Festival Strings Lucerne

Established in 1956 by Wolfgang Schneiderhan and Rudolf Baumgartner, the Lucerne Festival Strings are today one of Switzerland ’s most frequently touring orchestras. The renowned chamber orchestra regularly performs in the major music centres of Europe and goes on tours through other continents: 2002 in South Africa, 2003 in Turkey and – with an overwhelming success – in the United States (giving 10 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 Lucerne Festival Strings are guests at renowned festivals such as those of Prague , Eisenstadt, Ludwigsburg and Rheingau. In their home town, the chamber orchestra plays at the Lucerne Festival every year as well as at its own concert series called "Konzert Reihe Luzern". Since 1998, Achim Fiedler is the Artistic Director of the Lucerne Festival Strings , who are “ensemble in residence” of the Lucerne Academy of Music.

The Lucerne Festival Strings strive to establish a creative dialogue between old and new music. Their extensive repertoire reaches from works for string ensemble to works for a large chamber orchestra and from Baroque music – integrating the most recent knowledge on historical performance practices – to contemporary music. During the almost 50 years of its existence, the ensemble first performed more than 90 works of such renowned composers as Frank Martin, Bohuslav Martinů, Sándor Veress, Iannis Xenakis, Krzysztof Penderecki, Herbert Willi and Milko Kelemen. Most of these compositions were specially commissioned for the Lucerne Festival Strings and their Artistic Directors.

In 2003 the orchestra started a close cooperation with German CD label OehmsClassics launching the series “Dialogue” which has obtained highest reputation (“Dialogue Bach - Honegger”, “Dialogue Schubert - Webern” and "Dialogue Baroque - Minimal”). The Lucerne Festival Strings work with such celebrated soloists as James Galway, Sabine Meyer, Reinhold Friedrich , Ruth Ziesak, Kolja Blacher, Leonidas Kavakos, Mischa Maisky, Bernd Glemser, Alexander Lonquich and Ewa Kupiec.Promoters please note: if you wish to include this biography in a concert programme etc, please contact M.A.M. Management to ensure that you receive the most up to date version.