The Lucerne Festival Orchestra has announced that Riccardo Chailly has extended his tenure as Music Director through to the end of 2028. Chailly was first appointed to the role in 2016, succeeding Claudio Abbado, the orchestra’s founding conductor.
As part of the new agreement, Chailly will undertake international tour projects and future collaborations with the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO) in addition to his regular concerts in the Spring and Summer Festivals.
Chailly has previously held directorships at the Gewandhausorchester, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony, and the Teatro Comunale of Bologna.
He also regularly conducts ensembles such as the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.
In 2015, Chailly returned to his home orchestra at La Scala, where he has stayed ever since.
His honors include the Grand’Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana and the Cavaliere di Gran Croce. He is an Honorary Member of London’s Royal Academy of Music and an Officer of France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
“With the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, after ten years of collaboration, we share not only a deep musical understanding but also a personal friendship,” Chailly said. “So it’s a joy for me to think that our relationship will continue for the next three seasons. I really look forward to our continued work together with the new Director Sebastian Nordmann as we expand our repertoire, take some risks, and embark on new musical adventures. This orchestra loves challenges – and that is a great source of inspiration for me.”
“I am delighted that we have been able to extend Riccardo Chailly’s tenure as Music Director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra,” said Sebastian Nordmann, the Festival’s Executive and Artistic Director. “This also reflects the express wish of the musicians themselves. In their acclaimed performances in recent years, it has become unmistakably clear how deeply he has grown together with the musicians and how impressively he has continued to shape the orchestra’s artistic profile – with the Rachmaninoff cycle in recent years, as well as in works by Ravel, Strauss, and Wagner.”