The prize-winners' concert is open to the public and will take place in spring 2024 in the Salquin Concert Hall of the Lucerne School of Music. The jury will meet at the end of this concert and the prize will be announced on the same evening.
The «Philipp Jones Brass Prize» is awarded to students of the Lucerne School of Music in the field of brass instruments who distinguish themselves either through outstanding interpretations or through exceptional projects committed to the promotion of young talent. The competition takes place as a public event.
The competition is open exclusively to students of the brass classes of the Classical Music profile of the Lucerne School of Music. Students can participate in the competition as soloists or in established chamber music formations consisting of brass players. If a soloist plays a work in another chamber music form, the prize goes exclusively to the brass player.
At the joint podium of the brass classes, which takes place in the autumn semester, the student council decides which of the registered students (three students per year) will be admitted to the competition concert.
In the competition concert, the participants present a well-rounded concert programme of a maximum length of 30 minutes. They are free to choose the works they perform as well as the instrumentation. If the candidates choose works with a larger instrumentation or with piano accompaniment, they are responsible for organising the ensembles themselves.
If a project for the promotion of young musicians is entered for the prize, it must be presented in a 30-minute presentation at the competition concert.
The application deadline is the end of October, the exact date is expected to be published in summer 2023. Registration takes place by submitting the application dossier to Lukas Christinat lukas.christinat@hslu.ch, by the deadline.
The application dossier must contain:
- Surname, first name, address, e-mail, date of birth, current course of study.
- main lecturer
- Information on the works in the programme (title, movement details, duration of performance) and composers (including year of birth and, if applicable, year of death). The jury of the brass section will select a work from this programme to be performed at the first preliminary round within a week of the closing date for applications.
- Biography (i.e. running text, no tabular listing, max. half an A4 page)
- List of important concert performances in the past two years.
Students applying with a project for the promotion of young brass players must also submit their dossier by the application deadline.
After successful examination of the dossier, they will also be invited to a jury interview as part of the entrance examination.
The brass student council decides on the admission to the competition concert within the framework of the joint podium in the autumn semester. The students will be informed of the decision on admission to the competition on the day of the audition. Should proposed students cancel at short notice for valid reasons, rejected applicants may be invited to the competition as substitutes.
The jury consists of five members:
- three lecturers from outside the Lucerne School of Music
- two external experts
- Ursula Jones as representative of the Strebi Foundation Lucerne (honorary member)
The evaluation is carried out according to the criteria:
- musical interpretation
- personal charisma and appearance
- technical confidence
- stylistic ability to differentiate
- degree of difficulty
- Programme design
- For project contributions: Creativity and sustainability in relation to the promotion of young talent.
The jury members will give the participants feedback on their presentation.
The maximum prize money is CHF 4000. This can be divided between several prize winners. The three participating candidates will receive CHF 500 as an entry fee, irrespective of the prize money.
The jury may use the prize money to award a project prize for the implementation and presentation of exceptional projects committed to the promotion of young talent.
The competition concerts are open to the public. The jury meets in closed session. The jury's decision will be communicated after the concert.
