Summertime, It Ain’t Necessarily So, I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’: in Porgy and Bess, George Gershwin strings together one hit after another. That can make it easy to forget that he did not compose a glittering Broadway musical but a groundbreaking serious opera — even if it sounds less like Wagner or Verdi and more like spirituals and jazz. It tackles unemployment and poverty, drugs and murder — and at its center is the tragic love story between the disabled beggar Porgy and the troubled Bess. Above all, however, the opera takes place within an African American community — for the first time in the history of musical theater. That was an act of courage in the 1930s, at the height of racial discrimination — one just as bold as Gershwin’s insistence that Porgy and Bess be performed exclusively by Black singers. At Lucerne Festival, you can experience America’s most famous and successful opera with the ensemble of Cape Town Opera, South Africa’s only opera company. And the acclaimed Chineke! Orchestra — returning to Lake Lucerne after its enthusiastic reception in the summers of 2022 and 2024 — is likewise composed predominantly of People of Color.

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Chineke! Orchestra | Cape Town Opera | Enrique Mazzola

KKL Luzern Concert Hall

More diversity in classical music! This is the objective which prompted the Chineke! Orchestra, founded 2015 in London, as a catalysator for change in order to achieve current diversity targets within the classical music world. As part of their joint European tour with the Cape Town Opera from South Africa, they will present George Gershwin’s masterpiece Porgy and Bess in a new semi-staged production at the Musikfest Berlin. Kwamé Ryan will conduct.

Brittany Smith

Events

Upcoming events

Sep 13, 2026

Chineke! Orchestra | Cape Town Opera | Enrique Mazzola · Lucerne Festival

Sep 15, 2026

Chineke! Orchestra / Cape Town Opera · Berliner Philharmoniker

Future and recently performed repertoire

Clara in Porgy and Bess by Gershwin

Berliner Philharmoniker

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