Markus Poschner
Biographie Markus Poschner
Orchestra della Svizzera italiana (OSI)
Established in 1935 as the Orchestra della Radio Svizzera Italiana, last year the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana (OSI) celebrated its 90th anniversary, continuing to enjoy great success. As the Resident Orchestra at the LAC (Lugano Arte e Cultura, Ticino, Switzerland), the OSI is enthusiastically received by audiences and critics alike in the major theatres and concert halls across Europe, from the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna to the Philharmonie in Berlin, from the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg to the Kölner Philharmonie in Cologne, and from the Opernhaus in Frankfurt to the Prinzregententheater in Munich. From 2022 the Principal Guest Conductor of the OSI is Krzysztof Urbański, succeeding Vladimir Ashkenazy in this post. The Principal Conductor from 2015 until June 2025 was Markus Poschner.
The orchestra plays a leading role in three main concert series in Lugano: the first, ‘OSI al LAC’, runs from autumn to spring in the Sala Teatro at the LAC; the second, ‘OSI in Auditorio’, takes place in the orchestra’s historic home, the Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI in Lugano Besso; while the third, ‘OSI a Pentecoste’, was launched in June 2025 on the back of the Presenza festival (2022–24) with the aim of establishing a regular OSI event in the shape of the particularly interesting Pentecost weekend, with international audiences envisaged.
All these initiatives are augmented by the innovative ‘be connected’ series offering events and special concerts across Italian Switzerland designed to arouse the interest of new audiences and to promote the identity of the OSI in places where certain barriers and prejudices with regard to classical music still appear to exist.
Its rich concert programming has seen the orchestra collaborate not only with Poschner and Urbański, but with a wide range of other conductors and soloists of international repute, both in Italian Switzerland and outside the region: among the most popular of these are the pianist Martha Argerich, with whom the OSI has enjoyed a special relationship for more than twenty years, and the cellist Sol Gabetta, with whom the orchestra has developed a steady partnership, culminating in the launch of the Presenza festival at the LAC, which will return to Lugano in 2027 (taking place every three years).
Also under continuous development are concert activities in Bellinzona as well as in the rest of Italian Switzerland, where the orchestra appears regularly for a variety of events each year, and particularly in the sphere of cultural mediation.
The orchestra is equally active in the field of recording, in collaboration with Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana (RSI); having been bestowed with the prestigious international ICMA award for the first time in 2018 for their recording of Brahms’s complete symphonies on DVD (SONY Classical), the OSI and Poschner won their second ICMA in January 2025 for their CD of works by Paul Hindemith and Alfred Schnittke (on the ECM New Series label). The OSI’s discography of original and intriguing repertoire also includes a series of CDs dedicated to previously unrecorded works by Rossini; these were augmented, in 2023, by Symphonies nos 5 and 6 by Tchaikovsky, and now (January 2026) by Manfred by Tchaikovsky on LP.
Also notable are the orchestra’s opera and ballet co-productions with the LAC as well as with a range of international partners. Last but not least are the OSI’s amazing outreach activities for the young: every year, in May, some 10,000 children attend the concert events specially devised for them. The OSI contributes to youth music education through a close relationship at various levels with the Scuola universitaria di Musica of the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana.
Open-air concerts, cine-concerts and summer festivals – including the Locarno Film Festival – complete the OSI’s yearly programme, attracting ever larger audiences.
The OSI thanks all its donors and sponsors, in particular the Republic and Canton of Ticino – Fondo Swisslos, the City of Lugano, the ERSL Municipalities, the Associazione degli Amici dell’OSI (AOSI), its principal sponsor BancaStato and the Canton of the Grisons.
The OSI is the Resident Orchestra at the LAC. The orchestra is also grateful to its main partner RSI for its continued support and regular radio broadcasts.
Markus Poschner
Since receiving the German Conducting Award, Markus Poschner has made regular guest appearances with top orchestras and opera houses around the world; in 2022 he opened the Bayreuth Festival with a new production of Tristan und Isolde. In 2026/27, the Munich-born conductor, who is also a passionate jazz-pianist, will become new Chief Conductor of the renowned ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, and in 2025/26 also takes over the position as Chief Conductor of Sinfonieorchester Basel. He has been Chief Conductor of the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana since 2015, winning the prestigious International Classical Music Award for the complete recording of the Brahms symphonies in 2018 as well as for the Hindemith/Schnittke recording in 2025.
Previously, in 2024, Poschner received the Special Achievement Award from the ICMA jury for the complete recording of all Bruckner symphonies with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, of which he has been Chief Conductor since 2017, and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2027/28, Markus Poschner takes up his tenure as Music Director with Utah Symphony Orchestra. His recording of Offenbach’s Maître Péronilla with the Orchestre National de France was honoured with the German Record Critics’ Award 2021.
