Last week, on the advice of his doctors, Abbado cancelled all three of his appearances with the ensemble at Carnegie next month.
The Lucerne Festival Orchestra, which Abbado founded in 2003, makes its North American debut with its Carnegie residency, which runs October 3-7. The five-day event includes three full-orchestra programs, three chamber concerts and a performance as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (whose players form the nucleus of the LFO) with Pierre-Laurent Aimard as conductor/piano soloist.
The conductor for the first two symphonic concerts — the Opening Night Gala on October 3 and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on October 4 — has yet to be announced.