Yannick Nézet-Séguin Unable to Direct Lucerne Festival Orchestra

The Canadian-born conductor had to cancel his involvement in the concerts due to an undisclosed illness

The upcoming performances in Lucerne, Switzerland on August 21 and 24, will instead see musical direction by pianist Yuja Wang, concertmasters Gregory Ahss and Raphael Christ, and conductor Jakub Hrůša.

Along with these changes comes a reorganization of the concert program; with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major rescheduled to August 21 and Hrůša conducting Mozart’s “Prague” Symphony and Dvořák’s Sixth Symphony on August 24.

These concerts are part of the organization’s “Summer Festival” concert series which began on August 10 and will last up to September 12, 2021.

The theme of this year's festival is “crazy,” which centers around the idea of pushing beyond the confines of normality, and highlighting composers who circumvent tradition. 

“We deeply regret the cancellation of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who is a close friend of the festival,” says Michael Haefliger, Executive and Artistic Director of Lucerne Festival.

“We are now looking forward to the new, exciting constellation this coming Saturday with Gregory Ahss, Raphael Christ and our ‘artiste étoile’ Yuja Wang. And next Tuesday, one of the most renowned conductors of the young generation, Jakub Hrůša, will give his debut with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra! We are very glad that he was willing and ready to take this conducting job at such short notice.

"We wish Yannick Nézet-Séguin a speedy recovery with all our heart," he concluded.

For more information and the concert programs, click here.