Lucerne Symphony Orchestra

Founded in 1805, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra is Switzerland’s oldest orchestra and serves as the resident ensemble at the KKL Luzern. In addition to its concert series there, it performs in opera productions at the Luzerner Theater and, since 2022, at the piano festival “Le piano symphonique.” Its programming reaches beyond the Classical and Romantic repertoire to include rarities and contemporary works. It has commissioned works from Sofia Gubaidulina, Dieter Ammann, Rodion Shchedrin, Thomas Adès, and Wolfgang Rihm, among others. Michael Sanderling has served as the orchestra’s Principal Conductor since 2021 and has extended his contract until 2029. Guest conductors in the 2025-26 season include Maxim Emelyanychev, Thomas Dausgaard, Christoph Eschenbach, Giovanni Antonini, and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla; Martha Argerich, Hélène Grimaud, Alexandre Kantorow, Lisa Batiashvili, Fatma Said, Anna Vinnitskaya, and Gil Shaham will be among the illustrious soloists. The orchestra regularly goes on tour, with trips to Austria, Italy, France, Germany, and South Korea planned for the coming season. Numerous recordings, some of them award-winning, document its work; Fazıl Say’s Mozart ve Mevlana will be released in the fall of 2025. The Lucerne Symphony Orchestra has been based in the Orchesterhaus on the Kampus Südpol since 2021. It runs its own orchestra academy, supports young talent through its “Rising Stars” series, and offers a comprehensive educational program that was awarded the “Young Ears” Prize in 2018. In 2023, the orchestra received the European Culture Prize yœurope Award.

Lucerne Festival (IMF) debut on 23 August 1993 in a program of works by Schnittke led by Vladimir Kiradjiev.

June 2025