Musical Summit: Verbier Festival 2018
25 years of Verbier Festival - Martha Argerich, Evgeny Kissin, Daniil Trifonov, Leonidas Kavakos, Anne Sofie von Otter, Zubin Mehta and Iván Fischer, just to mention a few. An impressive number of outstanding soloists and conductors will expect you next summer at the Verbier Festival's jubilee edition. From July 19th to August 5th, 2018, you can listen to unforgettable concerts in the heart of the Swiss Alps.
Read more…With music by Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Rimsky-Korsakov, Bernstein and Shchedrin, the Verbier Festival will open its 25th edition. On July 19th, the silver jubilee will begin with a concert of the Festival Orchestra under the baton of the Russian conductor Valery Gergiev.
In the church of Verbier, the legendary pianist Martha Argerich (whom we present in this playlist with a recording of Ravel's "La valse"), the violinists Ilya Gringolts and Janine Jansen and the violist Blythe Teh Engstroem pay tribute to the great cellist Misha Maisky. He is not the only artist in his family – his children Lily and Sasha also join this special chamber music group.
In the Salle des Combins, the festival's main concert hall, Evgeny Kissin plays pieces by Chopin, Schumann, Debussy and Scriabin in a solo recital, as well as Rachmaninoff's popular Piano Concerto no. 2 with the Festival Orchestra, led by Zubin Mehta. Under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach, the virtuoso violinist Leonidas Kavakos interprets Berg's famous violin concerto "To the memory of an angel", after performing with the violist Diemut Poppen and the cellist Gautier Capuçon. And Iván Fischer conducts Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
In other concerts, internationally renowned singers like the mezzo-sopranos Anne Sofie von Otter and Magdalena Kožená will appear on stage. The soprano Miah Persson, the tenor Pavol Breslik and the baritone Peter Mattei perform Haydn's oratorio "The Creation" with the Festival Chamber Orchestra and the superb RIAS Kammerchor. As a taster, you can enjoy the final chorus "Singt dem Herren alle Stimmen!" in the playlist.
Opera lovers can look forward to a concert version of Francesco Cilea's "Adriana Lecouvreur" with well-known singers, the Festival Orchestra and the Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre from St. Petersburg, led by Valery Gergiev. One of the biggest highlights of the festival will be the 25th Anniversary Gala Concert, a huge "family reunion" with more than 30 soloists plus orchestra and choir members on stage. And, as every year, young musicians will be given a chance to show off their talents.
While waiting for next summer, you can listen to our choice of repertoire featuring some of the artists you'll experience in Verbier in 2018. Enjoy!