40min Open Air

As we know, all good things come in threes. Which is why this special edition of our popular 40min concert series presents three acts in a row as an open-air event on the Europaplatz (right in front of the KKL Luzern): 120 minutes of music, hopefully in bright sunshine, occasionally flavored by the sound of a ship’s horn from Lake Lucerne. In any case, an opening fanfare will be provided by the young British brass quintet London Central Brass, who won the prestigious Philip Jones Brass Prize last year and will play such evergreens as Amazing Grace and Round Midnight alongside lively arrangements of Maurice Ravel and George Gershwin. They will be followed by a quintet from the local region, Schäbyschigg, which presents fresh interpretations of traditional Swiss melodies. To close, the young musicians of the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO) will play a merry finale comprising car horns and doorbells, Béla Bartók’s folk-like Divertimento, and Mauricio Kagel’s wonderfully quirky Marches to Miss the Victory, in which the music is constantly out of step.