Summer Festival 2025
“Open End” is the theme of Switzerland’s largest classical music festival this summer. Lucerne Festival kicks off on 12 August and runs until 14 September. This will be the last summer edition under the leadership of Executive and Artistic Director Michael Haefliger, who has shaped the Festival’s artistic strategy and programming for 26 years. Over the course of 34 days this summer, about 120 events will take place at the KKL Luzern and other venues. The program offerings include 27 symphony concerts featuring the world’s most renowned orchestras, along with solo recitals, chamber music, family concerts, and events throughout the city. More than 50 events will be offered free of charge. An additional highlight this summer is the Lucerne Festival Ark Nova: the first-ever mobile and inflatable concert hall. Initiated by Michael Haefliger, architect Arata Isozaki, concert agent Masahide Kajimoto, and British-Indian artist Sir Anish Kapoor, it was constructed and used as a venue on four different occasions in Japan between 2013 and 2017. In cooperation with the Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne Festival now brings the Ark Nova to Lucerne for a fifth edition. The Ark Nova represents one of the most internationally successful projects during Michael Haefliger’s tenure. Information on the programming that will be presented there and all additional details will be announced in May.
“Open End”: Open-Ended Works, a Tribute to Pierre Boulez, and a Passing of the Baton
This year’s “Open End” Festival theme will be explored from multiple perspectives. The programming features works with an open-ended character – compositions that are part of an ongoing cycle or that have remained unfinished, such as Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 10, which will be performed on Opening Night on 15 August. The “Open End” theme also resonates in the Festival’s focus on Pierre Boulez, founder of the Lucerne Festival Academy, whose 100th birthday is being celebrated with a series titled “Cosmos Boulez.” Throughout his life, Boulez viewed composition as a work-in-progress – an ongoing creative process without a definitive conclusion. In a broader sense, this final Summer Festival under the direction of Michael Haefliger serves to mark not an end but a transition. The Lucerne Festival story will continue under his successor, Sebastian Nordmann, beginning in 2026. Haefliger’s grand farewell celebration, “Les Adieux”, will take place on 14 September and will feature renowned musical companions as well as ensembles he founded – appropriately embracing the “Open End” concept.
Discover the Festival program
Full media release
Read the program book online