LUCERNE FESTIVAL was established in 1938 by Arturo Toscanini. Out of this emerged today's international and highly renowned summit of the world's best symphony orchestras and outstanding soloists.

With some one-hundred events, LUCERNE FESTIVAL in Summer is the largest of this distinguished threesome. Every year since 2003 it has opened with a concert of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, an élite ensemble conducted by Claudio Abbado and composed of internationally renowned soloists, chamber musicians, professors, and some fifty members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. The LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY, founded by Pierre Boulez in 2004, gives the festival its own educational institution for highly gifted young musicians, who are specially initiated into the performance of 20th- and 21st-century music. Besides cultivating the standard repertoire with the best performers the world has to offer, LUCERNE FESTIVAL is also deeply committed to modern music. Every summer it appoints one or two composers-in-residence and focuses on their music. It also appoints artistes étoiles, stellar artists who are actively involved in designing the festival's programs and present their art in a very wide range of contexts. Finally, each season is placed beneath a selected theme that governs the programming policy. 

Official Site link