As the Luxembourg Philharmonic reached a crucial milestone last season by celebrat-ing its 90th anniversary, it is now its Music Director’s turn to stand on the edge of a major turning point, since his time at the Grand Duchy will come to an end in 2025, after 10 years at the helm of the orchestra.
«I’m usually someone who likes to look forward,» he tells us. «I now realise that I’m starting to look back, to reflect on how I’ve changed, how the orchestra has changed». After several hundred concerts, trips to the four corners of the world, recordings, premieres and numerous musician hires, it’s time to rejoice and pass the torch. This is precisely what the 2024/25 season is all about: helping the orchestra find its marks without Gustavo Gimeno, solidify its identity, and prepare to welcome its next figurehead.
Gimeno’s presence this year will be carefully balanced between touring projects and targeted collaborations with prominent international soloists such as the flamboyant percussionist Vivi Vassileva, piano sensation Seong-Jin Cho and the queen of the king of instruments, Iveta Apkalna.
In addition to these regular touchpoints with their Music Director, the musicians will also get to interact with a wide variety of guest conductors, each with their own repertoire and approach to the art of conducting. Simone Menezes, Tarmo Peltokoski, Kazuki Yamada, Tugan Sokhiev, Renaud Capuçon… Some of these encounters will be reunions, others first meets, but all will certainly provide opportunities to make lasting and enriching artistic friendships.
Upon arriving in the Grand Duchy in 2015, Gustavo Gimeno had expressed his enthusiasm to open up the Luxembourg Philharmonic to the world. It seems that, a decade later, it is in fact the world that is coming to the orchestra.
Eva Klein
