In a friendly reference to the Salzburg Festival, Haefliger joked that all of Mozart's operas will not be presented at Lucerne; although Anne-Sophie Mutter and Lambert Orkis will play all of Mozart's sonatas for piano and violin.
The theme of the summer festival is language. Key works in the "language" cycle include Mahler's Symphony No. 8; a concert version of Verdi's Falstaff; Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, Erwartung, and Survivors From Warsaw; Weill's Berlin Requiem; plus music by Schubert and Mozart. Soloists include Matthias Goerne, Cecilia Bartoli, and Thomas Quasthoff.
Five orchestras-in-residence—the Philadelphia Orchestra with Christoph Eschenbach; the Cleveland Orchestra with Franz Welser-M‹st; the Vienna Philharmonic with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Valery Gergiev, and HK Gruber; the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest with Mariss Jansons; and the San Francisco Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas—will play three concerts each.
The festival will present sixteen world-premiere performances, including works by Klaus Huber, Heinz Holliger, and Hanspeter Kyburz.
The ninth Lucerne Piano Festival, which runs November 20-26, highlights a wide range of keyboard repertoire from classical to jazz. Artists this year include Lang Lang, Evgeny Kissin, Alfred Brendel, and H_lne Grimaud.
Lucerne is also host to an Easter Festival, which opens April 1, dedicated to sacred and Baroque music, period instruments, and vocal repertoire.