Nordmann succeeds Haefliger at the Lucerne Festival
Sebastian Nordmann is the next Artistic Director of the Lucerne Festival. On January 1, 2026, he will succeed Michael Haefliger, who will leave the festival at the end of 2025.
According to the festival's press release, the 52-year-old Nordmann has been Artistic Director of the Konzerthaus and Konzerthausorchester Berlin since 2009. Following a multi-stage application process, the musicologist with a doctorate was unanimously elected as the new artistic director by the Lucerne Festival Board of Trustees on the recommendation of the search committee.
Sebastian Nordmann was born in Kiel in 1971 and studied musicology and modern history in Heidelberg and Berlin. He worked for two years as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group in Berlin, and in 2002 he took over the artistic direction and management of the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
In 2008, Nordmann was appointed Professor of Cultural Management at the Rostock University of Music and Drama. Since 2009, he has been the artistic director of the Konzerthaus and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin am Gendarmenmarkt. Sebastian Nordmann is married and has three children. As part of his new role, he will relocate from Berlin to the Lucerne region in due course.
