The contemporary-music festival returns on 21–23 November with world premieres, interdisciplinary performances, and a large participatory sonic parcours involving 300 local performers.
The fifth edition of Lucerne Festival Forward, held from 21 to 23 November 2025, brings together musicians of the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO) with guest artists including Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Anastasia Kobekina, Charlotte Hug, and Tapiwa Svosve. The three-day programme is curated by the Contemporary Leaders, a 12-member group of alumni from the Lucerne Festival Academy. This will be the final Forward Festival led by Executive and Artistic Director Michael Haefliger.
Opening with premieres and unconventional sound worlds
The festival begins on Friday evening at the Luzerner Theater Box with the world premiere of other spaces by Neo Hülcker, a new commission exploring the sonic logic of dreams. The programme also includes Carola Bauckholt’s Hirn & Ei, written for percussionists equipped with Gore-Tex rain jackets, as well as works by Kotoka Suzuki, Aurélio Edler-Copes, and Georges Aperghis.
Kopatchinskaja and Kobekina feature in a major evening programme
Saturday’s concert at the KKL Concert Hall, conducted by Johanna Malangré, brings Patricia Kopatchinskaja back to the festival for the third consecutive edition. The programme opens with Sofia Gubaidulina’s piano concerto Introitus, performed by Helga Karen, followed by the world premiere of Shawn Jaeger’s new string work Mountains Are Fountains, commissioned by the festival. Kopatchinskaja appears both as violinist and composer, performing a newly reworked version of her concerto for violin, cello, and chamber orchestra together with Anastasia Kobekina.
Late Night improvisation and multidisciplinary performance
Saturday’s Late Night event features two contrasting approaches to improvisation. Jazz saxophonist Tapiwa Svosve presents Woodworks Vol. 5, while composer-performer Charlotte Hug, winner of the 2025 Swiss Music Prize, offers Multiple Encounters in Constant Change, a performance combining voice, viola, movement, and live visual “son-icons” painted on fabric. LFCO soloists take part in both performances.
A participatory sonic parcours closes the festival
On Sunday afternoon, more than 300 participants from the region will take part in Draussen Drinnen (“Outside Inside”), a large-scale happening by Daniel Ott and Enrico Stolzenburg. Audiences are guided through backstage and off-limits areas of the KKL Lucerne in Part 1, encountering a blend of live, environmental, and pre-recorded sounds, before gathering in the Concert Hall for a tutti finale in Part 2.
Family concert and anniversary exhibition
Sunday morning offers a family event, Wassermusik, designed by LFCO musicians Phoebe Bognár, Estelle Costanzo, and Helga Karen in collaboration with Lucerne school classes.
Throughout the weekend, an exhibition in the KKL foyer marks the 125th anniversary of the Swiss Musicians’ Association. A related book launch and panel discussion will bring contributions from Thomas Gartmann, Doris Lanz, Raphaël Sudan, Charlotte Hug, Daniel Ott, and Tapiwa Svosve, moderated by Gabrielle Weber.
Looking ahead
With Haefliger stepping down after this edition, the festival’s new director Sebastian Nordmann will present his plans for 2026 at the end of January.
More info, here .
Subscribe to our newsletter