Anne-Sophie Mutter to Join the Lucerne Festival Foundation Board of Trustees

Mutter will assume the role from January 1, 2022

German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter will replace Alois Koch on the Lucerne Festival Foundation Board of Trustees. Koch, a Swiss conductor, organist, and musicologist had held his position on the board for 23 years.

Mutter is joined by two other new board members: gallery owner Manuela Wirth, and Christian Gellerstad, who is a member of the Board of Directors at Credit Suisse. Mutter will be the only musician on the board, whose members mostly work in business and politics.

The appointment will hold particular significance for Mutter, who has long been associated with the Lucerne Festival. Her professional career began at the 1976 festival, after Herbert von Karajan invited her to play the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 4 with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

“I am enormously pleased to have gained these three extraordinary figures for the Lucerne Festival Foundation Board,” said Markus Hongler, the Chairman of the Lucerne Festival Foundation Board. “We would like to thank Alois Koch and Otto Wyss from the bottom of our hearts for their outstanding commitment. Both have been passionately involved in the Festival over the years.”