Contemporary

Year in and year out, the festival-friendly Hotel Schweizerhof Luzern hosts exceptional concerts and high-profile events like the Lucerne Blues Festival, The Retro Festival and the Voxpop-Vocal Festival. The 101 rooms and suites of this five-star establishment have accommodated countless stars, including Bob Dylan.

Located in the middle of the old town, the Stadtkeller is the oldest concert venue/restaurant in Lucerne. In summer, Swiss folklore shows featuring alphorns, cowbells and yodelling delight the crowds. During the winter, the performance space resonates with Swiss mundart rock, pop, blues, jazz and comedy nights.

The Südpol cultural centre – meeting place for the young, creative scene – stages scores of gigs, club nights, festivals, theatrical performances and dance shows. At the Südpol, there are no boundaries between genres – music fans enjoy techno, trap, Deutschrap, hip-hop, punk and much else that defies categorisation.

Housed in a former prison, the Sedel music centre offers space for creative music-making. The in-house club shakes the ground with a varied music programme that pays no heed to commercial constraints or the usual fare.

From pop and dance to hip-hop and rock – the Schüür concert hall has something for all musical tastes. Gigs and parties at this converted barn have kept the crowds dancing into the early hours for more than 30 years.

Diverse, danceable and direct … in a former swimming pool. Neubad is a bar, restaurant, coffee house, art space and stage all in one. Visitors swing their hips to experimental live performances, well-known acts and one-of-a-kind gigs until the very last beat.

Young minds bring crazy ideas to life at the Treibhaus centre for youth culture. Programme planners organise concerts and parties devoted to all manner of musical styles, including indie, rock, hip-hop, reggae and folk.

The ANTE Open-air Festival is all about exciting sounds in a compact space. Tribschen is a lakeside bathing beach that hosts some great acts accustomed to performing on much bigger stages alongside emerging newcomers representing the spectrum of musical genres.

For Lucerne, it’s like a fifth season: at Carnival time, the city transforms into one big fairground. Groups of musicians known as «Guggenmusigen» belt out rhythmic marches as thousands of costumed revellers chase the winter away.

Switzerland’s biggest folk music festival presents a high standard of musical art. At the Heirassa Festival in Weggis, more than 30 high calibre ensembles perform 100-plus hours of folk music at 15 venues.

Along with drama and revues, the Stadttheater presents musical delights. The operas staged at the Luzerner Theater recount the familiar classics in contemporary fashion. There are also dance performances to be admired.

The Kleintheater Luzern presents not just revue, literature, straight theatre and dance, but also a range of musical performances. Famed stars of the music scene and regional newcomers alike take to the stage.