Dear audience
In the 2026/27 season, we look forward to enjoying classical masterpieces with you once again and exploring the world of music in new and exciting ways. Through unconventional concert formats, as in previous years, but above all by transcending boundaries, playing with genres and taking an outside perspective on Western classical music. Hence also the new visual identity of our concert series. The whole emerges from individual parts – from different angles.
One artist who exemplifies such a shift in perspective is the violinist Ara Malikian. Of Armenian descent, raised in Lebanon, trained in Germany and England, he has absorbed a wide variety of musical traditions and uses them to create fascinating live performances. The very title of his latest project refers to the outside perspective that can be so artistically fruitful: “Intruso” means intruder.
Branford Marsalis, too, has always moved with ease between stylistic worlds. Together with the experimental Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, he will perform the Swiss premiere of Jeff Beal’s saxophone concerto, alongside orchestral works by Ellington and Gershwin. And here’s another example: Peter Bence, the Hungarian piano wizard who captivates audiences – particularly young people – with his genre-spanning concert programmes. You simply must experience this artist live – he made it into the Guinness Book of Records as the ‘world’s fastest pianist’ with 765 keystrokes per minute!
We have deliberately juxtaposed these cross-genre projects with concerts that focus on a single composer or era. These include a guest performance by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, presenting two key works of the Romantic period. Or Kirill Gerstein’s Beethoven marathon featuring no fewer than three piano concertos. Among the soloists, the young Scandinavian violinist Johan Dalene is worth mentioning, as is, of course, Gautier Capuçon, who is our guest on two occasions, including another Swiss premiere: the new cello concerto by the highly decorated film composer Max Richter, whose latest film score for ‘Hamnet’ was nominated for an Oscar in 2026.
A final programme highlight: works that hold a very special place in music history. These include the two Requiems by Mozart and Britten, performed by the finest in their field, Marc Minkowski’s Musiciens du Louvre and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Last but not least, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer – accompanied by the Pan-European Chorus, which brings together more than 100 singers from across Europe for the ode “Ode to Joy”.
Enjoy familiar and new works in all their sonic nuances, performed by internationally acclaimed musicians.
MIRA SONG
Head of the Social Affairs and Culture Department
Federation of Migros Cooperatives
MISCHA DAMEV
Artistic Director
Migros Culture Percentage Classics