Collegium Musicum Luzern soloists, choir, and orchestra | Jakob Pilgram | Suzanne Z'Graggen

Jesuitenkirche Luzern

Turning brass into gold: five young trumpeters from Great Britain, Sweden, and Ukraine know the formula that countless alchemists have sought in vain. Founded four years ago at London’s Royal Academy of Music, Fiveby5 produces a radiant, golden brass sound with a brilliant sheen and has already won numerous prizes. Most recently, the quintet won the prestigious Philip Jones International Brass Ensemble Competition in 2025. This success has, among other things, led to their appearance at “In the Streets: City Stage”: the varied program ranges from Bach, Rameau, and Mozart to the rousing Hoe-Down from Aaron Copland’s cowboy ballet Rodeo.

“Brass Spectacular in Memory of Philip Jones”

KKL Lucerne

Kapellplatz

She’s celebrating in style: to mark the 50th anniversary of her Lucerne stage debut, Anne-Sophie Mutter is popping the corks and performing three violin concertos and a solo piece in a single evening! And on top of that, she’s taking on the musical direction of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra herself — anything but an easygoing program. The works she has chosen are, for her, all “projects of the heart.” She introduced herself to the public with a Mozart concerto at her very first orchestral appearance at the age of nine, and Mozart also marked her first recording: the 1978 album with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Herbert von Karajan. André Previn, who was much more than just an artistic partner to her, composed numerous new works for Mutter, including his Violin Concerto No. 2 — one of 34 scores she has premiered so far. Among the most recent pieces she has launched is Likoo, a solo work by the Iranian composer Aftab Darvishi. It traces deep longings: the feelings of women who have lost their loved ones or their homeland, or who have to fight for their rights.

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Lucerne Festival Orchestra | Anne-Sophie Mutter

KKL Luzern Concert Hall

Béla Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin captures the raw, gritty pulse of the modern metropolis. The action unfolds in a seedy den where a young woman lures passersby inside. But instead of finding the pleasure they came for, they are quickly overpowered and robbed by her accomplices — until a mysterious stranger, the Mandarin, falls into the trap . . . The world premiere in 1926 caused such an uproar in Catholic Cologne that the mayor — none other than the future German chancellor Konrad Adenauer — banned the work outright. Bartók then prepared a concert version, though he was never happy with it. “This work is a pantomime with music; both elements should be performed together,” he wrote in the score.

Budapest Festival Orchestra | Eva Duda Dance Company | Iván Fischer | Elisabeth Leonskaja

A first for the Festival: our new Executive and Artistic Director, Sebastian Nordmann, kicks off the Summer Festival by inviting everyone to a big party – free of charge. The acclaimed horn player Sarah Willis and her Havana Lyceum Orchestra bring samba and salsa rhythms, Cuban traditionals, and lively classical arrangements to the Europaplatz – music that invites the audience to join in and enjoy the moment.

Havana Lyceum Orchestra | José Antonio Méndez Padrón | Sarah Willis

The Munich Radio Orchestra goes on an annual tour across the Bavarian Radio broadcasting area and plays classical music in the splendid architecture of royal cities and castles. This year, original sound specialist Reinhard Goebel is on board and presents a fine selection of concert highlights from the early classical period as well as an exclusive Mozart speciality.

Classics In Bavaria

Dachau Palace

Hofgarten Ansbach

Residenzschloss Oettingen

Stadttheater

The famous flute solo at the beginning of Claude Debussy's Prélude a l'après-midi d'un faune brought a musical era to its knees. Debussy countered the Wagnerism that was also prevalent in France with sensibilité and clarté: twelve minutes of pure sonic magic.

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart

Events

Past events

Aug 30, 2026

Collegium Musicum Luzern soloists, choir, and orchestra | Jakob Pilgram | Suzanne Z'Graggen · Lucerne Festival

29 - 30 Aug, 2026

“Brass Spectacular in Memory of Philip Jones” · Lucerne Festival

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