Michael Haefliger Becomes Artistic Advisor of the Kusatsu International Summer Music Academy & Festival in Japan

Michael Haefliger has become Artistic Advisor of the Kusatsu International Summer Music Academy & Festival in Japan. The former long-standing Executive and Artistic Director of the Lucerne Festival shaped one of the world’s most renowned classical music festivals for more than twenty-five years and is widely recognized for his artistic vision, strategic foresight, and international network. With the “Three Mountains Project,” conceived and developed by Haefliger, he brings his own programmatic vision to the future direction of the festival. The three locations – Kusatsu, Takasaki, and Karuizawa – will be reimagined as a clearly profiled cultural axis and strategically interconnected. The project constitutes a central element of the festival’s strategic realignment in preparation for its 50th anniversary in 2030. 
 

The appointment also carries a personal dimension. Michael Haefliger emphasizes his close connection to Japan: “I have a very strong bond with Japan. My father, the tenor Ernst Haefliger, performed in Kusatsu on several occasions – an experience that had a lasting influence on me.”

As early as 1992 and 1994, Haefliger brought a chamber ensemble of the Davos Festival on tour to Japan. Highlights of his international activities include the residencies of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under the direction of Claudio Abbado (2006) and Riccardo Chailly (2017) at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Particularly significant was also the “Lucerne Festival Ark Nova” project, which Haefliger developed and realized together with the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki and the British artist Anish Kapoor following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in the Tōhoku region in 2011.

Kusatsu International Summer Music Academy & Festival
 

Founded in 1980 in Gunma Prefecture, the festival is one of Japan’s leading summer academies. At its core are masterclasses in which internationally renowned artists work closely with young musicians from around the world. The combination of an intensive educational environment and a high-profile concert program has shaped the festival for over 45 years.

With a view to its 50th anniversary in 2030, the festival is undergoing a strategic repositioning. The aim is to further strengthen its international profile while deepening its cultural roots within the Gunma region.

A key future initiative is the “Three Mountains Project,” developed by Michael Haefliger, which strategically reorganizes and artistically sharpens the three locations Takasaki, Kusatsu, and Karuizawa. While Kusatsu will remain the center of the academy, large-scale orchestral concerts are to be established in Takasaki, and new audiences for chamber music are to be developed in Karuizawa.

“What particularly impresses me is the great seriousness and dedication to classical music – uncompromising and without concession. With the new ‘Three Mountains’ concept, it will be possible to connect the cities of Kusatsu, Takasaki, and Karuizawa more closely on a cultural level whilst at the same time defining a clear artistic core for each of them. Takasaki, with the Takasaki Arts Theatre (Grand Theatre), offers an excellent concert hall with more than 2,000 seats. It is ideally suited for large symphonic concerts – an area we intend to expand there in a focused way. In addition, Takasaki is only about one hour by train from the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, opening up further perspectives,” explains Michael Haefliger regarding the strategic realignment.

On 16 August 2026, conductor Johanna Malangré will open the festival with the Gunma Symphony Orchestra.

With Michael Haefliger, the festival gains a major artistic personality who is not only internationally connected but also brings a long-standing and biographically rooted relationship with Japan.