Lucerne Festival Orchestra

Since the summer of 2019, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly have been taking audiences on a journey through Sergei Rachmaninoff’s symphonic and concertante world, featuring both essential works and rarities, such as his early opera "Aleko". But before you discover the magic of his music, let yourself be carried away by his Piano Concerto No. 4, performed by the young pianist Lukas Sternath.

To kick off the Lucerne Festival, Riccardo Chailly and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, with pianist Frank Dupree, head west to perform a selection of American music. On the programme: works by George Gershwin and Charles Ives.

On the shores of Lake Lucerne, Riccardo Chailly and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra continue their Rachmaninov odyssey with the Symphonic Movement, a rarely performed piece, as well as the Symphonic Dances and the Scherzo in D minor. The highlight of the evening is the Piano Concerto No. 1, performed by Alexander Malofeev, a rising star on the keyboard. Chapters : Sergueï Rachmaninov - Scherzo in D minor - Symphonic movement in D minor (youth symphony) - Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 1 - Danses symphoniques, op. 45

Since its founding in 2003, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra has established itself as a benchmark in the interpretation of Mahler. The composer's Symphony No. 10 and his Rückert Lieder, performed by Elīna Garanča and conducted by Riccardo Chailly will open the 2025 Lucerne Festival with a tribute to Pierre Boulez, another figure of this renowned festival.

Pianist Maria João Pires and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Paavo Järvi, enchant the audience with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s ‘Piano Concerto No. 9’, known as the ‘Jeunehomme’.

The Lucerne Festival Orchestra and its music director Riccardo Chailly dedicate an evening to Sergei Rachmaninoff, with Italian pianist Beatrice Rana shining in the highly virtuosic variations of the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Also on the programme is the mysterious Symphony No. 1 and The Rock, an early work that already gives a glimpse of the Russian composer's musical sensibility.

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Claudio Abbado conducts Brahms, Schoenberg & Beethoven - Lucerne Festival Opening Concert (2013)

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Competently as usual and with a lot of visinary energy, Claudio Abbado conducted his LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA at the opening of LUCERNE FESTIVAL, SOMMER 2005. The programm included Beethoven's impressive Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, with Alfred Brendel as soloist and, as the very heart of the opening programme of SOMMER 2005, Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7.

A tribute to the great Austrian pianist Alfred Brendel, who died at the age of 94 on 17 June 2025. An acclaimed performer of Beethoven, he leaves behind him a musical legacy spanning more than sixty years. His performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 at Lucerne in 2005 was a highlight of the festival, conducted by Claudio Abbado, another icon of classical music.