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Swiss Orchestra — Orchestra in Residence
In 2022 in Andermatt — a famous intersection on the Gotthard railway, in the middle of the Swiss Alps and thus well-nigh predestined to be a site of cultural exchange — the Swiss Orchestra is moving into its new home as the Orchestra in Residence at the local Concert Hall. This dynamic ensemble — which the TV presenter Jann Billeter has described as “Switzerland’s national team for music” — performs across the whole country, from Geneva to Basel and from Graubünden to Zurich. They are musical bridge-builders, overcoming both Switzerland’s linguistic barriers and all manner of prejudices against classical music. The exciting, innovative concert programmes of the Swiss Orchestra aim to generate enthusiasm among a broad public for all kinds of orchestral music. Its aim is to rediscover forgotten, barely acknowledged Swiss composers from the Classical and Romantic periods. The Swiss Orchestra wants to make these unknown facets of Swiss history accessible once more to a broad audience by presenting programmes that place rare Swiss works alongside well-known masterpieces of the world repertoire.
A National Beacon for Swiss Classical Music
With its nationwide presence and its focus on “Swiss symphonic music”, the Swiss Orchestra has a unique selling point on today’s orchestral landscape. The Swiss Orchestra has established itself on the orchestral landscape in a very short space of time. Together with soloists such as Heinz Holliger (oboe), Viviane Chassot (accordion), Oliver Schnyder (piano), Marie-Claude Chappuis (mezzo-soprano), Alina Pogostkina, Michael Barenboim (violin), Raphaela Gromes (cello), Rolando Villazón, Piotr Beczala (tenor), Stephan Eicher (Chansonnier) and Bernhard Russi (narrator), the Swiss Orchestra has performed at the Zurich Tonhalle, the Casino de Montbenon in Lausanne, the St. Gallen Tonhalle, the Bern Casino, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Stadtcasino Basel and the Andermatt Concert Hall. The Swiss Orchestra has also given concerts abroad, from Spain (the Auditorio Nacional de España in Madrid and the Kursaal in San Sebastián) to Monaco (Opéra de Monte Carlo) and even Saudi Arabia (the Maraya Concert Hall at AlUla).
Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer — Music Director
Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer has been the intendant of ANDERMATT MUSIC since 2022 and thus responsible for concert planning in the Andermatt Concert Hall. She is also the Music Director of the Swiss Orchestra, Andermatt’s Orchestra in Residence that plays many of Andermatt’s symphonic programmes. Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer is well-known for her innovative concert programmes that take us off the beaten track to reveal new, exciting things. She has a doctorate in musicology and is engaged in pioneering work, hunting out and performing unknown repertoire by Swiss Classical and Romantic composers.
She is in demand internationally as a guest conductor, and her engagements have taken her to renowned orchestras such as the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Filharmonia Pomorska, Camerata Switzerland, Basel Sinfonietta, Sinfonietta Bern, Sinfonietta de Lausanne, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Symphony Orchestra Bern, Ensemble Corund Luzern, Orchestra of Europe, Zakhar Bron Festival Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Odense Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, she gave her debut at the Metz Opera with Richard Strauss’s Salome.
Born in Zurich in 1983, Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer studied the violin and conducting at the Basel Music Academy, and musicology and economics at the University of Basel, where she also took her doctorate in musicology. She furthered her conducting studies with Sylvia Caduff and Sir Roger Norrington, and has worked as assistant conductor to Claudio Abbado. In 2019, she published the monograph “Klingender Zeitgeist” on Mahler ’s Fourth Symphony. She has often lectured at the University of Basel.
