On 14 August, Víkingur Ólafsson performs Bach’s Goldberg Variations as part of the 2023 Lucerne Festival. This marks Ólafsson’s fifth recital in his 2023/24 season Goldberg Variations world tour.

Klaus Mäkelä makes his debut at the Lucerne Festival.

On 24 August, Klaus and Oslo Philharmonic bring a programme composed of Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, Sibelius’ Symphony No.7 and Mahler’s Symphony No.4 with soprano Johanna Wallroth, who also debuts at the festival.

On 25 August, Klaus and the orchestra perform Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest, Op.18, Le Poème de l’Extase composed by Scriabin, and they welcome frequent collaborator Yuja Wang who performs Ravel’s Piano Concerto in D major for the Left Hand and his Piano Concerto in G. 

On 3 September, Jörg Widmann’s new viola concerto The Last Rose of Summer, commissioned by Lucerne Festival, has its world premiere performed by Wolfram Christ and Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto. The work is dedicated to Wolfram Christ, who concludes his soloist career with this concert. According to the composer, it reflects ​“the melancholy and pain of irretrievability of the moment on the one hand, and the confluence of beautiful musical memories on the other. Wolfram Christ is symbolically presented with a rose for the last time, in respect and gratitude for his lifelong artistic work on his instrument, the viola.” Another work by Jörg Widmann, Air for solo horn, is performed by Ben Goldscheider on 5 September.