PIANO, the most recent series of concerts presented by LUCERNE FESTIVAL, will take place, for the fourth time, from November 20 till November 25, 2001. Within a mere few years, this festival entirely dedicated to the fascination radiating from black and white keys has become a lode star in the festival heavens. In late autumn, thanks to its brilliant acoustics, the KKL has become a true mecca for lovers and enthusiasts of piano music. “Piano with no holds barred” is the principle PIANO was designed for. Indeed, there is no other instrument that offers its interpreters such a large range of expression, nor one where the step from composer to interpreter is that small. Nowhere else will you get a better chance to see how piano music is actually “made” than when listening to piano music. After all, the classical composers whose music you will hear at PIANO 2001 – Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Ernst von Dohnányi, and Belá Bartók – were both great composers and virtuoso pianists, too. The simultaneity of a musical inspiration and its performance are proclaimed by two of the festival programmes: the Solo Evening with jazz legend McCoy Tyner, whose powerful music is based on the African roots of jazz, and the Night of Improvisation with Ukrainian Misha Alperin, a true genius of improvisation, Parisian jazz poet Jacky Terrasson and the grande dame of Swiss jazz, Irène Schweizer. The overwhelming individuality of great interpreters playing the master-pieces of piano literature will be revealed in the four recitals, the night concert dedicated to the organ and the festival opening dedicated to the piano. PIANO 2001 will offer bewitching encounters with star pianists such as Grigory Sokolov, Radu Lupu, Dénes Várjon, Arcadi Volodos, Lars Vogt, and Evgeny Kissin, organist Markus Willinger and Stanley Hoogland, a pioneer of historical performance. Within the scope of the general programme, Lucerne-based German cembalist Ulrike-Verena Habel will, moreover, present “Claviere” built according to famous historical models. Ticket Office LUCERNE FESTIVAL, PIANO 2001 P.O. Box CH-6002 Luzern Tel +41 (0)41 226 44 80 Fax +41 (0)41 226 44 85 ticketbox@lucernefestival.ch http://www.lucernefestival.ch