A collage of historic images, recent concert recordings and interviews with protagonists of then and now, this one-hour documentary spans a wide arc from the founding days, through history’s trials and tribulations to the overwhelming success of recent years and offers an inside glimpse into the 75 years of the Lucerne Festival.
A spectacular concert hall, two exceptional orchestras with Claudio Abbado and Pierre Boulez at the helm, and a daring program have made the LUCERNE FESTIVAL one of the world’s most acclaimed summer music festivals. In 2013, the festival celebrates its 75th anniversary. This documentary offers an inside perspective into the multifaceted and exciting world of this unique festival and takes the viewer on a journey through history and music.
At the same time, it grants an exclusive look behind the scenes of concerts and rehearsals with music by Beethoven, Mozart and Mahler, and integrates the festival’s vast historic material with recent recordings and video footage. The musicians, conductors and organizers that bring the music to the audience are at the center: Claudio Abbado and Pierre Boulez tell us about the experiences with “their” orchestras; we accompany Reinhold Friedrich, solo trumpeter of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, and Mariel Roberts, cellist in the Lucerne Festival Academy, during their stay and work in Lucerne and learn about their motivation to be a part of the Lucerne Festival summer after summer. Anne-Sophie Mutter recalls her debut at the festival and Michael Haefliger, the festival’s director, shares ideas of the past and his hopes for the future.
