“Like a cry of Nature”: thus the expression mark that opens Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony – and the programme of this year’s festival which takes up nature as its guiding theme. To Mahler, nature and art were not opposites; on the contrary, he felt that the one was the teacher of the other. The opening programme also treats listeners to a spectacular début as the twenty-two-year-old Chinese pianist Yuja Wang plays Serge Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto. In her Lucerne appearances she can display the full range of her artistry as Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto demands not only lyricism and intimacy, but brilliance and virtuosity.

Repertoire: Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26; Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D Major
Conductor: Claudio Abbado
Orchestra: Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Performers: Yuja Wang, piano
Director: Michael Beyer
Producers: EuroArts Music International in co-production with ZDF/ARTE and SF DRS in cooperation with Lucerne Festival