We wish to inform of an upcoming change in the management of Festival Strings Lucerne. After more than eight years with the orchestra, Samuel Steinemann will step down as Managing Director. His successor at Festival Strings Lucerne from 1st of October, 2008, will be Roland Ott. Born 1963 in Germany, Roland Ott started his career following studies in music in Dresden as an opera and concert singer (he was, among other activities, an ensemble member of the Berlin State Opera). He is an award winner of international song competitions and received the Richard Wagner grant in 1989 among others. After studies in economy and cultural management in Berlin and Hamburg, Roland moved into international music management, as director and jury member of song competitions as well as in the position of marketing and project manager with Sony Classical and Universal Music for labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, Decca and ECM. He worked with the international repertoire society of Deutsche Grammophon in Hamburg since 1999 and is responsible for their DVD productions. In this position, Roland is in contact with Europe's leading opera houses, concert halls and festivals and he has cooperated with internationally renowned artists and orchestras. Furthermore, as an Executive Producer he was in charge of the audio recordings of Mischa Maisky, René Pape, Thomas Quasthoff and Christian Thielemann as well as productions with the Munich Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic (New Year's concerts) and the Dresden Staatskapelle.
Festival Strings Lucerne is confident that the new leadership with Achim Fiedler (Artistic Director) and Roland Ott (designated Managing Director) will successfully continue the achievements of the most widely travelled Swiss orchestra.
As regards the next step of Samuel Steinemann, he was appointed as Artistic and Managing Director of the Theatre and Music Society of Zug. This society and its venue in Zug have a 200 year long history and offer performances including music, theatre, dance and drama. Samuel wishes Roland great success in his new role and look forward to my remaining months with Festival Strings to make the transition to Roland as seamless as possible.
ECHO Klassik Award 2007 "The concert recording of the year" for music until/incl. 18th century
We are proud that our CD "Bach Piano Concertos" with Martin Stadtfeld (SONY Classical) has received the ECHO Klassik Award 2007 "the concert recording of the year" for music until/including 18th century.
Tour in South America May/June 2007 From Argentina up to Colombia
Festival Strings Lucerne are indeed Switzerland's most widely travelled orchestra, but they will still extend their activity to one more country this year: For the first time, the renowned chamber orchestra will visit Colombia and perform in Bogotá as well as in Medellín.
Further more the orchestra plays for the 3rd time within 7 years in Rosario (Argentina) within the renowned "Mozarteum Argentino" and also got important re-invitations after its most successful tour in 2004 for 2 concerts each in São Paulo and Lima. Festival Strings Lucerne also appears in Ecuador in Quito and Guayaquil among others.
Soloists of the tour in South America are three prominent members of Festival Strings Lucerne: concertmaster Daniel Dodds as well as the 2 solo cellists Alexander Kionke and Jonas Iten.
CD "Serenades for Strings Tchaikovsky & Dvorák" (OehmsClassics) The most recent CD recording with Festival Strings Lucerne plublished in early 2007 has already received marvellous reviews, such as: - Neue Luzerner Zeitung, 23 January 2007
