Piano Fest 2023 | Program

PIANO

Igor Levit, Fred Hersch, Johanna Summer, Anna Vinnitskaya, and Alexei Volodin

IGOR LEVIT ON THE NEW PIANO FEST

DEAR PUBLIC

You arrive, check in at your hotel, rehearse. Then comes the concert. Afterwards, you have dinner, maybe a reception. The next morning, it’s off to the train station or airport — and on to the next stop. This is how most guest appearances in the classical music industry tend to play out. As a result, our impressions of the places where we perform and of our encounters with the people who listen to us remain fleeting. A chance to spend time, before or after our own performance, with the colleagues who are sharing the stage is even more unlikely.

At the Lucerne Piano Fest, which will take place for the first time in 2023 under my artistic direction, I want things to be different. My aim is not to present stars whose schedules are micromanaged down to the last minute but individualists who take time for a somewhat longer stay, who become engaged in genuine encounters and who — just like me — want to make an impact through their art that lasts beyond the moment. I hope to create an atmosphere of openness and trust so that we have the opportunity to listen closely to each other, and I am con-

Thu 18.05.

Igor Levit & Alexei Volodin 19.30 KKL Luzern, Concert Hall

Igor Levit piano Alexei Volodin piano

Franz Schubert

Allegretto in C minor, D 915 6 min

Robert Schumann Arabeske in C major, Op. 18 7 min

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart

Sonata in D major for two pianos, K. 448 (375a) 25 min

Claude Debussy

En blanc et noir for two pianos 16 min

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Suite No. 1 in G minor for two pianos, Op. 5 Fantaisie-Tableaux 23 min

This concert has no intermission. Introduction to the Concert (in German) 18.30 | KKL Luzern, Auditorium with Susanne Stähr

CHF 120/100/80/50/30

vinced that the intimate atmosphere of a private concert can be conjured in the KKL Luzern as well.

All of us who make our living at the keyboard have been familiar since early childhood with the reality of endless hours of lonely practice. We spend that time not merely studying how to use our hands to get difficult pieces to “work.”

Forced to rely on ourselves, we seek direct communication, a way to speak through music and to reach out and touch the people who come to hear us in the concert hall. These periods of isolation only intensify the need to share spontaneous feedback and community with you, our audience.

Two principles have guided me in conceptualizing the Piano Fest. The first is my desire for everyone who participates to stay in Lucerne for the entire duration, if possible, so they are able to interact not only with the audience but with each other as well — on and off stage. Second, I find it important to show how notated and improvised music, classical and jazz, discipline and freedom can coexist.

It was almost 20 years ago that I first met ALEXEI VOLODIN. Even then we were eager to collaborate. The Russian pianist, a longtime resident of Spain, is one of the most serious and conscientious performers of a remarkably broad repertoire. He combines a wonderfully luminous sound with a fascinating, profound shading of voices and temporal flow. Alexei and I will

Fri 19.05.

Igor Levit solo 18.30

KKL Luzern, Concert Hall

Igor Levit piano

Johannes Brahms Three Intermezzi, Op. 117 17 min

Fred Hersch New Songs Without Words world premiere | commissioned by Lucerne Festival 25 min

Gustav Mahler

Adagio from the Symphony No. 10 arranged for piano by Ronald Stevenson 28 min

Sergei Prokofiev

Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat major, Op. 83 19 min

Introduction to the Concert (in German) 17.30 | KKL Luzern, Auditorium with Susanne Stähr

CHF 150/120/80/50/30

join to play the opening concert, interpreting classics for two pianos by Mozart, Rachmaninoff, and Debussy, and we will each play a solo piece as well.

ANNA VINNITSKAYA is a strikingly confident performer of some of the most demanding piano concertos whom I have admired for many years. I am equally excited by her technically superb command and by her richly imaginative approach to such pianistic visionaries as Chopin, Scriabin, and Ravel — composers who have decisively shaped the idea of a genuinely virtuoso piano style, but whose signature has till now remained less intuitively apparent to me personally.

This brings me to MY OWN RECITAL: while I begin by focusing on intimacy with shorter, songlike pieces that are tinged with melancholy, in the almost symphonically expansive second part I will explore private and political catastrophes from the first half of the 20th century. The Adagio from Mahler’s Tenth Symphony — performed here in a piano arrangement by Ronald Stevenson — is a deeply personal confession, while Prokofiev’s famous Seventh Piano Sonata from 1942 is a reflection on World War Two.

The American jazz pianist and composer FRED HERSCH, whose Variations on a Folk Song I premiered at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 2022 and which I also presented in Lucerne, will write a cycle of new Songs Without Words for me over a three-year period. The cycle will comprise

Fri 19.05.

Fred Hersch Trio 22.00

KKL Luzern, Concert Hall

Fred Hersch Trio: Fred Hersch piano | Drew Gress bass | Joey Baron percussion

Music by Fred Hersch and Thelonious Monk as well as from the Great American Songbook 90 min | This concert has no intermission.

CHF 50

Sat 20.05.

Fred Hersch solo 18.30 KKL Luzern, Concert Hall

Fred Hersch piano

Music by Fred Hersch, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joni Mitchell, and others, with Igor Levit as special guest 70 min | This concert has no intermission.

CHF 90/60/30

Sat 20.05.

Johanna Summer solo 22.00

KKL Luzern, Concert Hall

Johanna Summer piano

“Resonanzen.” Improvisations on Bach, Beethoven, Ligeti, and others 90 min | This concert has no intermission.

CHF 50

three sets, each containing six of these lyrically suffused movements. The title, referring to Felix Mendelssohn’s precedent, is carefully chosen: Hersch regards his miniatures as “genre pieces that could be sung.” The result will be a small songbook comprising 18 numbers whose treasures, it is my hope, will endure beyond the Lucerne Piano Fest.

Fred Hersch, in his guise as a piano player, has impressed and influenced me more than anyone else in recent years. When I heard him for the first time years ago in New York at the Village Vanguard, he played his version of Billy Joel’s song And So It Goes as an encore. The way Fred phrased it, the way his fingers touched the keys and never quite left them, so that he basically seemed to be continuously exhaling: that was for me one of the truly great piano experiences. Fred will not only appear in Lucerne with his wonderful trio but will also play a solo program in which he and I will at times engage in a musical dialogue — just how that transpires will unfold with relative spontaneity.

The German pianist JOHANNA SUMMER, who was born in 1995, makes a very different connection between jazz and classical music. When I began to explore her program Schumann Kaleidoscope, which shifts from pieces in Schumann’s Kinderszenen and Album for the Young to improvisational excursions, I was immediately captivated by this young colleague’s poetry: head-

Sun 21.05.

Anna Vinnitskaya solo 11.00 KKL Luzern, Concert Hall

Anna Vinnitskaya piano César Franck

Prélude, fugue et variation, Op. 18 arranged for piano by Theo Wegmann 11 min

Alexander Scriabin

Valse in F minor, Op. 1 4 min

Fantaisie in B minor, Op. 28 11 min

Deux Poèmes, Op. 32 5 min

Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 53 12 min

Frédéric Chopin

Impromptu No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 29 5 min Impromptu No. 2 in F-sharp major, Op. 36 6 min Impromptu No. 3 in G-flat major, Op. 51 5 min

Impromptu No. 4 in C-sharp minor, Op. 66 Fantaisie-Impromptu 6 min

Maurice Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales 17 min

La Valse 13 min CHF 90/60/30

strong, never merely agreeable. What she plays is clear, cool, unadorned, and precise. Johanna Summer treats her Romantic models with astonishing freedom yet at the same time impresses through the economy and precision with which she develops her own ideas.

TO CLOSE THE PIANO FEST, we will present a “pianistic class reunion.” This will take the form of an entertaining relay race, with all participants appearing in turn onstage. We will participate in miniature competitions, much as Johann Sebastian Bach once faced his rivals at the organ — and much as they remain popular today in jazz or rap “battles.” But, ultimately, the important thing is playing together with a peaceful team spirit. In a variety of changing formations, we will join forces, enjoying the harmonious convergence of people who are normally used to creating a mood in the concert hall all on their own. I am sure that this will not only be great fun for us musicians — but for you as well, dear listeners!

I look forward to seeing you!

Yours,

Igor

BOARDS

FOUNDATION

LUCERNE FESTIVAL

Board of Trustees

Markus Hongler, Chairman*

Dr. Christian Casal, Treasurer*

Dr. Rolf Dörig*

Dr. Christoph Franz

Christian Gellerstad

Regula Gerber

Andrea Gmür-Schönenberger

Dr. Marianne Janik

Walter B. Kielholz*

Dr. Hariolf Kottmann* Michel M. Liès

Giovanna Maag

Anne-Sophie Mutter

Urs Rohner

Prof. Klaus Schwab Marcel Schwerzmann

Board of Trustees

Markus Hongler, Chairman Dr. Christian Casal, Treasurer Dr. Franz Egle Andrea Gmür-Schönenberger Elisabeth Oltramare

LUCERNE FESTIVAL FRIENDS

Through our personal commitment and annual donations, we make a significant contribution to the financial security and sustainability of Lucerne Festival. We support the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, but in addition we are committed to promoting the Festival’s continued development: for example, through the Lucerne Festival Academy and projects involving the Music for Future program, as well as by supporting the new Piano Fest. We thus establish a foundation for the musical life of tomorrow.

As a Friend or Young Friend of Lucerne Festival, you can enhance your concert experience through visits to rehearsals, encounters with the performers, and special introductory offers. You will meet music enthusiasts from many countries and become part of the “Festival family.”

Exclusive offers pertaining to the Piano Fest with Igor Levit are also available for all Lucerne Festival Friends.

Foundation Lucerne Festival Friends Isabelle Köhler, Relationship Manager Hirschmattstrasse 13 | CH–6002 Luzern t +41 41 226 44 52 | i.koehler@lucernefestival.ch lucernefestival.ch/en/friends

Are you a lover of classical music who is excited by outstanding performances — and would you like to become better acquainted with the artists?

Festival Friends is the right place for you!

Fred Hersch © Erika Kapin

Johanna Summer © Gregor Hohenberg

Anna Vinnitskaya © Gela Megrelidze

Alexei Volodin © Marco Borggreve

TICKETING INFORMATION

Online ticket sales begin on 31 January 2023, 12.00 (Swiss time)

Mail sales begin on 1 February 2023

Telephone sales begin on 1 February 2023 Mon – Fri from 10.00 to 12.00 noon (Swiss time)

During the Piano Fest Tickets will be available for purchase at the Lucerne Festival ticket office near the main entrance of the KKL Luzern (on the lakeside) between 18 – 21 May, daily from 2.00 pm until the evening’s concert begins.

The Festival Package for Piano Fans If you purchase tickets to a minimum of three events at our 2023 Piano Fest by 30 April 2023, you will receive a 10% discount compared to the price for a single ticket.

Tickets that have been purchased cannot be returned or exchanged. Changes of program or performers do not entitle ticket holders to return purchased tickets.

Sales & Visitor Services

Lucerne Festival | P.O. Box | CH–6002 Luzern t +41 (0)41 226 44 00 ticketbox@lucernefestival.ch | lucernefestival.ch/en

Publishing Credits

Publisher Foundation Lucerne Festival | Executive and Artistic Director: Michael Haefliger Hirschmattstrasse 13 | P.O. Box | CH–6002 Luzern t +41 (0)41 226 44 00 | info@lucernefestival.ch | lucernefestival.ch/en

The introductory text was written by Igor Levit in collaboration with Anselm Cybinski. Editing and Content Susanne Stähr, Malte Lohmann | English-Language Editor and Translator Thomas May Layout and Realization Denise Fankhauser | photo cover © Felix Broede Printing Engelberger Druck AG, Stans

This program was published in January 2023 and is subject to alteration without prior notice. Printed prices are subject to correction.

Printed in Switzerland | © 2023 by Lucerne Festival

TICKET ORDER FORM

Piano Fest | 18 – 21 May 2023

Online ticket sales begin on 31 January 2023, 12.00 (Swiss time) Mail and telephone sales begin on 1 February 2023

Time/Venue Concert

Thu 18.05. 19.30 | KS Igor Levit & Alexei Volodin

Fri 19.05. 18.30 | KS Igor Levit solo

Fri 19.05. 22.00 | KS Fred Hersch Trio

Sat 20.05. 18.30 | KS Fred Hersch solo

Sat 20.05. 22.00 | KS Johanna Summer solo

Sun 21.05. 11.00 | KS Anna Vinnitskaya solo

Sun 21.05. 17.00 | KS Finale for Four

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The Festival Package for Piano Fans

Reserve tickets for a minimum of three events at our 2023 Piano Fest by 30 April 2023 and you will receive a 10% discount compared to the price for a single ticket.

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Sales & Visitor Services | P.O. Box | CH–6002 Luzern t +41 (0)41 226 44 00 | ticketbox@lucernefestival.ch | lucernefestival.ch/en