A festival lasting almost five weeks, numerous guest performances by international orchestras, large-scale works, three concert operas – if you look at the program of the Lucerne Summer Festival 2021, you might think that there is no corona pandemic.
“We do not act in the dark, but do it very carefully,” explains Artistic Director Michael Haefliger. “We assume that the health situation will improve considerably as a result of the vaccinations. Summer is also a better time of year to contain the virus than winter. We have therefore planned a normal program. If, contrary to expectations, there should be difficulties, then of course we have developed scenarios for how we will react. ”However, the planned start of advance sales had to be postponed, from the end of April to May 17, due to insufficient planning security.
The 2020 summer festival was initially canceled before a heavily slimmed-down, ten-day, corona-compliant program entitled “Life is live” took place. The largest classical music festival in Switzerland is still in a solid financial position. “Over the past 20 years we have been able to build up good capital that now protects us. If we can no longer calculate with the 1800 seats in the hall in the long term, we would have to rethink, ”says Haefliger.
The spring festival has been canceled
He believes that the high number of cases justifies the fact that no events are currently allowed in Switzerland. The director clearly criticizes the fact that the ski areas should remain open. “You can see in Switzerland right now that the subject of skiing is certainly more important than the subject of culture.”
The spring festival “Andras Schiff and Friends”, planned from March 26th to 28th, has now been completely canceled. The theme of the summer festival (August 10 to September 12, 2021) is “crazy”. The motto sounds like a response to the pandemic, but it was set two years ago.
The Berlin Philharmonic should also be there in summer
The violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and the clarinetist Reto Bieri offer a concert inspired by Dadaism. With Robert Schumann, the focus falls on a composer who spent the last two years of his life in a mental hospital. Even in concert operas, according to Haefliger, the crazy is at the center with Handel’s “Partenope”, Tchaikovsky’s “Pique Dame” and Verdi’s “Falstaff”.
The orchestra concerts remain the core of the festival. The Lucerne Festival Orchestra is dedicated to works by Rachmaninow, Mahler and Bruckner under the direction of Riccardo Chailly and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Performances by the Vienna (Herbert Blomstedt) and Berlin Philharmonic (Kirill Petrenko), the Staatskapelle Berlin (Daniel Barenboim), the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Daniel Harding) and the London Symphony Orchestra (Simon Rattle) underpin the special position of the festival. Michael Haefliger does not worry that the international orchestra tours after the pandemic could become significantly less due to climate protection. “You just have to change the way you travel, plan more compactly and choose the train instead of the plane. A lot is possible there. “
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