LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura is preparing to raise the curtain on the 2025/26 music season and promises to be a crossroads of sounds, eras and styles.
Starting from Friday 17 October 2025, the Ticino public will be accompanied on an unprecedented sound journey through fifty events entirely curated by the new LAC Music sector, born from the integration with LuganoMusica. Under the guidance of artistic director Andrea Amarante, the programming delves into the concept of music as a force capable of transcending time, a fruitful meeting place between consolidated roots and bold experimentation.
For the first time, the curatorial imprint is totally internal to the LAC, marking a new phase for the multidisciplinary cultural center. This evolution aims to redefine the role of music within a broader artistic context, while at the same time intensifying the synergy with theOrchestra of Italian Switzerland (OSI), resident orchestra and privileged partner of this ambitious project. The LAC increasingly as a dynamic cultural laboratory, where music actively dialogues with stage performances, dance and the visual arts, thus broadening the horizons of artistic enjoyment and creation. The construction of this new season reflects the vision of the cultural center, which for years has been committed to involving a heterogeneous audience, to interacting lively with the territory and to overcoming traditional conventions through the exploration of innovative formats and stimulating contaminations. Among the new features introduced, we highlight the advancement of the start time of the concerts to 20:00 pm.
A sound mosaic: from symphonic to electronic, passing through jazz and experimentation
The 2025/26 musical season presents itself with an eclectic program, capable of satisfying different sensibilities. It will range from majestic symphonic concerts to refined recitals, from the avant-garde sounds of electronics to the complex architectures of contemporary music. The official opening will be preceded by the Lugano debut (15-21 September 2025) of the operatic diptych The human voice by Poulenc and Cavalleria rusticana by Mascagni, directed by Emma Dante and with the musical direction of Maestro Francesco Cilluffo leading the OSI.
The actual start of the concert season will instead be a triptych (17, 18, 19 October 2025) that will see the unprecedented encounter between jazz and symphonic music. The famous double bass player Avishai Cohen will dialogue with the Göteborgs Symfoniker in a project that aims to dissolve the boundaries between improvisation and orchestral writing. This inauguration will include an entirely symphonic concert conducted by Neeme Järvi with Truls Mørk on cello, an evening dedicated to symphonic jazz with Alexander Hansen conducting and a third appointment dedicated to pure jazz with the Avishai Cohen trio.
Among the most anticipated symphonic events, the absolute debut in Switzerland of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra (in the cover photo) stands out, conducted by Myung-Whun Chung, who will bring to the stage the bursting energy of The Rite of Spring Stravinsky, with violinist Maxim Vengerov performing the Tchaikovsky concerto (November 10, 2025). Sir András Schiff and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (November 23, 2025) will offer an innovative reinterpretation of Haydn's symphonies. Also noteworthy is the first appearance in Lugano of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with Zubin Mehta on the podium for Mozart's famous Symphonies Nos. 39, 40 and 41 (February 7, 2026), and Philippe Herreweghe's concert leading the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and the Collegium Vocale Gent in a program that combines Beethoven's monumental “Eroica” with Requiem by Cherubini (March 19, 2026).
The program will feature internationally renowned artists such as Lisa Batiashvili, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Gautier Capuçon in a refined chamber music recital with music by Rachmaninov, Debussy and Dvořák (30 October 2025). There is also great anticipation for the Verbier Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Gábor Takács-Nagy with cellist Steven Isserlis, engaged in a program dedicated to Beethoven, Haydn and Ernest Bloch (1 December 2025).
The season will also welcome the Swiss Orchestra (7 May 2026), the resident orchestra of the Andermatt Concert Hall, with Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer conducting and pianist Olga Scheps, in a program that combines Beethoven and Dupuy. This concert is part of an exchange project with the OSI, which will perform in Andermatt on 6 February 2026 with Antoine Tamestit on viola and conducting. The recital “Balagan” with Noa Wildschut on violin, Pablo Barragán on clarinet and Amadeus Wiesensee on piano (12 April 2026) is a journey through the eclectic richness of twentieth-century and contemporary chamber music, a mix of popular influences, explorations of timbre and refined instrumental writing. Pianist Nathalia Milstein (April 26, 2026) will perform music by Haydn, Beethoven, Liszt and Prokofiev.
Il LuganoMusica Ensemble, a historic group born within the LAC which brings together talented local musicians, will return with a programme dedicated to Saint-Saëns, Berwald, Poulenc and Rota (2 November 2025).
An unmissable event will be the recital of the young piano virtuoso Hayato Sumino caten (December 14, 2025), renowned for his ability to blend the classical piano tradition with a modern and engaging musical language. An internet star with millions of views, Sumino is known for his virtuosic reinterpretations of famous pieces and for his versatility that ranges from classical repertoire to innovative arrangements, including a spectacular interpretation of Ravel's Boléro. Antonio Ballista and Bruno Canino four-hands will explore the sounds of Ravel, Fauré, Debussy and Stravinsky (January 11, 2026). Kurtag 100 (February 19, 2026), a concert dedicated to the centenary of György Kurtág, will present a fascinating program with transcriptions from Bach, pieces by Bartók and compositions by Kurtág himself performed by Dénes Várjon and Izabella Simon on piano.
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of I Barocchisti and the 90th anniversary of the Coro della RSI, the two ensembles directed by the maestro from Lugano Diego Fasolis will bring one of Joseph Haydn's masterpieces to the LAC stage: the oratorio The creation of the world, in the Italian version edited by Giuseppe Carpani (21 February 2026).
The residency of Superar Suisse (March 15, 2026), a project dedicated to inclusive musical education for young people, will continue; the orchestra, conducted by Carlo Taffuri, will offer a special performance celebrating the power of music as a tool for growth and community.
For the Christmas holidays, we will meet under the tree in the Hall for A Christmas Carol – Christmas Concert at LAC, the last appointment in a series of twenty Christmas concerts in the churches of Lugano created in collaboration with the Bernardino Luini Association as part of the LAC edu program (20 December 2025).
In collaboration with 900presente, the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana and RSI – Radiotelevisione svizzera will present the site-specific project entitled The Empty Radio – The Memory of Sounds, a multimedia work by Andrea Molino (May 15, 2026).
The season will feature the Chineke! Orchestra, conducted by Joseph Young with Njioma Chinyere Grevious on violin, in a program dedicated to the African-American symphonic tradition with works by Carlos Simon, Florence B. Price and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (June 15, 2026).
Beyond the boundaries of genre: hybrid languages and new sonic frontiers
One of the main themes of the season will be the exploration of new musical frontiers and the mingling of apparently distant genres. Among the great names of jazz, the Arcanum quartet, led by Arve Henriksen (trumpet and electronics), will best represent the creative research of Northern Europe with a language that moves between chamber jazz, minimalism and free improvisation for a hypnotic sound experience (November 27, 2025).
The vocation for hybridization will also manifest itself with the singer Ledisi and the Metropole Orkest (17 January 2026) in a tribute to Nina Simone, whose iconic songs will be dressed in new orchestral arrangements, and with the Manchester Collective (6 June 2026), who will expertly mix folk, jazz and contemporary music.
This season, jazz will also find space outside of traditional canons thanks to the collaboration with Jazz in Bess: the concerts of Oded Tzur Quartet (23 October 2025) and Arcanum (27 November 2025) will be held in Besso, while the Tord Gustavssen Trio (25 February 2026) and the Éténèsh Wassié Trio (22 March 2026) will perform in Sala Teatro and Sala 1 respectively.
The human voice, in its timeless expressive capacity, will be the focus of numerous events. The concert “What does man live on?” with Costanza Alegiani and Peppe Servillo will celebrate the theatricality and irony of the songs of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht (1 April 2026). The Camerata Bern, conducted by Maria Włoszczowska (29 April 2026), will create a sound bridge between the medieval singing of Hildegard von Bingen and the orchestral modernity of Benjamin Britten. Furthermore, the intense and passionate voice of the famous singer Mariza (1 February 2026) will be able to give new life to the Portuguese tradition of fado, bringing it to the international stage. The concert FS: on the road will see protagonists Paolo Fresu and Giovanni Sollima (9 May 2026), two artists capable of exploring the infinite timbral potential of the trumpet and cello in a dialogue that will span centuries of music and sound experimentation.
2025/26 Music Season: Multidisciplinary Projects and Immersive Experiences
The 2025/26 season of the LAC will not be limited to the sound dimension alone, but will also explore the synergies between music and other art forms. The project Rodari Connection (February 13, 2026) – with Valentina Fin (vocals, electronics, sax) and Effe Effe (Federica Furlani, viola, electronics) – will combine narration and experimentation for a new sound experience inspired by the famous Fables on the phone by Gianni Rodari, reinterpreted through digital sounds and images. This project will be part of the Early Night Modern review. The screening of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece Psycho (1960) will be accompanied by live music from the OSI, conducted by Anthony Gabriele (10 and 11 December 2025), in an unprecedented dialogue between cinema and music. In the same week, the duo Gebrüder Teichmann (11 December 2025) will provide the soundtrack for the silent film Symphony of a Great City (1927) with a live electronic performance in collaboration with Oggimusica as part of Early Night Modern. The project for hikers (May 20 and 21, 2026), in artistic residence at the LAC, will overcome the boundaries between concert, theater and visual installation, offering an immersive experience that will dissolve the limits between stage and audience, inviting the audience to become an active part of the show. “Eravamo il suono” (January 26, 2026), inspired by the novel by Matteo Corradini, conducted by Francesca Perrotta and directed by Valeria Fornoni, will tell the touching story of the Auschwitz women's orchestra through music, on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Early Night Modern: Ten Years of Sound Explorations
An unmissable event will be the tenth anniversary of Early Night Modern, the festival in collaboration with Oggimusica dedicated to the most innovative and experimental sounds. Eight events are scheduled, from October to April: Trio SÆITENWIND (28 October 2025), Quatuor Bozzini (16 November 2025), Gebrüder Teichmann (11 December 2025), Enrico Francioni (23 January 2026), Valentina Fin and Effe Effe (13 February 2026), Interstices-2.0 and Volker Böhm (14 March 2026), /nu/thing, Maria Sappho and Colin Frank (15 March 2026), Ensemble Mopermondo (29 April 2026).
Season tickets and tickets
For the 2025/26 season, the LAC offers several subscription formulas designed to meet the needs of every spectator. The “Formula Open” subscription offers the freedom to choose at least 10 concerts from a wide selection of genres, starting from 250 CHF and with a 30% discount. The “Formula Smart”, designed for those who want to explore the richness of the programming with greater flexibility, allows you to select at least 5 concerts from a wide choice of genres, starting from 140 CHF and with the same 30% discount. Both formulas include exclusive benefits, such as a 20% discount on the rest of the LAC programming, priority purchase for new concerts and free access to special events by reservation.
Tickets and season tickets for the 2025/26 Musica season will be available from April 9th on LAC official website and at the LAC ticket office.
