Mahler 8 – The Lucerne Festival Orchestra and its new music director Riccardo Chailly

“To be responsible for this outstanding artistic project that Claudio Abbado has initiated is not only a privilege but it has touched me deeply.”

These are the very words Riccardo Chailly uses to describe his new job in Lucerne. The conductor, who left his post as music director of the Gewandhaus Leipzig and became principal conductor at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan last year, follows in this new position Arturo Toscanini and Claudio Abbado, thus becoming the third chief conductor of this unique orchestra.

On August 12, 2016, Riccardo Chailly premiered as conductor of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra with an opening concert: The orchestra and its principal conductor paid their respects to the late Abbado with Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, thereby completing his unfinished Mahler cycle. An inaugural concert that with its superb cast of musicians became a memorable event!