The graduation ceremony of the Department of Music at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts took place on September 4, 2025. 202 Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees were awarded; 77 degrees were awarded at the continuing education level. Three graduates were honored with the Strebi Memorial Prize, six with the ST.ART - Young Talent Award for Culture of the Canton of Lucerne. The Foundation for the Promotion of Music at the Lucerne School of Music awarded prizes for excellence in piano teaching from the Hella Siegrist Fund during the graduation ceremony.
Thursday’s graduation ceremony marked the end of the Bachelor’s degree course for 83 people and the Master’s degree course for 119 people at the Lucerne School of Music’s Department of Music. In the Bachelor of Arts in Music, 73 graduates received their diplomas, 54 of them in the classical music profile, 17 in the jazz profile and 2 in the folk music profile. There were six graduates in the Bachelor of Arts/Music and Movement program and two graduates in the Bachelor of Arts in Music/Church Music program.
A total of 119 diplomas were awarded in the Master of Arts in Music, most of them in the classical performance major (25). In the Master of Arts in Music Education, 62 graduates gained their professional qualification for teaching at music schools or secondary schools.
There were also 77 music education and artistic further education qualifications in a Master of Advanced Studies (MAS), Diploma of Advanced Studies (DAS) or Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS).
A total of thirteen prizes for outstanding achievements were also awarded at the graduation ceremony on September 4, 2025:
ST.ART - Culture Prize for Young Talent of the Canton of Lucerne
Six students received a ST.ART - Young Talent Award for Culture. Launched in 2023, the award is intended to support graduates as they enter the world of professional art. The prizes, each worth CHF 5,000, went to
- José Vazquez, Master Performance Jazz with a major in trombone
- Silvan Sterki, Master Solo Performance with violoncello as main subject
- Eleonora Kostina, Master Performance Classical with major in percussion
- Elide Sulsenti, Master Interpretation in Contemporary Music with a major in cello
- Paula Schweinberger, Master in Church Music with a major in organ
- Asli Ayben Ézdemir, Master’s in Performance Classics with a major in violin
José Manuel Vázquez, Master of Arts in Music - Performance Jazz - Trombone
Trombonist José Vázquez is being honored in recognition of his outstanding Master’s performance on June 6, 2025. He impressed both in a quintet and in an ensemble with classical and jazz voices as an innovative and profound composer. His characterful sound and expressive playing combine technical excellence with mature, virtuoso improvisation. The artful fusion of classical music and jazz is an impressive testament to his exceptionally broad artistic ability and understanding.
Silvan Sterki ( Lenzburg AG, Zurich) , Master of Arts in Music - Solo Performance - Violoncello
Silvan Sterki is being honored for his Master’s recital on June 14, 2025. He does not stop at the technical perfection of his playing: Silvan Sterki places this entirely at the service of wide-ranging tonal possibilities, oscillating between sensitive delicacy and wild attack, physically involved right down to the fingertips, playing with soul and thoughtfulness, as if the cello were a part of his person. Presence and internalization were also evident in the original program, which adapted opera arias from various eras.
Elide Sulsenti ( Lucerne) , Master of Arts in Music - Interpretation in Contemporary Music - Violoncello
Elide Sulsenti is being honored for her innovative and at the same time personally conceived master recital on June 21, 2025. She impressed with her varied and finely nuanced playing in a diverse and technically refined contemporary program with a pointed finale that made the audience sit up and take notice.
Eleonora Kostina ( place of residence Kriens) , Master of Arts in Music - Performance Classical - Percussion
Eleonora Kostina is being honored for her excellent Master’s recital on June 28, 2025. She presented a multi-faceted program in which she impressed both as an outstanding soloist and as a chamber musician - from complex works of contemporary music to neoclassical music and body percussion. With her expressive stage presence and energy, her lively artistic interpretation and impressive technical precision, she presented herself as a mature and highly exciting artistic personality.
Paula Patricia Schweinberger ( Lucerne) , Master of Arts in Music - Church Music - Organ
Paula Schweinberger is being honored for her Master’s recital on July 1, 2025 in the Lukas Church in Lucerne. She impressed the audience with a well thought-out program concept that made immediate sense and at the same time encouraged reflection through the many possible references in the selection of works. Paula Schweinberger played the substantial and demanding organ works with technical mastery and great musical presence.
Asli Ayben Özdemir ( Lucerne) , Master of Arts in Music - Performance Classical Music - Violin
Asli Ayben Özdemir is being honored for her thoughtfully conceived and highly authentic master recital on July 1, 2025. Her dense interpretations, characterized by impressive energy and at the same time fine chamber music playing, prove her to be a musician with great potential.
Strebi Memorial Prize
Three Strebi Foundation prizes, each worth 2Ê 1/4 000 francs, were also awarded to outstanding Bachelor graduates at the graduation ceremony. They went to
- Natalie Andreae (Zurich; place of residence Basel) , Bachelor of Arts in Music, Jazz vocal, Improvisation
- Michael Husu (Canada; domicile Kriens LU) , Bachelor of Arts in Music, Classical Instrumental, Piano
- Muriel Fässler (Einsiedeln SZ), Bachelor of Arts / Music and Movement
Natalie Andreae, Bachelor of Arts in Music, Jazz vocal, Improvisation
Natalie Andreae was born in 1997 and grew up in Zurich. During the course of her Bachelor’s degree, she repeatedly demonstrated her artistic creativity, her imagination, her versatility and her stage presence at concerts. She passed her bachelor’s exams with top marks. In addition to the compulsory examination, in which she showed that she can sing traditional jazz at a high level and with advanced improvisation concepts, her Bachelor’s concert was also impressive. Here she managed to create a universe of sound in which free improvisation had just as much room as groovy passages and colorful harmonies. The program, which she wrote and arranged herself, took the audience on a fascinating journey in which seemingly contradictory elements were united in a great whole.
Michael Husu, Bachelor of Arts in Music, Classical Instrumental, Piano
Michael was born in 2004 and comes from Toronto, Canada. His enormous pianistic talent is based on a rare synthesis of intelligence and intuition. In his demanding bachelor recital, he impressed not only with his above-average technical level, but also with his wonderful freedom of playing and outstanding musicality. After completing his Bachelor’s degree with top marks, Michael will focus on orchestral conducting, his second great musical passion, in his Master’s degree. In his Bachelor’s project, he was able to demonstrate his full artistic potential as a conductor of opera scenes and with a three-movement pasticcio piano concerto - largely arranged by himself and conducted from the piano.
Muriel Fässler, Bachelor of Arts / Music and Movement
Muriel Fässler was born in Einsiedeln in 2001. She initially studied at the Schwyz University of Teacher Education before beginning her studies at the HSLU in Music and Movement, majoring in church organ. She is a young pedagogue who sets standards for school and music education with her vision, creativity and pedagogical depth. Her bachelor’s thesis is an outstanding example of her pedagogical and artistic work: based on a musical project she initiated herself, she investigates the potential of project-oriented learning and its influence on the musical development of children. Muriel composed all the songs for the project herself and then developed the script and the scenic realization together with the children. Muriel also demonstrated her strong musical talent in her major subject, organ, which she completed with top marks.
Hella Siegrist Prize 2025 for excellence in piano pedagogy
The Foundation for the Promotion of Music at the Lucerne School of Music awarded prizes for excellence in piano pedagogy from the Hella Siegrist Fund during the graduation ceremony. The audition for scholarships for pianistic excellence will follow after the graduation ceremony.
1. 1st prize: Roman Halter (Derendingen SO) 2nd prize ex aequo: Athina Waser (Hünenberg ZG; resident in Lucerne) 2nd prize ex aequo: Ana Dorado Suela (Spain, resident in Lucerne) 3rd prize: Jure MarkiÄ (Pfäffikon SZ)
1. Prize for piano pedagogical excellence: Roman Halter
Roman Halter receives the prize for his Master’s thesis ’A concept for dynamic piano teaching’. The jury thus honored an innovative, broad-based pedagogical concept that is ideally suited for the continuous further development of Roman Halter’s own successful work and for transfer to other instruments and other music schools. Roman Halter graduated from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts with a Bachelor’s degree, a Master of Arts in Music and a Master of Arts in Music Education in 2025. After completing his studies, he moved back to his home region in the canton of Solothurn, where he teaches piano at two music schools and is committed to the further development of teaching methods. He also organizes concert projects and works as a church musician.
2. Ex aequo prize for excellence in piano teaching: Athina Waser
Athina Waser receives the prize for her work ’Tastius - A project to promote joint music-making on the piano’. The jury thus honors a particularly sustainable project for the interaction of beginners in piano lessons. The low-threshold feasibility and the good response have led to Athina Waser, born in 1999 in the canton of Zug, starting to play the piano at the age of nine and pursuing the desire to become a music teacher at an early age. in 2019, she began her piano studies at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts with Yvonne Lang and Marc Hunziker and gained her first teaching experience at the Kriens Music School during her bachelor’s degree. In addition to her teaching activities, she particularly enjoys playing in ensembles and is now starting a further Master’s degree in music theory with great interest.
2. Prize ex aequo for piano pedagogical excellence: Ana Dorado Suela
Ana Dorado Suela receives the prize for her work ’Six-handed film music piano arrangements for beginners’. The jury recognizes the convincing creation of a low-threshold approach to making music together for piano students from the first year of lessons. Ana Dorado Suela is a pianist and organist in Lucerne. After completing her bachelor’s degree in piano at Codarts Rotterdam, she moved to Switzerland in 2020, where she obtained master’s degrees in piano performance with a minor in chamber music and in piano pedagogy with a minor in church music. Today she works as a piano teacher at the Lucerne Music School, as an organist in Wolhusen and is a versatile soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician and band member.
3. Prize for piano pedagogical excellence: Jure MarkiÄ
Jure MarkiÄ receives the prize for his work ’Video game music for four and six hands’. The jury recognizes a well-designed collection of video game music in arrangements for piano four and six hands. The orientation of the levels of difficulty towards level tests simplifies the implementation in lessons. Jure MarkiÄ, born in Einsiedeln in 1998 and raised in Pfäffikon SZ, began playing the piano at the age of ten. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music with distinction from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 2023 and a Master of Arts in Instrumental Pedagogy in 2025. He has been teaching at the Freienbach Music School since 2022 and presented the first performance of Nikolai Kapustin’s fourth piano concerto in Switzerland in his master’s degree concert.
Info days for music studies
From November 24 to 29, 2025, the Department of Music at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts will be opening its doors to anyone interested in pre-college, Bachelor’s or Master’s studies in music. Visitors can get a taste of lessons. Students and lecturers also provide interesting information about the individual courses on offer.
hslu.ch/m-info-days
