The Institute of Classical and Sacred Music at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts welcomes Jakob Pilgram as the new artistic director of the Collegium Musicum and as a lecturer for vocal ensemble from the 2024/25 academic year and Marco Amherd as a new lecturer for choral conducting from the 2025/26 academic year.
Jakob Pilgram studied singing, school music and choral conducting at the Basel Music Academy under Hans-Jürg Rickenbacher and completed his studies at the ZHdK in Werner Güra’s concert class. As a sought-after soloist in Switzerland and abroad, he has sung with conductors such as Thomas Hengelbrock, Philippe Herreweghe, Ton Koopman, Andrea Marcon and Hans-Christoph Rademann and has acquired a sound knowledge of historical performance practice. He has appeared as a guest singer on the stages of the Basel, Bern and Lucerne theaters. In 2005, he founded the professional larynx Vokalensemble, where he works as musical director and conductor and which was awarded the Canton Baselland Cultural Promotion Prize in 2012. He is also a member of the Artistic Board of the Balthasar Neumann Choir and co-director of its Singer’s Academy, where he conducts selected projects of the ensembles. Since 2004, he has formed a song duo with Mischa Sutter, which won an award at the international song competition Franz Schubert und die Musik der Moderne in Graz. He is also on the board of the associations monuments musicaux and Besuch der Lieder. He teaches at the Kalaidos University of Music and at the Basel Music School.
Marco Amherd studied conducting, organ/church music (concert, teaching and soloist diploma) and economics in Zurich, Freiburg im Breisgau and Toulouse. He completed his studies with distinction. He is currently the artistic director of the Swiss Vocal Consort. The professional ensemble not only presents musical rarities, but also creates links between early music and contemporary works. His flair for unusual sounds is also evident in his collaboration with the Vokalensemble Zürich West and the Junges Kammerchor Zürich. He has also won prizes at numerous international competitions (including the Bach Competition Wiesbaden, Silbermann Competition Freiberg, Kurt Bossler Competition Freiburg, Mendelssohn Competition Aarau). From 2016 to 2018, he was a scholarship holder of the German Music Council’s Conducting Forum and was awarded the prize for best conductor at the Lucca Choir Competition in 2022. Marco Amherd is also the artistic director of the DAVOS FESTIVAL. In this role, he cultivates his enthusiasm for combining music, literature and socially relevant topics. His concert programs always follow a common thread and tell dramatic, humorous and serious stories.
We warmly welcome Jakob Pilgram and Marco Amherd to the Institute and look forward to working with them!
