Lucerne Festival Academy 2

Mark Andre admits that his “obsession” lies in “compositional in-between spaces” — those moments that vanish almost instantly yet may carry the greatest intensity. In his orchestral work Im Entschwinden (“In Vanishing”), composed in 2021-22, this year’s composer-in-residence focuses on the fleeting instant when sound dissolves into silence. His exquisitely delicate music — splintered into noise-like textures — observes “the very last, most fragile, tender, and unstable signatures of sound,” he notes. For the devout Andre, the title also has a theological dimension, alluding to the risen Christ who slips away from the earthly realm. In 2025, as an homage to Pierre Boulez, he followed it with Im Entfalten (“In Unfolding”), described by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as “an inward funeral march with intercessions from Boulez’s favorite instruments — harp, bells, piano, flute.” In Lucerne, these two works are heard together for the first time and form an orchestral cycle with the world premiere of the third part, Im Entsiegeln 1 (“In Unsealing”).

Tickets: CHF 50

Ticket sales starts from 24 March 2026 at 10 am