At the Lucerne Festival, Contemporary Music Becomes a School of Life

Fragments of breath rise out of silence. A whole acoustic world seems to emerge from nothing as Jörg Widmann draws faint, fragile sounds from his clarinet, like a muffled breath.

He is performing Mark Andre’s über, a 2015 piece for clarinet, orchestra and live electronics. Around him, conductor Peter Rundel and around a hundred musicians form the contemporary orchestra at Lucerne. The rehearsal unfolds under the composer’s supervision, with coaches helping the young musicians gathered in the Luzerner Saal.

Mark Andre, the French composer who chose to spell his name in the German manner, works alongside Rundel to give instructions. The scene captures the academy’s purpose: young musicians, composers and conductors learning through close contact with demanding contemporary music.

The Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, known as the LFCO, brings together around 110 musicians. Since 2026, the academy’s artistic direction has been in the hands of clarinetist and composer Jörg Widmann. Over three weeks, participants train in luxurious conditions while working through music that tests the limits of sound, silence and ensemble performance.