In the seventh year of the event, we can say with pleasure and some pride that we have succeeded in establishing our festival in the calendar of international music lovers.
The Swiss Alps Classics stands for beautiful, partly extraordinary venues around the mystical St. Gotthard as well as for the personal closeness to world-class artists. Star pianists such as LANG LANG, Igor LEVIT or Katia & Marielle LABÈQUE, the opera greats Olga PERETYATKO, Marisol MONTALVO and Herbert LIPPERT, the violin virtuosos Maxim BRILINSKY, Ziyu HE, Benjamin SCHMID & Emmanuel TJEKNAVORIAN, who conducted in 2019 & 2021, the internationally renowned composer and clarinettist Jörg WIDMANN, acclaimed formations such as the PHILHARMONIA SCHRAMMELN WIEN, TRIOLOGY or the JANOSKA ENSEMBLE as well as members of the WIENER PHILHARMONIKER gave us the honor in the course of the past festivals. Also the actress Isabel KARAJAN and the Swiss-born Dieter FLURY, long-time solo flutist and former managing director of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the "family duos" Elena BASHKIROVA-BARENBOIM and Michael BARENBOIM and Hans and Martin HASELBÖCK enjoyed the distinctive atmosphere of Swiss Alps Classics.
The middle station Nätschen, the crystal hall Sasso San Gottardo and the Benedictine monastery Disentis have already served as unusual concert locations. As part of the 2022 Festival, we made our first guest appearance at the Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne with its dreamlike view of Lake Lucerne. In the equally picturesque setting of the Park Hotel Vitznau, located directly on Lake Lucerne, we were able to continue our collaboration with the POK Pühringer Privatstiftung and the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, which has been in place since 2018. Likewise, we were once again able to offer a concert at The Chedi Andermatt Hotel and the Andermatt Concert Hall.
Within the framework of this year's festival we celebrate two further premieres: For the first time, the LUZERNER SINFONIEORCHESTER, founded in 1805, will perform with us in the Andermatt Concert Hall, and we will make our first guest appearance in the new chamber music hall of Kultur Kulinarik Vitznau, which opened in February 2023 and in which we can not only continue our long-standing cooperation with the POK Pühringer Private Foundation and the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, but also realize our heart's desire to showcase the cultural and touristic uniqueness of the region beyond the borders of Central Switzerland.