“What an evening. What a kickoff. The future of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra – it has now begun.” This is how Peter Hagmann of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung described Riccardo Chailly’s debut as the new artistic director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra last year. Chailly devoted himself in his second year in Lucerne to the works of composers that strongly influenced him during his conducting career. Among these are Felix Mendelssohn and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The program included Mendelssohn’s enchanting tone poems to Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Tchaikovsky’s “Manfred Symphony”, based on the poem written by Lord Byron.
Lucerne Festival 2017: Rattle conducts Haydn’s Schöpfung
It was a farewell and the end of an era: Sir Simon Rattle was in Lucerne as principal conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker one final time this summer. Together, they evoked the original state of the world with a performance of Haydn’s Schöpfung. It was a finale that touched upon life through music – thereby proving once again the distinctiveness and the outstanding standard of the artistic cosmos of Rattle and his orchestra. Earlier in the program, they played “ein kleines symphonisches Gedicht” by Georg Friedrich Haas, who was “composer-in-residence” of the Lucerne Festival in 2011. “Rattle highlights the story of the creation with a great sense of detail” NZZ
Lucerne Festival 2024: Chailly conducts Mahler 7
The Lucerne Festival Orchestra opens the 2024 edition of the summer festival on Lake Lucerne with Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, the most complex and mysterious of his symphonies and for a long time his least frequently performed work. The conductor will be none other than the Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly, himself an ardent admirer of the Viennese master.
Lucerne Festival 2024: Chailly conducts Rachmaninoff
The Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly continues its Rachmaninov journey on Lake Lucerne. The program includes the rare Symphonic Movement in D minor, the Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 and the Scherzo in D minor. In the spotlight: the shooting star Alexander Malofeev, who performs the Piano Concerto No. 1. Alexander Malofeev, who attracted the attention of the classical music world at a young age, is, according to Riccardo Chailly, “more than just a child prodigy” and, despite his young age, possesses not only technical mastery but also a musical maturity that makes him the “ideal Rachmaninov interpreter”.
Lucerne Festival 2022: Riccardo Chailly & Mao Fujita
Sergei Rachmaninov is perhaps most remembered—and beloved—for his piano concertos, which still stand as pillars of Romanticism, though mostly written in the 20th century. At the 2022 Lucerne Festival, virtuoso pianist Mao Fujita performs the composer’s celebrated Piano Concerto No. 2—absolutely brimming with memorable melody and poignant harmony—alongside maestro Riccardo Chailly at the head of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra!
Lucerne Festival 2022: Chailly conducts Rachmaninov
For Riccardo Chailly, celebrating Rachmaninov in Lucerne is something dear to his heart. This summer, he is devoting himself to the Symphony No. 2 in E Minor – the composer’s richest and densest contribution to the genre, evoking Tchaikovsky in form, as well as Borodin and Sibelius in the epic, almost Nordic spirit of its music.
Lucerne Festival 2025: Chailly conducts Mahler
In his internationally acclaimed interpretations of Mahler’s symphonies, Riccardo Chailly focuses on the musical quality of the works, avoiding false pathos and sentimentality while retaining the music’s dramatic intensity. Together with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, and Elina Garanca, he opened the 2025 festival summer festival with Mahler’s poignant, unfinished 10th Symphony and Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder. The concert opened with Pierre Boulez’s Mémoriale, in reverence of the inaugural director of the Lucerne Festival Academy, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday in 2025. PROGRAM Mahler: Rückert-Lieder, Ssymphony No 10; Boulez: Mémoriale
Lucerne Festival 2025: Chailly conducts Rachmaninoff
The Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly continued their journey into Sergei Rachmaninoff’s emotional world. With the rarely performed The Rock, Op. 7, they immersed themselves in the composer’s early work. In his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Rachmaninoff counterposes his own piano virtuosity against the brilliance of the legendary violinist Paganini. The piece was performed by the exceptional pianist Beatrice Rana, renowned worldwide for her electrifying playing. To conclude the evening, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, under Riccardo Chailly’s direction, presented Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1. PROGRAM Rachmaninoff: The Rock, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Symphony No 1