2024 Fritz Gerber Award
Phoebe Bognár, Francisco Morais Fernandes, and Santiago Villar Martín have been announced as the winners of this year’s Fritz Gerber Award.
The Fritz Gerber Foundation and Lucerne Festival will once again award three young, highly talented musicians with the opportunity to participate in the Lucerne Festival Academy, which is held during the Summer Festival. The flutist Phoebe Bognár, the pianist Francisco Morais Fernandes, and the percussionist Santiago Villar Martín will each receive a cash prize of CHF 10,000, as well as a scholarship of CHF 10,000 that will enable them to attend the Lucerne Festival Academy this summer.
The flutist Phoebe Bognár, who was born in Australia in 1997, has studied at such institutions as the Basel Academy of Music and the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA). Her musical practice is characterized by a variety of genres, art forms, and disciplines, including gestures, voice, various flutes, theater, and electronics. Phoebe Bognár has played in many renowned ensembles, including the Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche, and Klangforum Wien.
The pianist Francisco Morais Fernandes, who was born in 1999, also focuses on contemporary music. A native of Portugal, he is currently completing his master’s degree at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB) with Antoine Françoise and has attended master classes with Katia Veekmans and Piotr Anderszewski, among others. Morais Fernandes is active as a soloist and as an ensemble and orchestral musician and is additionally a conductor.
Santiago Villar Martín was born in Spain in 1998. He studied at the Frederyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and at the Basel Academy of Music, where he specialized in sound design with Christian Dierstein and Volker Böhm. Villar Martín has performed with such ensembles as Studio Musik Fabrik and the Basel Sinfonietta and recently appeared at the 2024 Mizmorim Chamber Music Festival. He is also a co-founder of the experimental ICE 3 Ensemble and the Ex-Sentia Ensemble.
Musicians can apply for the Fritz Gerber Award by answering the open call for applications. The jury comprises Michael Haefliger, Executive and Artistic Director of Lucerne Festival; dramaturge Mark Sattler; and composer and conductor Heinz Holliger. Young artists up to the age of 28 who have Swiss citizenship or have lived in Switzerland for at least three years are eligible to apply.
The Fritz Gerber Foundation for Gifted Young People has been operating since 1999. It promotes talent in the fields of crafts and trades, culture, and athletics. Support is provided in the form of financial contributions for education, including training and continuing education. Over the past 25 years, the Foundation has supported some 2,750 talented young people with a total of more than CHF 33 million. The Fritz Gerber Award has been presented in connection with Lucerne Festival since 2015.