Participants in the Composer Seminar | Dieter Ammann | Unsuk Chin

• Dieter Ammann Moderation
• Unsuk Chin Moderation

It was nine years ago that Wolfgang Rihm launched the Lucerne Festival Academy’s Composer Seminar, which he co-directed with his Swiss composer friend Dieter Ammann. Since Rihm’s death, Ammann has continued the Seminar in tandem with the South Korean composer Unsuk Chin, who filled in for Rihm over the past two summers. Both remain loyal to the open-ended concept of this institution, which does not aim to prescribe any aesthetic dogmas. “When you select eight young composers from a myriad of applications, you don’t want to inculcate a particular school of thought,” explains Ammann. Instead, the goal is to juxtapose a wide variety of compositional approaches and developmental processes in a stimulating exchange, thereby promoting “articulation of one’s own voice” (as Rihm once put it). The participants will initially discuss their works and visions in one-on-one conversations as well as in plenary sessions open to the public. They will then study their scores with the accomplished musicians of the International Ensemble Modern Academy, receiving valuable feedback on performance practice.