Growing Popularity of the Large Variety of Piano Music Audience capacity of LUCERNE FESTIVAL, PIANO 2002, at 91% A steadily increasing audience is a feature of the most recent of the three concert series of LUCERNE FESTIVAL, too. PIANO, which ended last Sunday with a concert by the Jacques Loussier Trio, has established itself as a truly exquisite forum of piano music within a mere five years. This year’s festival offered eight concerts played on the entire range of these black and white keys: classical, jazz, and contemporary music, solo recitals, a piano duo, and a programme with six pianos. The opening of the festival was dedicated to the great classics: András Schiff interpreted sonatas by Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert in front of an audience of almost 1,800 piano enthusiasts. On the following two evenings, Mikhail Pletnev presented the unknown and fascinating world of the piano music written by Peter I Tchaikovsky. The matinee on Saturday was dedicated to a repertoire for two pianos. The piano duo, Adrienne Soós and Ivo Haag, performed for the first time ever a work commissioned by LUCERNE FESTIVAL and Landis & Gyr, a cultural foundation from Zug – the Impromptu multicolore, Op. 92, of Polish composer Krzysztov Meyer. On Saturday, a prominent performer, Daniel Barenboim, stood in for Emanuel Ax, on the stage of the KKL Concert Hall. His recital of works by Mozart, Beethoven, and Liszt was acclaimed by standing ovations. 700 people had come to enjoy the night concert: Piano Circus from London showed true artistry on six pianos, keyboards, and samplers, performing works by Erkki-Sven Tüür, Nikki Yeoh, Thomas Adès, Conlon Nancarrow, Patrick Nunn, and Heiner Goebbels. At the Sunday matinee, Fazil Say, a piano virtuoso of the younger generation, fascinated the audience with his interpretations of compositions by Bach, Haydn, Ravel, and Liszt as well as with one of his own. He, too, was acclaimed by standing ovations. 11,000 came to listen to this year’s LUCERNE FESTIVAL, PIANO. Visitor attendance was at 91% capacity (2001: 80%). Five concerts were recorded by SR DRS. More than 50 journalists from eight countries were accredited with PIANO 2002. LUCERNE FESTIVAL, PIANO, was sponsored by Bank Julius Bär.