Music that sounds as its creators imagined it. Musicians who play with rapture and commitment. Concert-goers who take leisurely plunges into worlds of sound, far removed from the bustle of everyday life. LUCERNE FESTIVAL makes it all possible, and has been doing so for more than seventy years. Nestled on idyllic Lake Lucerne in one of the world's most beautiful Old Towns, every year the city becomes a meeting place for leading performers from all over the globe – famous orchestras, legendary conductors, virtuoso soloists – who convene to celebrate a festival of sound. In Jean Nouvel's concert hall, equally famous for its phenomenal acoustics and exquisite architecture, they encounter a no less polyglot audience: some 120,000 visitors make their way to Lucerne every year to attend its three festivals – at Easter, in Summer, and at the Piano.
With some one-hundred events, LUCERNE FESTIVAL in Summer is the largest of this distinguished threesome. Every year since 2003 it has opened with a concert of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, an élite ensemble conducted by Claudio Abbado and composed of internationally renowned soloists, chamber musicians, professors, and some fifty members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. The LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY, founded by Pierre Boulez in 2004, gives the festival its own educational institution for highly gifted young musicians, who are specially initiated into the performance of 20th- and 21st-century music. Besides cultivating the standard repertoire with the best performers the world has to offer, LUCERNE FESTIVAL is also deeply committed to modern music. Every summer it appoints one or two composers-in-residence and focuses on their music. It also appoints artistes étoiles, stellar artists who are actively involved in designing the festival's programs and present their art in a very wide range of contexts. Finally, each season is placed beneath a selected theme that governs the programming policy.
Founded in 1988, LUCERNE FESTIVAL at Easter spans ten days during the Passion season, up to and including Palm Sunday, and places an emphasis on sacred music. The youngest of the three festivals is LUCERNE FESTIVAL at the Piano, held annually each November since 1998 and devoted exclusively to the art of pianism. Classical pianists and famous jazzmen, new virtuosos and established masters, pianists, organists, and harpsichord players: all come to Lucerne for a week to fill the air with recitals, concertos, and improvisations.
Read about the Festival's history here.
Watch Michael Haefliger speak about his role of executive and artistic director (video).