Fritz Gerber Award 2025 for Airault, Gaggiano and Yang

The French cellist and composer Hortense Airault, the Italian percussionist Antonio Gaggiano and the Chinese percussionist Hedi Yang will each receive prize money of CHF 10,000. In addition, the Foundation will enable the three to take part in the Lucerne Festival Academy 2025, also worth CHF 10,000 each.

Hortense Airault, born in Paris in 1999, completed her musical training in Paris and Geneva and is currently studying for a Master's degree in Music Composition at the Bern University of the Arts under Job Ter Haar, among others. Antonio Gaggiano, born in Italy in 1999, studied percussion and composition in Foggia, Ghent and at the Hochschule für Musik Basel, where he completed a master's degree in music performance with Christian Dierstein. He is currently deepening his education in the Master's program in Music Pedagogy. Hedi Yang was born in China in 2003. At the age of 16, she became the youngest ever admitted bachelor's student to major in percussion at the Zurich University of the Arts, where she studied with Klaus Schwärzler, Raphael Christen and Benjamin Forster. She is currently completing her master's degree in Zurich.

The Fritz Gerber Award is aimed at talents up to the age of 28 who either have Swiss citizenship or have lived in Switzerland for at least three years. A jury consisting of Michael Haefliger, Director of the Lucerne Festival, Mark Sattler, dramaturge of the Lucerne Festival, and the composer and conductor Heinz Holliger decided on the award.

The Fritz Gerber Foundation for Gifted Young People has been supporting talented young people in the fields of culture, crafts and sport since 1999. Over the past 26 years, around 2830 young people have been supported with more than 35 million francs. The award has been presented in collaboration with Lucerne Festival since 2015.