New orchestra focuses on Swissness

Photo: Marco Borggreve

Oliver Schnyder

The concept and program of the Swiss Orchestra, founded in 2018 and directed by Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer, are anchored in its name. According to its self-portrayal on the website, it has "set itself the goal of bringing forgotten Swiss symphonic musicians back to the concert stage and making them directly tangible throughout Switzerland." It sees itself as a "unique bridge builder" and a "pioneer of Swiss symphonic music".

The orchestra is made up of "first-class instrumentalists of the younger generation".
Its first tour will take it to Zurich, Bern, St. Gallen and Geneva from October 20 to 27. The program includes Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto and Mozart's A little night music Jean Baptiste Edouard Dupuy's overture to the opera Youth and recklessness and Hans Huber's Serenade No. 2 Winter nights. The soloist is the Swiss pianist Oliver Schnyder.
A second tour in spring 2020 combines works by Johann Carl Eschmann and Frank Martin with Johannes Brahms' Third Symphony. The soloists are oboist Heinz Holliger and harpist Alice Belugou.