I grandi numeri del Festival di Lucerna

With a total tally of about 80,000 patrons and a capacity of 95% for all ticketed events, LUCERNE FESTIVAL has achieved an excellent final result going into the final weekend of the Summer Festival. For all concerts to which tickets were sold, there was a total of 66,500 concertgoers, which comes to 1.8% higher tickets sales in comparison with the total recorded last year. Some 13,500 listeners turned out for the 27 free events that were offered. There was a high demand, totaling about 5,000 guests, for the LUCERNE FESTIVAL 40min concert series which took place in the Luzerner Saal — an increase of 12% over last year’s figure. A total of 20 of the 56 concerts comprising the major ticketed events* were sold out; in addition, 18 concerts recorded a capacity of 90% or higher. For the events that were held outside the KKL such as the “Hosted at the Buvette” series, the public viewing of the Opening Concert from Inseli Park, and the “In the Streets” Festival, there were 13,500 visitors, a figure that was partially lower than the total in 2013 on account of weather conditions this summer.

This year’s edition of the Festival, dedicated in gratitude to the memory of Claudio Abbado, the founder and leader of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA who died in January, offered some 120 artistic events — including both free events and events requiring ticket purchase — between
15 August and 14 September, all revolving around the theme of “Psyche.” This upcoming weekend of LUCERNE FESTIVAL in Summer concludes the 2014 Festival with concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic, which this year is performing on three successive evenings under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel. The Festival officially opened on 15 August with a concert by the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA and Andris Nelsons: the Latvian conductor led an all-Brahms program that Abbado himself had designed for this occasion. The orchestra and Nelsons also inspired audiences in the following days with three more concerts in memory of Claudio Abbado.

Among the 20 sold-out concerts were the two concerts featuring the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, Andris Nelsons, and Maurizio Pollini on 22 and 24 August and the St. Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach with the Berlin Philharmonic. For the first time ever, a symphony concert by the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY, which took place on 23 August, was completely full.

There was outstanding interest in the 40min concert series held in the KKL’s Luzerner Saal, with an average of some 500 visitors who came to each of the ten evenings of the series, of which five concerts presented contemporary music and in which such stars as Sir Simon Rattle and Barbara Hannigan also performed.

There was a total of 27 symphony concerts during the Summer Festival featuring such internationally renowned orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Mariinsky Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra.

*   Symphony concerts, chamber music, recitals, early music, and concerts in the Debut, Modern, and Late Night series.

For these, an average capacity of 98% was recorded. Internationally outstanding conductors and instrumentalists also performed this summer in Lucerne. Along with Andris Nelsons and Sir Simon Rattle they included such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Daniele Gatti, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev, Franz Welser-Möst, and Alan Gilbert, who made his Lucerne debut conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. The soloists who appeared included such artists as Leonidas Kavakos, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Rudolf Buchbinder, Klaus Florian Vogt, Sara Mingardo, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Lang Lang. Still to be heard, on 13 September, is Sergey Khachatryan, the winner of the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award for 2014.

Midori and Barbara Hannigan, who were this summer’s “artistes étoiles,” performed in varied concert formats, including symphony and chamber music concerts as well as appearances as part of the new concert Lounge and 40min series. Barbara Hannigan performed as the soloist with the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle in the world premiere of Le Silence des Sirènes, the Roche Commissions 2014 work by ourcomposer-in-residence Unsuk Chin. In addition, Hannigan took on the dual role of singer and conductor of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and led a master class in singing as part of the Academy.

Midori presented the complete Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach and the world premiere of the Violin Concerto by composer-in-residence Johannes Maria Staud and also performed as part of the Lounge series. Johannes Maria Staud’s works were heard in a total of five concerts throughout the Festival; these included one in which Matthias Pintscher conducted the Ensemble intercontemporain in his monodrama Der Riss durch den Tag and the world premiere of his opera Die Antilope at the Luzerner Theater.

The results were 72% capacity for the eight concerts in the Modern series and 93% capacity for the seven Debut concerts introducing first-rate emerging talents. Overall, there were ten world premieres of music by contemporary composers, including such examples as the new Horn Concerto by Wolfgang Rihm for the soloist Stefan Dohr, a commission by LUCERNE FESTIVAL which was presented by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Harding.

A total of 130 students aged 18 to 32 from around the world took part in the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY in 2014, which was led this summer by Sir Simon Rattle, Heinz Holliger, and Matthias Pintscher. Some of the highlights included the concert featuring Luciano Berio’s work Coro conducted by Sir Simon Rattle in the sold-out KKL Luzern concert hall, which, in addition to the Academy Orchestra, called for 40 students who took part in a three-week-long Choral Academy. Another unique event was the performance of Heinz Holliger’s monumentalScardanelli Cycle, with the composer conducting; Holliger also led a master class in conducting. Matthias Pintscher, who led works by Berio and Lachenmann as well as Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, among others, accompanied the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY Ensemble following their work in Lucerne on a tour to Cologne (8 September) and Gelsenkirchen (9 September).

The 25 family and youth concerts comprising the Young series were very well attended, with a total capacity of 81%. Of the 25 concerts for children and young people, ten were completely filled, including the pillow concerts and presentations of Rusalka, which was a collaboration with the puppet theatre PETRUSCHKA. The 22 school events on offer were visited by a total of some 2500 students. HEROÏCA, the first production of the new concert format LUCERNE FESTIVAL Young Performance, will be presented in two concerts on 13 September and subsequently will later go on tour to St. Gallen (20 September), Lausanne (21 September), and Basel (27 September).

From 26 to 31 August, the In the Streets Festival presented eight world music ensembles, and there were three musical events at the open-air bar in Inseli Park for the Hosted at the Buvette series. The project The Place of Whispers by David Bithell, this year’s “Soundzz.z.zzz…z” partnership with the Kunstmuseum Luzern, called for active collaboration from visitors. Very well attended were the NZZ Podium discussion on the theme of “Psyche” moderated by the NZZ arts editor Martin Meyer, as well as the three events presented in tribute to Claudio Abbado on 16 August.

Radio SRF 2 Kultur recorded 23 concerts, some of which were transmitted worldwide, and also broadcast three of these concerts live, including the opening concert on 15  August. This was also seen in time delay as a TV broadcast on SRF1 and as a live stream on arte.tv. On 14 September it will be broadcast by ARTE. A total of 175 journalists were accredited for the Festival, including 93 international journalists for such outlets as the New York Times, Financial Times, Asahi Shimbun, El País, La Stampa, and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and radio stations like Deutschlandfunk, WDR, WQXR, and Rai Radio 3.