Roche Commissions & Roche Young Commissions

Roche awards alternating commissions for compositions as part of the programs known as “Roche Commissions” and “Roche Young Commissions.” These new works then receive their world premieres at the Summer Festival.

“Roche Commissions” is a unique and trailblazing partnership between Roche, Lucerne Festival, and the Lucerne Festival Academy. In connection with this partnership, Roche has been awarding commissions to outstanding contemporary composers on a regular basis since 2003. Since the beginning of the “Roche Commissions” program, a total of twelve composers have each received a commission to write a new work. Each of the resulting scores has received its world premiere during the Summer Festival in Lucerne. The commission currently in progress marks the 13th edition of "Roche Commissions" and has been given to the Australian composer Liza Lim. The world premiere of her work will take place during the 2026 Summer Festival.

In an expanded partnership of Roche with Lucerne Festival and the Lucerne Festival Academy, in 2013 the “Roche Young Commissions” program was created. Every two years this program gives out commissions for new works to two emerging composers. Within a two-year period the pair of composers then creates their orchestral works in a process of intensive exchange with two young conductors and under the guidance of Dieter Ammann. These new scores are similarly introduced to the public at the Summer Festival in Lucerne. The inaugural world premiere of the “Roche Young Commissions” series took place in the summer of 2015.

Composition Commissions for the 2025 “Roche Young Commissions” awarded to the spanish composer Guillem Palomar and the german Jakob Raab.