The journey through the history of music places two giants of the caliber of Bach and Beethoven at the center of this 2023/24 season - the ninth of LuganoMusica. What big events are planned?
«I would like to start off by saying that the 23/24 season opens on September 21st and continues until June 24th next year, offering a calendar of over fifty events including symphony concerts, chamber concerts, recitals, dedicated reviews, in-depth meetings and contemporary music .
Indeed, this year's program, which intertwines several thematic and content lines, creating fertile and virtuous relationships, focuses on the presence of two exceptional musicians: Bach and Beethoven, whose works are featured in seventeen concerts and eight lectures. The beauty of the Baroque also finds space in many events, with a highlight in The Fairy Queen, featuring the debut at the LAC of one of Europe's most esteemed historically informed groups, Les Arts Florissants, directed by William Christie, in a show conceived by choreographer Mourad Merzouki.
Symphonic music is nourished thanks to the proposal of large orchestras which traditionally constitute a strong point of LuganoMuica…
Absolutely. The 2023/24 season's symphonic program combines highly welcome returns (the Mozart Orchestra with Daniele Gatti, the European Philharmonic of Switzerland with Charles Dutoit, the Filarmonica della Scala with Riccardo Chailly (in the opening photo), the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra with Michael Sanderling, the Bayerisches Staatsorchester with Vladimir Jurovsky) with important debuts: that of the Kammerorchester Basel with Jonathan Cohen and that of one of the greatest contemporary conductors, Sir Simon Rattle, with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
The names of the guest soloists are also particularly qualified...
«Great performers such as Martha Argerich, Sir András Schiff, Rudolf Buchbinder, Grigorij Sokolov, Emanuel Ax, Leif Ove Andsnes, Antonio Ballista and Martin Helmchen, really need no introduction.
Alongside them, two young people with prodigious talent (Yoav Levanon and Alexandra Dovgan) but also the multifaceted talent of one of the most unusual chamber ensembles: the Gershwin Piano Quartet".
And as regards modern and contemporary music, what new developments are announced?
«This year we are celebrating two significant anniversaries: the centenary of the birth of György Ligeti (in a cycle which will again see the LuganoMusica Ensemble in the foreground, but also the participation of the Ensemble 900 present from the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland) and the 80th years of the Lugano composer Francesco Hoch, dedicatee of a monographic concert. Musical contemporaneity is once again entrusted to the EAR (Electro Acoustic Room) and Early Night Modern (in collaboration with Oggimusica) festivals, just as the weekends with string quartets and the meeting with young and talented performers are unique in the program of the Nuova Generazione review".
All the great concerts in 2023, of the 2023/24 LuganoMusica season
The season opens on Thursday, September 21, with Daniele Gatti conducting the Mozart Orchestra . The program includes Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60, and Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67.
On Wednesday 11 October the Sala Teatro hosts the show The Fairy Queen , a brilliant theatrical interlude inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream , staged by one of the most disruptive choreographers of the moment, Mourad Merzouki , with the musical direction of William Christie at the head of Les Arts Florissants and Le Jardin des Voix , among the best groups in the performance of baroque music.
Ton Koopman returns to Lugano on Tuesday 17 October , leading the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra with an all-Bach programme which includes the Musical Offering , the Symphony from the Cantata in B minor, BWV 209 “ Non sa che sia dolore” and the Concerto in C minor for 2 harpsichords and orchestra, BWV 1062
Monday October 23 Lugano Musica pays homage to the Swiss Ticino composer Francesco Hoch with theOSI directed by Andrea Molino, the voices of Massimiliano Pascucci e Barbara Zanichelli and Andrei Baranov to the violin, Sebastian Brown on the cello, Igor Andreev on the piano e Luciano Walk in on percussion for the performance of world premieres and premieres in Switzerland with videos and stage actions.
An event not to be missed is the one on Friday, November 17 : Charles Dutoit and Martha Argerich return together with the European Philharmonic of Switzerland for a program that includes Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin , Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92.
On Friday 24 November the Sala Teatro hosts a tribute to Ligeti with the Ensemble900 of the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana directed by Francesco Angelico , Liga Liedskalnina soprano, Elisa Prosperi soprano, Richard Rittelmann baritone for the performance of A bölcsőtő a sírig ( From the Cradle to the Grave) and Aventures et Nouvelles aventures.
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