Lucerne Festival Orchestra

“This is the third time Klaus Mäkelä has come to the Lucerne Festival, and the second time he has led this orchestra. Under his baton, the magnetism of the Abbado years is reawakened … In Stravinsky’s The Firebird we encounter the same interpretive crucible as at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2023, in a reading that is increasingly inspired, developed, and daring.”

Bachtrack.com, Romain Daroles, 17 August 2026


“… the LFO under Klaus Mäkelä sounded completely transformed: whisper-soft, extraordinarily delicate and nuanced in Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, with the elegant, relaxed, indeed restrained Augustin Hadelich. Then came Stravinsky’s The Firebird, crystalline, sculptural and wonderfully receptive to pianissimo, yet after its slow, supple build-ups it could also show its claws in full force.”

Die Presse, Jens F Larson. 20 August 2026


“Mäkelä’s performance burned with fairy-tale intensity, maintained tension brilliantly, and shimmered with the sophistication of Stravinsky’s orchestration.”

Die Welt, Manuel Brug, 16 August 2026


“The performance of Stravinsky’s ballet music The Firebird, which premiered in 1910, became a triumphal procession of feather-coloured beauty and magical climaxes — exactly as the Russian folk tale would have us imagine it … Conductor Klaus Mäkelä succeeded in stringing together these countless solos, making each one speak and sing. Behind this lies immense trust in all these musicians, in their ability to do the right thing, the magnificent thing, entirely on their own.

Luzerner Zeitung, Christian Berzins, 17 August 2026


“Conducting from memory, he demonstrated his complete assimilation of the score. The final celebratory bells, with dynamics ultimately running wild, crowned a performance that was almost more French than Russian.”

El Pais, Luis Gago, 16 August 2026


PROGRAMME:
Samuel Barber: violin concerto
Igor Stravinsky: Firebird (1910 version)
Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Soloist: Augustin Hadelich