Claudio Abbado once said that with the founding of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, a dream of his came true. That is no small statement from a musician who has already scaled the absolute heights in his career: he had become the head of La Scala, the famous opera house in his native Milan, and the director of the Vienna State Opera; he had succeeded Herbert von Karajan at the head of the Berlin Philharmonic and founded the Wien Modern Festival; and he had stood at the helm of the Salzburg Easter Festival. And this in addition to his constant commitment to young talent.
No fewer than five internationally acclaimed ensembles owe him their very existence: the European Union Youth Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and the Mozart Orchestra. But the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA constituted what might be called the summa summarum of everything important to him.
«It's something different to be surrounded by one's best friends,» he explained. «Everyone is here to enjoy making music, to have fun, to play with commitment and passion. Everyone is willing to do the craziest things I make them do for the sake of the music – to fly, to walk through fire.»
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