2026 Program

This orchestra always goes all out. Whether playing softly or at full volume, etching a melody or building to a climax, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra teases out contrasts while eliciting the finest details from the score.

As part of their residency at Lucerne Festival Spring (27–29 March), the musicians continue their thrilling exploration of Beethoven, performing the iconic Eroica Symphony alongside the less frequently heard Fourth Symphony, under the direction of Music Director Riccardo Chailly and Franz Welser-Möst. They will also be joined by two outstanding soloists: Leif Ove Andsnes will perform Mozart’s darkly dramatic D minor Concerto, while the fast-rising violinist Emmanuel Tjeknavorian makes his Festival debut with Mendelssohn’s ravishing Violin Concerto.

Chailly, who has extended his contract as Music Director through 2028, opens the Summer Festival (13 August – 13 September) with rhythmically vibrant works by Gershwin, Bernstein, and Ives – in keeping with the Festival theme of “American Dreams.” He also continues his acclaimed Rachmaninoff cycle. Late-Romantic panoramas await when Klaus Mäkelä conducts Stravinsky’s Firebird and Jakub Hrůša leads Strauss’s Alpine Symphony. But the Lucerne Festival Orchestra is equally at home in music of subtle refinement, as they’ll show with Mozart and Anne-Sophie Mutter, who in 2026 marks her incredible 50th anniversary on the Lucerne stage. An orchestra for every occasion!