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Established in 1956 by Wolfgang Schneiderhan and Rudolf Baumgartner, the Lucerne Festival Strings (= LFS; also known as Festival Strings Lucerne) are one of Switzerland ’s most frequently touring orchestra. The renowned chamber orchestra regularly performs in the European music centers and tours extensively throughout the world: 2002 in South Africa, 2003 in Turkey and - with an overwhelming success - in the USA (having given ten concerts in cities such as Washington, Philadelphia, Houston, Atlanta, etc.) and 2004 in South America (major cities of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Peru and Ecuador). The LFS appear at such prominent festivals as those of Prague Eisenstadt, Ludwigsburg and Rheingau. At home, the orchestra can be heard annually at the Lucerne Festival as well as its own concert series (Konzert Reihe Luzern). The chamber orchestra, the Lucerne Academy of Music's “Ensemble in Residence”, has been directed by Achim Fiedler since 1998.
The LFS strive for a creative dialogue between early and new music. Their broad repertoire ranges from works for string ensemble to extended chamber orchestra and from Baroque to contemporary music. More than 100 works of such major composers as Frank Martin, Bohuslav Martinu, Sándor Veress, Iannis Xenakis, Krzysztof Penderecki, Herbert Willi, Milko Kelemen and Peter Ruzicka have been premiered by the orchestra; most of them commissioned for the Lucerne Festival Strings and their artistic directors.
The LFS work with most celebrated soloists as Sabine Meyer, Reinhold Friedrich, James Galway, Kolja Blacher, Leonidas Kavakos, Mischa Maisky, Ruth Ziesak, Bernd Glemser and Alexander Lonquich.
The orchestra records for OehmsClassics since 2003. The “Dialogue” trilogy (“Bach - Honegger”, “Schubert - Webern” and “Baroque - Minimal”) has confirmed the outstanding reputation of the Lucerne Festival Strings as a world-class ensemble with compelling programming. |
