Basel, 15 August 2003
Roche, the Lucerne
Festival and Carnegie Hall launch an intercontinental concert project for contemporary music
A
novel addition to Roche’s long-standing commitment to innovation and support for the arts Basel
/ Nutley (USA) — Roche, the Lucerne Festival and Carnegie Hall, in partnership with the Cleveland Orchestra,
have agreed to collaborate on a novel cultural sponsorship project to be known as Roche
Commissions. For Roche the project continues a long-standing tradition of support for the arts.
This will be the first time that internationally renowned composers of contemporary music and leading
cultural institutions on two continents collaborate in a joint project. Starting
in 2003, Roche will commission an oeuvre each year by an outstanding contemporary composer. The composers
will be selected by Roche based on recommendations by the artistic directors of the Lucerne Festival,
Carnegie Hall and the Cleveland Orchestra. Each commissioned work will have its world premiere at the
Lucerne Summer Festival and will be performed for the first time in the United States at Carnegie Hall
during the concert season starting later that year. The first composition
will premiere at the Lucerne Summer Festival on 20 August 2004 and will be performed by the Cleveland
Orchestra under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst. Welser-Möst will also conduct the US premiere at Carnegie
Hall during the 2004–2005 season. Commenting on the project, Roche Chairman
and CEO Franz B. Humer said: ‘Roche Commissions underscores our Company’s long-standing
support for contemporary artists and cultural projects, particularly in music but also — as the Jean
Tinguely Museum illustrates — in the visual arts and architecture. There are close affinities between
innovation in the arts and innovation in a research-oriented company like Roche. In both settings innovation
is about having the courage to strike out in new directions and about pursuing unconventional solutions,
quality and excellence. In developing the collaborative model for Roche Commissions,
it was therefore important to us for all the partners to play an active role — something you don’t find
in conventional sponsorship programmes. Accordingly, we intend to invite each of the composers selected
for the project to meet and exchange their views with our scientists.’ Michael
Haefliger, Executive and Artistic Director of the Lucerne Festival added: ‘This collaborative project
between Roche, the Lucerne Festival and Carnegie Hall is a milestone in efforts to promote greater cultural
exchange between Europe and the United States. Promoting the work of leading contemporary composers
has a key role to play in advancing cultural understanding on a broad basis. By funding this project,
Roche is making an important contribution to the cause of international understanding.’ Roche
Headquartered
in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading innovation-driven healthcare groups. Its
core businesses are pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is number one in the global diagnostics market,
the leading supplier of pharmaceuticals for cancer and a leader in virology and transplantation medicine.
As a supplier of products and services for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, the Group
contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche employs
roughly 65,000 people in over 150 countries. The Group has alliances and research and development agreements
with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai. In addition
to its active involvement in humanitarian projects, Roche has a long history of supporting the arts,
particularly modern classical music and the modern visual arts. In 1996, for example, to mark its centenary,
Roche funded the construction of Basel’s Jean Tinguely Museum, designed by Mario Botta; and the Group
has since provided full operational funding for the museum. The
Lucerne Festival
The Lucerne Festival began with a memorable Concert
de Gala conducted by Arturo Toscanini in 1938 in front of Villa Tribschen, once the residence
of Richard Wagner. Since then it has become one of the major international music festivals, hosting
performances by outstanding orchestras, conductors and soloists from around the world. Today the Lucerne
Festival sees itself not only as an organiser of world-class concerts in the traditional sense but also
as a venue for presenting contemporary works of music to a wider audience and for cultural events indirectly
related to music. There are three Lucerne Music Festivals each year: an Easter festival (begun in 1988),
a summer festival (begun in 1938) and a piano festival (begun in 1998). Carnegie
Hall
Carnegie Hall, hailed as ‘the concert hall of the century’ by Musical
America, features the world’s greatest soloists, ensembles, and orchestras in its renowned Isaac
Stern Auditorium, the new Zankel Hall, and the intimate Weill Recital Hall. The legendary venue presents
over 160 events each year and produces such acclaimed concert series as Perspectives, Making Music,
Distinctive Debuts, and Carnegie Talks. Carnegie Hall continues to break new ground as it emerges as
a national leader in arts education by offering innovative education programs that reach a wide variety
of audiences — from preschoolers to adults, music lovers to emerging professionals — and serve those
from New York City and throughout the United States. The opening in September 2003 of a third venue
at Carnegie Hall — the new, intermediate-sized Judy and Arthur Zankel Hall — will allow the Hall to
expand its programming. Zankel Hall’s first season will include over 80 classical, jazz, pop, and world
music concerts and will pave the way for new opportunities as Carnegie Hall continues to be an international
cultural centre representing the very best in musical performance, appreciation, and education. Cleveland
Orchestra
Long considered one of America’s great orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra,
founded in 1918, stands today among the world’s most-revered symphonic ensembles. In concerts at home
in Severance Hall and at Blossom Music Center, on tour, in radio and television broadcasts, and in its
critically-admired discography, The Cleveland Orchestra continues to set standards of performance excellence
and imaginative programming that serve as models for audiences and performers alike. Franz Welser-Möst
began his tenure as the Orchestra’s seventh Music Director in September 2002, succeeding Nikolai Sokoloff,
Artur Rodzinski, Erich Leinsdorf, George Szell, Lorin Maazel, and Christoph von Dohnányi. Mr. Welser-Möst’s
first season as Music Director has included world-premiere performances of Cleveland Orchestra-commissioned
works, a domestic tour of the Midwest, and one of the East Coast that included a Carnegie Hall residency.
In October 2003, the Orchestra will begin biennial residencies at the Musikverein in Vienna. The first
of regular European Summer Festival tours will begin in August 2004, including concerts at the Lucerne
Festival, the Edinburgh Festival and the Proms in London. The Cleveland Orchestra has begun a new era
under Franz Welser-Möst’s guidance, while maintaining a steadfast commitment to its long-held traditions
of artistic excellence, educational outreach and community service. Additional
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