Carnegie Hall 881 7th Ave For more information please contact New York, NY 10019 Valentina Rota Director of Development Tuesday, 8 May 2018 American Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL P.O. Box 326 Chatham, NJ 07928 United States of America E-mail: [email protected] Executive Director Foundation Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL c/o LUCERNE FESTIVAL Gala Fundraising Program Hirschmattstrasse 13 P.O. | 6002 Lucerne of the American Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL Switzerland Phone +41 41 226 44 52 In honor of Maestro Riccardo Chailly E-mail: [email protected] Cocktail Reception Private Concert with Emanuel Ax Follow LUCERNE FESTIVAL and Alumni of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY Festive Dinner )RWRZlQGHBU]LQGG lucernefestival.ch Member of Vontobel is a proud partner of the American Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL, represented by Vontobel Asset Management Inc. and Vontobel Swiss Wealth Advisors Ltd. 1 LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY: Every summer, Contents about 130 talented young musicians, conductors, 5 Welcome and composers from all around the world are 7 American Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL selected and invited to Lucerne, Switzerland, to 8 Evening Program dedicate themselves to a repertoire that is be- 9 Emanuel Ax coming increasingly important for the preservation 10 Alumni of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY and continuation of classical music: the music 12 The LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY of the 20th and 21st centuries. 13 Introducing LUCERNE FESTIVAL 14 About the City: Lucerne Publisher: Foundation Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL | International Private Fundraising Hirschmattstrasse 13 | P.O. Box | CH–6002 Luzern [email protected] This pamphlet was published in April 2018. © Stefan FESTIVAL Deuber/LUCERNE Printed in Switzerland | © 2018 by LUCERNE FESTIVAL 2 3 Dear Guests Acknowledgments The American The upcoming gala fundraising event is being held in Friends of LUCERNE honor of Maestro Riccardo Chailly. This year marks the The sixteenth Gala Fundraising Event of the American Friends FESTIVAL are proud 30th anniversary of Riccardo Chailly’s LUCERNE FESTIVAL of LUCERNE FESTIVAL has been organized with generous support from: to support the debut. He was appointed Music Director of the LUCERNE LUCERNE FESTIVAL FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA in 2016 and has been actively ACADEMY, up to shaping the ensemble’s identity ever since. 40-50% of which Lead Sponsor of the Gala Event consists of gradu- Through his dynamic preparation, which can last for several ates from the leading months and during which he intensively studies each score he has conservatories in programmed, Maestro Chailly is a constant inspiration to all of the United States. those who work with him. He familiarizes himself with every note, seeking to penetrate the essence of the pieces and to command them entirely. It is this tireless commitment, dedication, and Co-Sponsors of the Gala Event enthusiasm that makes him such an important role model for all students at the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY. We are delighted that you decided to join our elegant gala fund- raising event. It is indeed thanks to your support and commitment that we, the American Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL, will be able to provide the financial assistance to enable exceptionally talented young musicians from the United States to attend the world- renowned LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY in the summer of 2018. Academy Circle We hope you will have an unforgettable and unique evening The Kovner Foundation | Alan and Christine Vickery in the company of LUCERNE FESTIVAL. Student Advocate BOIES SCHILLER FLEXNER LLP | Henry Schein Inc. | Swiss Re Patrons Alan B. Vickery Dr. iur. Hubert Achermann James Capalino and Carlin Vickery | Laurie Cronin | Beatrice Ducrot | Chairman of the Board Chairman of the Board Steve Ehrlich | Edmund Frank and Eustacia Su | Steven and Keiko Kaplan | American Friends of LUCERNE LUCERNE FESTIVAL and Foundation Howard L. Kaye | Elise Kirk | Cynthia Sculco | Gil Shiva | Michael Frazier Thompson FESTIVAL Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL Michael Haefliger Valentina Rota Executive and Artistic Director Director of Development LUCERNE FESTIVAL American Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL 4 5 Alumni of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY in concert (Morgan Library & Museum). American Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL © Fadi Kheir/LUCERNE FESTIVAL Through last year’s The American Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL is a non- Gala Fundraising profit organization that was founded in 2002 in New York. and the yearly Their mission is to enable highly talented American membership revenues music students from the most acclaimed conservatories of the American in the USA to attend the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY. Friends, enough donations were raised to enable 10 out of Board of Directors of the 48 students from the American Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL USA to attend the Alan B. Vickery, Chairman | Richard Matlaga, Treasurer and LUCERNE FESTIVAL Secretary | Dr. iur. Hubert Achermann | Stanley Bergman | Yefim ACADEMY in 2017. Bronfman | Beatrice Ducrot | Mike T. Foley | Michael Haefliger Valentina Rota, Director of Development The American Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and your donation is tax deductible to the extent permitted by applicable law. Checks should be made payable to American Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL: American Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL | P.O. Box 326 | Chatham, NJ 07928 | United States of America 6 7 ARTISTS Evening Program Cocktails at 6.00 pm Welcome and Private Concert at 7.00 pm ● Alan B. Vickery, Chairman of the American Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL Private Concert Emanuel Ax piano Music of Franz Liszt (1811–1886) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827). The program will be announced during the event. Alumni of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY: EMANUEL AX The American pianist EMANUEL AX was born in 1949 to Polish parents in Lviv Michelle Ross and Xinou Wei violin | Jesús Rodríguez in the Ukraine, where he took his first piano lessons at the age of six from his González viola | Jay Campbell (Saint-Säens) and Caleb father. Following an intermediate stay in Warsaw, the family moved in 1959 to van der Swaagh (Debussy) cello | Mélanie Genin harp Winnipeg, Canada, and then in 1961 to New York City. It was there that Ax continued his training with Mieczysław Munz at the Juilliard School of Music. In Claude Debussy (1862–1918) 1973 he won the Young Concert Artists Auditions, a year later the Rubinstein Beau Soir for viola and harp Competition in Tel Aviv, and, in 1979, the Avery Fisher Prize. Since then, during Camille Saint-Säens (1835–1921) an international career spanning four decades, Ax has performed with such The Swan for cello and harp acclaimed ensembles as the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras and the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics; he has also concertized with the Claude Debussy (1862–1918) Boston and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Danse sacrée et danse profane for harp and string quartet Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Staatskapelle Dresden. Alongside his performances as a soloist, chamber music plays a significant role for Ax. For many years he was a duo partner of Isaac Stern, and in 2016 he performed with Dinner at 7.45 pm the cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the violinist Itzhak Perlman. Ax’s repertoire includes not only the major works of the Classical and Romantic eras but also many compositions of the present day that have been created specifically for him, Award Ceremony and Acknowledgments at 8.30 pm such as the Piano Concerto by HK Gruber, which he premiered in 2017 with the New York Philharmonic. Within his abundant discography, his recordings of ● Michael Haefliger, Executive and Artistic Director piano sonatas by Haydn are especially noteworthy, having received Grammy of LUCERNE FESTIVAL Awards in 1995 and 2004; his album Variations, featuring works by Beethoven, ● Dr. iur. Hubert Achermann, Chairman of LUCERNE FESTIVAL Haydn, and Schumann, won the Echo Klassik Award in 2013. Emanuel Ax is a and Foundation Friends of LUCERNE FESTIVAL member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and holds honorary doctorates from Yale University and Columbia University. 8 9 Cellist JAY CAMPBELL, the “artiste étoile” of the 2017 Sum- mer Festival, was born in 1989 in Berkeley, California, and Violist JESUS RODOLFO RODRIGUEZ studied at the Juilliard School in New York. A significant part GONZÁLEZ joined the Gustav Mahler Youth of his formation took place at the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACAD- Orchestra in 2008 and became principal violist EMY, which he attended in the summers of 2010 and 2011. In in 2010. He has performed as a soloist all over 2013 he received an Avery Fisher Career Grant and made his Europe with such conductors as Claudio Abba- debut with the New York Philharmonic, which engaged him do, Antonio Pappano, Herbert Blomstedt, and in 2016 to curate the “Ligeti Forward” series as part of the NY Ingo Metzmacher and with orchestras including Phil Biennial. He has collaborated with such composers as the Bratislawa Chamber Orchestra, Gijón Sym- Elliott Carter, Matthias Pintscher, Kaija Saariaho, and John phony Orchestra, and Yale Philharmonia. Having Zorn. He is a member of the JACK Quartet and the cellist of a studied at the Oviedo Conservatory in Spain, piano trio with Stefan Jackiw and Conrad Tao. Yale University, the Juilliard School, the Mannes College of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music, he is currently pursuing his doctoral de- gree in Music Arts at Stony Brook University. Alumni of the LUCERNE FESTIVAL Violinist MICHELLE ROSS, who attended the LUCERNE FESTI- ACADEMY VAL ACADEMY in 2013, is the recipient of a Leonore Annenberg Fellowship and a New Music USA Grant for her compositions. Harpist MÉLANIE GENIN has performed in some of the most A noted soloist, chamber musician, and guest concertmaster with prestigious halls in the world under such conductors as Pierre Boulez, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and with Teodor Currentzis’ music- Alan Gilbert, and Pablos Heras-Casado. She completed her studies at Aeterna, she is Artistic Director of Music in the Mountains atop the Paris Conservatoire, the Juilliard School, and the Manhattan Powder Mountain (Utah) and Chamber Music at Eleventh Street School of Music.