Lucerne Summer Festival

What makes a person or a culture unique? This year's Lucerne Summer Festival will broach this question and others on the theme of "identity" through the medium of classical music. The programme, which features the world's best on the classical music scene, also includes the festival's signature parade of the finest international orchestras. Participating as this year's 'artistes étoiles' are the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and the young cellist Jay Campbell, while the Dutch composer Michel van der Aa will be composer-in-residence. Other highlights include Sir John Eliot Gardiner's celebration of the 450th anniversary of Claudio Monteverdi and Riccardo Chailly and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra's focus on works by composers including Beethoven and Stravinsky.