【 Lucerne Festival 2027 】Two Spring Weekends with Mozart and Víkingur Ólafsson
Hear Mozart’s Requiem on Friday evening and his Jupiter Symphony on Sunday afternoon. Spend Saturday over lunch in the old town and take a walk along the lake.
A single piece you’ve always wanted to hear live can be enough to plan a spring weekend in Lucerne.
Lucerne Festival offers two such weekends in 2027. In March, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra takes on some of Mozart’s final works. In May, Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson appears both in solo recital and with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at a festival he curates himself.
The Lucerne Festival Orchestra at a previous concert. © Manuela Jans/Lucerne Festival
March: Mozart on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon
Lucerne Festival Spring runs from 19 to 21 March under the theme “Mythos Mozart”. Two orchestral concerts at KKL Luzern give you a reason to arrive on Friday and stay until Sunday.
Friday evening pairs Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 with his Requiem. On Sunday afternoon, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra returns with Symphony No. 40 and Symphony No. 41, the Jupiter. Across the two concerts, you can hear Mozart’s final three symphonies played by the same orchestra.
That leaves Saturday free to cross the Chapel Bridge, stop for lunch in the old town and wander back along the lake. If you feel like another concert that evening, Dutch brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen give a piano duo recital that moves from Mozart to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
May: Hear Víkingur Ólafsson on his own and with an orchestra
Víkingur Ólafsson performing at a previous concert. © Patrick Hürlimann/Lucerne Festival
Pulse takes place over the Ascension weekend, from 6 to 9 May. If you’re choosing two concerts from Ólafsson’s programme, start with his Thursday recital and finish with Sunday’s concertos.
On Thursday evening at KKL Luzern, Ólafsson plays works by Rameau, Debussy and Philip Glass. On Sunday, he performs piano concertos by Bach and Brahms, taking on both the solo part and the musical leadership of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Hearing him twice gives you a chance to listen for something quite specific: how he shapes a phrase on his own, and how that phrasing changes when the strings and winds answer him.
Saturday’s programme offers a reason to venture further along Lake Lucerne. In the afternoon, guitarist Sean Shibe plays both acoustic and electric guitar in the lakeside village of Vitznau. That evening, back at KKL Luzern, cellist Alisa Weilerstein performs all six of Bach’s suites for solo cello.
If you’ve wanted to hear Mozart’s final three symphonies together, make it March. If you’re curious to hear Ólafsson in two different settings, pick May. Start with the concert you most want to hear and leave a little time to enjoy Lucerne around it.
Festival dates and tickets
Spring「Mythos Mozart」 19–21 March 2027
Pulse「Spirit & Matter」 6–9 May 2027
Tickets for both festivals go on sale on Tuesday, 24 November 2026 at 10 am Swiss time.
Eat Well · Feel Well · Live Well Editorial Team
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