"Roche Young Commissions" 2027
Arnau Brichs and Aregnaz Martirosyan receive the “Roche Young Commissions” for 2027. The world premieres of the composition commissions for 2025 by Guillem Palomar and Jakob Raab were performed today as part of the Summer Festival.
The winners of the 2027 “Roche Young Commissions” are named: Arnau Brichs and Aregnaz Martirosyan. The two young composers were chosen by Dieter Ammann, Co-Director of the Composer Seminar, conductor Baldur Brönnimann, and contemporary dramaturge Mark Sattler. They will each write a new orchestral work to be premiered in summer 2027 during Lucerne Festival by the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO) as part of the “Roche Young Commissions”. In summer 2026, Brichs and Martirosyan will have the opportunity to work closely with the LFCO, two young conductors from the Contemporary-Conducting Program, and Dieter Ammann to develop and refine their pieces. The two conductors for the 2027 premieres will be selected in autumn 2025.
Arnau Brichs (b. 2000, Sant Joan Despí, Spain), currently lives in Paris. He studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating with distinction. Since 2024 he has served as composer-in-residence at IRCAM in Paris. Brichs participated in the 2021 Composer Seminar at Lucerne Festival and has taken part in numerous international academies, including in Viitasaari and Madrid. He received the 2024 Prix Élan from the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France and IRCAM for his work Degrees of Presence. His compositions have been performed by ensembles such as the Uusinta Ensemble and the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France. His work explores the perception of sound and spatial presence, combining instrumental and electroacoustic techniques through an integrative approach.
Aregnaz Martirosyan (b. 1993, Yerevan, Armenia), now lives in Lucerne. She studied composition at the Lucerne School of Music. She also took part in the 2022 Composer Seminar of the Lucerne Festival Academy. Her works have been performed by Ensemble Modern, the Basel Sinfonietta, and Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn, among others. She has appeared at numerous festivals, including the Davos Festival, the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, and the Munich Biennale. Martirosyan’s music is often informed by autobiographical references, engaging with themes of cultural identity and multilingualism. In addition to her artistic practice, she is involved in projects at the intersection of music education and intercultural collaboration.
Guillem Palomar and Jakob Raab, recipients of the 2023 “Roche Young Commissions”, premiered their works today, 30 August 2025, at the KKL Luzern Concert Hall as part of the Summer Festival. The LFCO was led by Michelle Di Russo and Sebastian Zinca, who were selected as participants in the Contemporary-Conducting Program. Jakob Raab’s Malo references an aria from Benjamin Britten’s opera The Turn of the Screw, using it as a central motivic element. Guillem Palomar’s Tessera is based on the idea of mosaic-like musical cells forming ever-changing structures through shifting constellations.
The “Roche Young Commissions” series was established for the first time in 2013 as a new and unique form of cooperation between Roche, Lucerne Festival, and the Lucerne Festival Academy. “Roche Young Commissions” gives two young composers under the age of 30 the opportunity to write orchestral works every other year, alternating with “Roche Commissions”. Applications are invited through an open call.