The Verbier Festival is a two week annual international

music festival A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

which is held in late July and early August in the mountain resort of

Verbier Verbier () is a village located in south-western Switzerland in the canton of Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederatio ...

southeast of

Lausanne, Switzerland Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French-speaking canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway between the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and facing the ...

. Begun by Swedish expatriate in 1994, it has attracted international soloists such as

Piotr Anderszewski Piotr Anderszewski () (born April 4, 1969) is a Polish pianist and composer. Early life and education Anderszewski was born in Warsaw, Poland. His father's family was part of Poland's aristocracy while his mother came from a Jewish Hungarian ...

Leif Ove Andsnes Leif Ove Andsnes (; born 7 April 1970) is a Norwegian pianist and chamber musician. Andsnes has made several recordings for Virgin and EMI. In 2012, he signed with Sony Classical, and recorded for the label the "Beethoven Journey" project, whi ...

Martha Argerich Martha Argerich (; ; born 5 June 1941) is an Argentine classical concert pianist. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argerich gave her debut concert at the age of eight before receiving further piano training in Europe. At an early age, she won sev ...

, Lera Auerbach,

Emanuel Ax Emanuel "Manny" Ax (born June 8, 1949) is a Grammy Award-winning American classical pianist. He is known for his chamber music collaborations with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinists Isaac Stern and Young Uck Kim, as well as his piano recitals and p ...

Sergei Babayan Sergei Babayan (; born 1 January 1961) is an Armenian-American pianist. Described by ''Le Devoir'' as a "genius", Babayan won many international competitions, including the Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition in 1989 and the Hamamat ...

Khatia Buniatishvili Khatia Buniatishvili ( ka, ხატია ბუნიათიშვილი, ; born 21 June 1987) is a Georgian and French concert pianist. Early life and education Born in 1987 in Tbilisi, Georgia, Khatia Buniatishvili began studying pian ...

Seong-Jin Cho Seong-Jin Cho (; born May 28, 1994) is a South Korean concert pianist. He was the winner of the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition, the first from the country. Since then, he has regularly performed recital programs in major venues an ...

(2018),

Hilary Hahn Hilary Hahn (born November 27, 1979) is an American violinist. A three-time Grammy Award winner, she has performed throughout the world as a soloist with leading orchestras and conductors, and as a recitalist. She is an avid supporter of contemp ...

Leonidas Kavakos Leonidas Kavakos (; born 30 October 1967) is a Greek violinist and conductor. He has won several international violin competition prizes, including the Sibelius, Paganini, Naumburg, and Indianapolis competitions. He is an Onassis Foundation sc ...

Evgeny Kissin Evgeny Igorevich Kissin (, ; born 10 October 1971) is a Russian-born concert pianist and composer. He became a British citizen in 2002 and an Israeli citizen in 2013. He first came to international fame as a child prodigy. He has a wide reperto ...

, Magdalena Kožená,

Lang Lang Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with major orchestras around the world and appeared at many leading concert halls. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Phi ...

Mischa Maisky Mischa Maisky (, , ; born 10 January 1948) is a Soviet-born Israeli cellist. Biography Mischa Maisky was born in 1948 in Riga and is the younger brother of organist, harpsichordist and musicologist Valery Maisky (1942–1981). He was taught by ...

Mikhail Pletnev Mikhail Vasilievich Pletnev (, ''Mikha'il Vas'ilevič Plet'nëv''; born 14 April 1957) is a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Life and career Pletnev was born into a musical family in Arkhangelsk, then part of the Soviet Union. His fath ...

Lawrence Power Lawrence Power is a British violist, born 1977, noted both for solo performances and for chamber music with the Nash Ensemble and Leopold String Trio. Career Power started out as a violist (rather than beginning studies on the violin and swi ...

Thomas Quasthoff Thomas Quasthoff (, born 9 November 1959) is a German bass-baritone. Quasthoff has a range of musical interest from Bach cantatas, to lieder, and solo jazz improvisations. Born with severe birth defects caused by thalidomide, Quasthoff is , an ...

Julian Rachlin Julian Rachlin (born 8 December 1974) is a Lithuanian-born violinist, violist and conductor. Biography Born in Vilnius to a Jewish family, he emigrated in 1978 with his musician parents to Austria. In 1983, he entered the Konservatorium Wien an ...

, Andrea Rost,

Anoushka Shankar Anoushka Hemangini Shankar (born 9 June 1981) is a British-American sitar player and musician of Indian descent, as well as occasional writer. She performs across multiple genres and styles—Indian classical, classical and contemporary, acoust ...

András Schiff Sir András Schiff (; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor. He has received numerous awards and honours, including the Grammy Award, Gramophone Award, Mozart Medal, and Royal Academy of Music Bac ...

, Nathalie Stutzmann,

Bryn Terfel Bryn Terfel Jones (; born 9 November 1965), is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially primarily associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', '' Leporello'' and ''Don Giovanni,'' but he has subsequ ...

Daniil Trifonov Daniil Olegovich Trifonov (; born 5 March 1991) is a Russian pianist and composer. Described by ''The Globe and Mail'' as "arguably today's leading classical virtuoso" and by ''The Times'' as "without question the most astounding pianist of our ...

Yuja Wang Yuja Wang () is a Chinese-born American pianist. Born in Beijing, she began learning piano there at age six, and went on to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. By age 21, s ...

Julian Lloyd Webber Julian Lloyd Webber (born 14 April 1951) is a British solo cellist, conductor and broadcaster, a former principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the founder of the In Harmony music education programme. Early years and education Julia ...

Gautier Capuçon Gautier Capuçon (born 3 September 1981) is a French cellist. He is the younger brother of violinist Renaud Capuçon. Biography Gautier Capuçon was born in Chambéry, Savoie, the youngest of three siblings. His brother is the violinist Rena ...

, and

Renaud Capuçon Renaud Capuçon (born 27 January 1976) is a French classical violinist. Since late 2016 he has been teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music. He is the older brother of cellist Gautier Capuçon. Biography Capuçon was born in Chamb� ...

. The Verbier Festival nurtures young musicians with its academy and three orchestras: the Verbier Festival Orchestra, the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra and the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra (formerly known as the Verbier Festival Music Camp Orchestra). The Verbier Festival honours the finest performance from its academy with the prestigious Prix Yves Paternot. Yves Paternot, a founding member of The Friends of the Verbier Festival and a long-serving member of the Foundation’s Board, was deeply dedicated to its mission. In recognition of his unwavering commitment, his friends established the award in his memory following his passing. Activities of the Fest'Off, called UNLTD, including jazz concerts and special walks in the environs of Verbier, are available to the public for mostly free during the 17 days of the festival.https://www.verbierfestival.com/en/unltd/

References

External links

*
Verbier Festival
on

medici.tv Medici.tv (stylized as medici.tv), created in 2008, is a video streaming platform for classical music, ballet, and jazz. History Portal founding The Medici.tv portal was co-founded in 2008 by Hervé Boissière and pianist and businessperson ...

Music festivals established in 1994 Classical music festivals in Switzerland Tourist attractions in Valais Bagnes Summer in Switzerland {{music-festival-stub