Program 2026

New sounds and more than 120 young musical talents from around the world: the Lucerne Festival Academy is a unique campus for contemporary music. In 2026, the composer, clarinetist, and conductor Jörg Widmann takes over as Artistic Director. With Wolfgang Rihm's Tutuguri, the Academy musicians will set the walls of the KKL Luzern shaking – and in September, they will also present this monumental work at the Musikfest Berlin and at the Bavarian Radio's musica viva in Munich. But they will also turn to the quiet, fragile sound worlds of composer-in-residence Mark Andre, offer exciting world premieres by Liza Lim, Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson, and others, and trace American (day)dreams and nightmares from John Adams to Frank Zappa.