Claudio Abbado, who first conducted his new Lucerne Festival Orchestra in the summer of 2003, realized a dream with this exclusive ensemble. Handpicked orchestral musicians and exceptional soloists such as violinist Kolja Blacher, flutist Emmanuel Pahud, clarinetist Sabine Meyer, oboist Albrecht Mayer, violist Wolfram Christ, cellist Natalia Gutman, the Hagen Quartet and members of the Alban Berg Quartet to name just a few, made the Lucerne Festival Orchestra a star-studded ensemble, while the core of the orchestra was provided by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, itself an élite body of players. Claudio Abbado was undeniably a supreme Mahler conductor and his Mahler recordings with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra have set new benchmarks in Mahler interpretation and have become reference recordings.