Thu, August 27th, 2026
Summer Festival: Debut Bridget Yee

This pianist defies categorization. Bridget Yee was born in Malaysia in 2004, moved to London at the age of 11 to study, and won, among other accolades, the Windsor International Piano Competition. But she doesn't just excel at the piano; she has also trained as a cellist and double bassist and performed in orchestral concerts under Jac van Steen and Benjamin Zander. This, she believes, has broadened her horizons, also benefiting her keyboard playing. As a performer, Bridget Yee tirelessly seeks inspiration beyond music: one simply has to look around, she says. She usually presents her recitals herself – much to the audience's delight. And Yee also has a penchant for unusual and original programs. For her Lucerne Festival debut, she has selected works ranging from Haydn to the present day. Among them are two famous transcriptions that couldn't be more different: Wagner's Isolde's Liebestod and Gershwin's Embraceable You. With Samuel Barber, she pays tribute to an American classic. And in Liszt's great B minor Sonata, she is equally in demand as a virtuoso and as a shrewd interpreter.

Program:
Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
Isolde's Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde. Version for piano by Franz Liszt S 477

Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
Movement I from Excursions op. 20

George Gershwin (1898–1937)
Embraceable You from Seven Virtuoso Etudes on Gershwin Songs for Piano, arranged by Earl Wild

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Fantasia (Capriccio) in C major Hob. XVII:4

Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
Movement III from Excursions op. 20

Laila Arafah (*2004)
shadow undulations of a bellflower
Swiss premiere

Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Piano Sonata in B minor S 178

This concert has no intermission.

Tickets available from March 24, 2026 | 10:00 AM (CET)