Just a week ago, 130 or so LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY participants from all over the world arrived in Lucerne, and on 2 September they will perform their first symphonic concert with a programme traversing a century of the history of French music, from Maurice Ravel to Marc-André Dalbavie. The LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY, founded by Pierre Boulez in 2004, gives the LUCERNE FESTIVAL its own educational institution for highly gifted young musicians, who are specially initiated into the performance of 20th and 21st century music. The latter will appear to introduce himself as well as his orchestral work “Concertate il suono” on 27 August as part of the Forum series. Likewise, the week-long “Master Class in Conducting” is open to anyone curious to listen as Pierre Boulez passes his knowledge and experience on to the emerging generation. In the Open Stage series beginning on 29 August, which takes place Mondays and Wednesdays, the Academy musicians will prepare a “surprise menu” for the audience. The LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY was founded in 2004 by Pierre Boulez in conjunction with the Festival's executive director Michael Haefliger. Since then, highly gifted young musicians from all corners of the globe have gathered together every summer to study contemporary scores and modern masterpieces. Working together in daily rehearsals, workshops, and lessons, the participants receive the basic equipment for performing contemporary music. The teaching staff is made up of members of the Parisian Ensemble intercontemporain, one of the most celebrated ensembles in the field of modern music. The works in the "syllabus" are then presented to the public in orchestral concerts and ensemble recitals. The Academy Forum series allows audiences to glimpse behind the scenes and see the students and their teachers at work – in rehearsal, in master classes, or in moderated workshops. It is not only instrumentalists who profit from the practical training at the Academy: the institute is also a springboard for budding conductors and composers. Every year includes a master class in conducting in which Pierre Boulez initiates highly gifted young conductors into the mysteries of the métier. In addition to that commissions are given to young composers. The Academy is only one of the features of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL which consists actually of three festivals – LUCERNE FESTIVAL at Easter, LUCERNE FESTIVAL in Summer, and LUCERNE FESTIVAL at the Piano. With some one-hundred events, LUCERNE FESTIVAL in Summer is the largest of this distinguished threesome. Every year since 2003 it has opened with a concert of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, an élite ensemble conducted by Claudio Abbado and composed of internationally renowned soloists, chamber musicians, professors, and some fifty members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Besides cultivating the standard repertoire with the best performers the world has to offer, LUCERNE FESTIVAL is also deeply committed to modern music. Every summer it appoints one or two composers-in-residence and focuses on their music. It also appoints artistes étoiles, stellar artists who are actively involved in designing the festival's programmes and present their art in a very wide range of contexts. Finally, each season is placed beneath a selected theme that governs the programming policy.