Mittendrin

Normally the roles are clear: the orchestra sits onstage, and the audience listens from the hall. That’s where the sound blends best, of course. But it raises an intriguing question: how does the orchestra itself experience a concert, and what does the conductor actually hear? “Mittendrin” gives you the answer. You take your seat right among the musicians, who are spread out a bit more widely than usual so that extra chairs can be positioned to accommodate you as guests. Iván Fischer, a master of imaginative ideas, invented this wonderfully offbeat format at the Konzerthaus Berlin and now brings it to Lucerne. He conducts a suite from Sergei Prokofiev’s enchanting ballet Cinderella, and you watch him from just a few feet away, as if you were part of the orchestra. “What you experience is simply fantastic,” Fischer says. “You notice countless new details — you hear some instruments right up close, others from farther away. And you feel the players right beside you. The balance isn’t as refined as it is in the hall, but the intensity is incomparable! You’ll never forget it.”

Tickets: CHF 50