Love relationships are said to exist between an orchestra and its conductor. A case in point is the rapport between the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, which will be in residence at the LUCERNE FESTIVAL this summer to perform three concerts, and its Finnish chief conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen.

In 1983 a young Finn named Esa-Pekka Salonen, then only 25 years old, appeared on short notice on the podium of the Philharmonia Orchestra to conduct Mahler’s Third Symphony. Thus began a wonderful artistic partnership. Salonen was immediately appointed Principal Guest Conductor and made regular appearances on the Thames. In 2006 he was finally offered the position of Principal Conductor. “In a way it’s like you have had this fling with somebody for 25 years, and then that person finally says: ‘Well, we really should get married,’” Salonen said in an interview with the “London Times.” In his private life, in fact, he had literally done just that: married, that is, into the orchestra, for his wife Janet Price was a musician performing -- where else? – with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

The high level of perfection, sensitivity, flexibility, and openness to new ideas: Salonen knows how to value his musicians, with whom he repeatedly undertakes unusual projects. So, too, in Lucerne, where he will conduct three programs that illustrate the motto of “Eros.” On September 8 he will present us with Lemminkäinen, “the Finnish Don Giovanni,” hero of four tone poems by Jean Sibelius. September 9 brings the seductive song of sirens in Debussy’s “Nocturnes” as well as the extremely sad story of Prokofiev's “Romeo and Juliet,” while on September 10, a semi-staged performance of “Tristan und Isolde,” with video art by Bill Viola, will provide the grand finale. The Philharmonia Orchestra, incidentally, has a renowned history with Wagner’s opera: It performed on perhaps the most famous “Tristan” recording ever made—the interpretation led by Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1952.