Contemporary-Conducting Program

The Contemporary-Conducting Program is aimed at young, aspiring professional conductors and should serve as a platform for a future conducting career. We believe in the importance of contemporary music for the development of young conductors and are looking for curious, talented, and interesting conductors with a strong interest in the music of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Practice and experience are components of conducting. But how should young conductors practice? Unlike a violinist or trumpet player, they do not always have their “instrument”, the orchestra, at hand. This is precisely why the Lucerne Festival Academy offers a broad-based Contemporary-Conducting Program every summer. 

In the three-week-long development program with a particular focus on contemporary music, the young conductors work with the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO) and the Ensemble of the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA) under the supervision of course director Baldur Brönnimann. They will also conduct the performances within the Composer Seminar (led by Wolfgang Rihm and Dieter Ammann) and interact with other visiting conductors at Lucerne Festival. 
Lucerne Festival’s commitment to the development of young conductors is shared by the institutional partners Klangforum Wien, WDR Symphony Orchestra, and Casa da Música (Porto) who might provide further professional opportunities for the participants of the Contemporary-Conducting Program.