Conductor Claudio Abbado will lead his Lucerne Festival Orchestra in Beijing from September 20 to 25. [lucernefestival.ch]

Diehard classical music fans travel all the way to the Swiss city of Lucerne every summer to revel in the Lucerne Festival. This year, they can add Beijing onto their itinerary.

The Lucerne Festival Orchestra, the festival's resident ensemble, will perform six concerts from September 20 to 25 at Beijing's National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA).

The "Lucerne Festival in Beijing", as the event is called, will offer an "unparalleled experience" to Chinese audiences, the NCPA's Web site says, given that "the orchestra features a star-studded lineup of first-class musicians."

The Lucerne Festival Orchestra has some of the world's foremost soloists, such as violinists Kolja Blacher and Sebastian Breuninger, cellist Natalia Gutman, and double-bass player Alois Posch. Their Beijing concerts will be led by Claudio Abbado, a prominent conductor from Italy, who co-founded the orchestra in 2003.

"Before Lucerne, there was no music festival with such a high quality that had been introduced to China," Chen Zuohuang, artistic director of the NCPA, said. "Music lovers in China are lucky enough to enjoy the best classical music of the world at home."

Adding a local flavor to the concert series is the involvement of Chinese musicians Tan Dun and Yuja Wang. Tan Dun, the Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer of the "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" scores, will conduct a chamber concert on September 23. Piano prodigy Yuja Wang will perform on September 20-21 under the baton of Claudio Abbado.

Tickets to the concerts are available on NCPA's Web site at a five-percent discount if purchased before August 20.

Based in Lucerne, the annual Lucerne Festival dates back to the 1930s. It is now Europe's leading festival for classical music. Before coming to Beijing, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra played in Rome, Tokyo, London, New York and Vienna.

(CRI July 28, 2009)