The Festival Strings Lucerne were established in 1956 by Wolfgang Schneiderhan and Rudolf Baumgartner. The regular ensemble consists of 16 string players but can also be expanded to a larger chamber orchestra according to the specific repertoire. The Strings owe their special sound both to the masterful instruments owned by the players, which were made in the legendary workshops of Cremona by Stradivari, Guarneri, and Amati, and to their great performance tradition. Since 1998 Achim Fiedler has served as Artistic Director. He has already led his musicians in concerts on every continent. Following performances in South America (2007), the United States (2008), Japan (2009), and Europe (2010), they will undertake a concert tour of Asia in 2011. At its headquarters in Lucerne the ensemble offers a concert series at the KKL and is a regular part of LUCERNE FESTIVAL’s programming. The repertoire of the Festival Strings Lucerne extends from the Baroque to contemporary music. During their 55-year history, they have given the world premieres of more than 100 works, including compositions by Jean Françaix, Frank Martin, Bohuslav Martinu˚, Sándor Veress, Iannis Xenakis, Krzysztof Penderecki, Klaus Huber, Peter Ruzicka, and Beat Furrer. Another defining feature has been their collaboration with famous soloists, from Yehudi Menuhin, Da-vid Oistrakh, Pablo Casals, Wilhelm Kempff, and Clara Haskil to such contemporary stars as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Viktoria Mullova, Leonidas Kavakos, James Galway, and Mischa Maisky. The ensemble regularly releases CDs: most recently, a complete recording of Felix Mendelssohn’s string symphonies. In 2007 the Festival Strings Lucerne won the Echo Klassik Award for their account of the Bach keyboard concertos with pianist Martin Stadtfeld.
LUCERNE FESTIVAL (IMF) debut on 26 August 1956 in works by Corelli, Purcell, Bach, and Pergolesi.
August 2011