Change of scene 2025 music festival: more depth thanks to more contrast

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The music festival Szenenwechsel 2025 at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts is taking place under the motto "chiaroscuro". With classical pieces by Debussy and Strauss, experimental performances and a guest appearance by star pianist Shai Maestro, the program is full of contrasts. The change of scene will take place from January 29 to February 1 at the KKL Lucerne and the HSLU Südpol in Kriens.

The principle of the "chiaroscuro" dominated European painting for centuries: Baroque painters in particular tried to make their works as dramatic as possible with strong contrasts of light and dark.

This year’s edition of the HSLU festival Szenenwechsel transfers the "chiaroscuro" from the world of painting to that of music: "Contrasts, a wealth of facets and sometimes even dissonances create tension in both cases," says Valentin Gloor, Director of the Department of Music at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. The 2025 change of scene celebrates the break in style with corresponding relish: for example, the Junge Philharmonie Zentralschweiz and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra seduce their audience with classical pieces from the early 20th century by Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Richard Strauss.

One evening later, the internationally renowned Israeli jazz pianist Shai Maestro grooves with the HSLU Big Band. Drummer Florian Hoesl even involves the audience in his interactive performance "Complex Train". Last but not least, solo musicians experiment with the absence of silence in the spatial collage "Stasis" in the HSLU’s sound towers.

All concerts take place in the rooms of the HSLU Department of Music at the Südpol site in Kriens LU or at the Lucerne Culture and Convention Center KKL Luzern.

Program Change of Scene 2025

Songs for the night

Wednesday, 29 January, 17:30, Salquin Concert Hall, HSLU Campus Südpol, Kriens In the program ’Gesänge zur Nacht’, saxophonists from the HSLU explore the topos of the night. They juxtapose two solo works by young composers and three ensemble works from different eras.

Music moves music no. 4

Wednesday, January 29, 7:30 pm, Blackbox Kosmos, HSLU Campus Südpol, Kriens
The Bachelor students of the Music and Movement course play, sing, dance, perform, parody and philosophize - sometimes funny, sometimes serious, sometimes cheeky and sometimes unconventional.

LUcid Interactive Organism - Sounds in the Move

Wednesday, 29 January, 21:30, Foyer, HSLU Campus Südpol, Kriens The Lucerne Improvisers Orchestra LUIO is dedicated to improvisation and musical creation in large formations. In the concept developed especially for this year’s Szenenwechsel, the musicians are mobile with their instruments and their sounds are in motion. A 3D sound cosmos of individual voices, moving constellations and interactions is created.

Of waves and waltzes - symphony concert

Thursday, January 30, 7:30 pm, Concert Hall KKL Luzern, Lucerne Ravel’s ’Valses nobles et sentimentales’ is an important work of the early 20th century and shows the influence of the Viennese waltz on European music history. Debussy’s impressionistic symphonic sketch ’La mer’ captures the changing moods and colors of the ocean. Strauss’ opera ’Der Rosenkavalier’ combines Viennese Classicism with late Romantic elements and captivates with its virtuoso orchestration and subtle musical humor. Prices: CHF 30 to CHF 85. Tickets on sale: KKL Luzern, T +41 41 226 77 77, kkl-luzern.ch

HSLU Big Band feat. Shai Maestro

Friday, January 31, 5 pm, 7:30 pm, Concert Hall KKL Luzern, Lucerne The Israeli pianist and composer Shai Maestro is considered one of the leading musicians of his generation. With this concert, Maestro joins an illustrious line-up of star guests with whom the HSLU Big Band has performed in recent years. His music combines jazz, classical and world music in an innovative way and is characterized by emotional depth and technical virtuosity. Prices: CHF 35 to CHF 50. Tickets on sale: KKL Luzern, T +41 41 226 77 77, kkl-luzern.ch

Complex Train

Saturday, February 1, 1 pm, Club Knox, HSLU Campus Südpol, Kriens With his artistic research project, percussionist Florian Hoesl explores musical complexity and its effect on us. To this end, he has created an interactive performance in which the audience can participate. This allows them to experience complex music in the working process.

The full moon orchestra - family concert

Saturday, February 1, 3 p.m., Blackbox Kosmos, HSLU Campus Südpol, Kriens A moving narrative concert based on the story of the same name by Jens Rassmus. Musicians from the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and students from the Institute of Jazz at the Lucerne School of Music form the Full Moon Orchestra; students from the ’Music and Movement’ course transform the fantastic story into movement.

It Don’t Mean a Thing - Orchestra in a Nutshell

Saturday, February 1, 5:30 pm, Salquin Concert Hall, HSLU Campus Südpol, Kriens
A program full of timbre and rhythm: works by Milhaud, Schulhoff, Weill and Antheil show how differently classical music can be inspired by jazz.

Stasis, a spatial collage

Saturday, February 1, 7:30 pm, Klangtürme, HSLU Campus Südpol, Kriens
’Stasis’ explores strongly contrasting conditions of being in a state of fragile equilibrium: persistent immutability and subtle variation. Sound fragments form a gradually growing image - like a mobile that is illuminated from changing perspectives.

Media images

Impressions of previous festival editions can be found on the Szenenwechsel website. Picture credits: Ingo Höhn