previous composers of Roche Commissions are Sir Harrison Birtwistle (2004), Chen Yi (2005), Hanspeter Kyburz (2006) and George Benjamin (2008). The Roche Commission 2010 was assigned to Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa. The premiere of his work «Woven Dreams» will take place on August 28, 2010.

Innovation in arts and innovation in a research-oriented company like Roche are closely related. Both share the courage to search for the new and the pursuit of unconventional solutions always aiming at quality and maximum performance. With Roche Commissions Roche continues a long tradition of cultural engagement in order to support an innovative and unconventional approach to music together with internationally outstanding composers of contemporary music and leading cultural institutions of two continents.

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