KKCG AG supports the 22/23 season of Luzerner Sinfonieorchester

A performance of Antonín Dvořák’s Violin Concerto has marked the opening of a new partnership between KKCG AG (KKCG) and the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester. Violinist Maria Duenas, winner of the 2021 Menuhin Competition, joined the famous orchestra, which was under the direction of Chief Conductor Michael Sanderling. The performance also included Beethoven’s celebrated 5th Symphony.

This new partnership brings together a world-class orchestra and an organisation which is committed to music and musicians. The Luzerner Sinfonieorchester is the oldest symphony orchestra in Switzerland, with a 200-year history featuring many of the world’s leading soloists, conductors, and composers. With KKCG’s headquarters based in Lucerne, the orchestra is a natural cultural partner.

Numa Bischof Ullmann, Intendant of the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, said:

“We are pleased to welcome KKCG as one of our main sponsors of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra. KKCG actively supports the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra in its work as the orchestra in residence at the KKL Luzern, with the aim of first-class programs.”

Through this partnership, KKCG recognises the orchestra’s commitment to enhancing and protecting the legacy of Czech music for a Swiss audience. Additional concerts with a strong focus on the works of Antonín Dvořák and other Czech composers are planned in the near future.

Karel Komárek, founder of KKCG AG and the Karel Komárek Family Foundation, said:

“I am hugely excited by this partnership with the magnificent Luzerner Sinfonieorchester. Since helping to create the Dvořák Prague International Music festival in 2008, I have sought to strengthen musical traditions, help foster excellence, and ensure that the benefits that music can bring are felt across society. The depth of the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester’s tradition, unparalleled throughout Switzerland, reaches back to Beethoven’s time and speaks not only of immense dedication and commitment to exceptional performance, but also of continually placing music at the service of the people of Lucerne.”

Swiss soloist Francesco Piemontesi, a former BBC New Generation Artist, performs Dvořák’s only Piano Concerto, a work that is less famous than those by the composer’s role models, such as Beethoven and Brahms. By contrast, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto is one of the best-known pieces in the cello’s Romantic repertoire. Gautier Capuçon has previously performed this piece at the Dvořák Prague International Music Festival. On December 18th, he joins Chief Conductor Michael Sanderling and the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester in a special matinee concert for Christmas (which also includes the much-loved Eighth Symphony).

Meanwhile, the orchestra will accompany the new winner of the Arthur Waser Scholarship, Israeli clarinettist Jonathan Leibovitz, in two concerts on November 9th and 10th. Aaron Copland’s jazz-inflected Clarinet Concerto will be performed alongside two Czech compositions with a distinct sense of place: Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances evoke the spirit of popular dance traditions, alongside the Sinfonietta by Leos Janáček, a work in which each movement is named after a landmark in the city of Brno.

About KKCG AG
KKCG AG, founded by Karel Komárek, one of the most successful Czech entrepreneurs, is an international investment company, which is active in thirty-three countries around the world. KKCG’s primary industries include entertainment, energy, IT technologies, and real estate.

About the KKFF
The Karel Komárek Family Foundation helps to protect and develop Czech cultural heritage, and to cultivate public space. It also supports individuals and groups in fulfilling their musical and professional potential. These themes are encompassed in the Foundation’s support of the Dvořák Prague International Music Festival, the Pianos for Schools project, and the work of the Karel Komárek Proměny Foundation, which reinvigorates large urban parks and school gardens. The Foundation sets its sights on long term development projects as well as areas that are in need of immediate support. During the pandemic, it helped protect the elderly. More recently, it aided those affected by the tornado in Hodonín, Czech Republic, as well as refugees from the war in Ukraine. The Foundation also supports the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where it contributed to the REACH project. The Karel Komárek Family Foundation was founded in June 2017 by Karel Komárek and his wife, Štěpánka Komárková.