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14.3.06

Music in Gstaad

Gstaad Valley, Swiss Alps
A report on the French news from France 2 recently described the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, a rather exclusive winter music festival in the mountains of Switzerland. (This is not the Yehudi Menuhin Festival, which takes place in the summer in the same town. This festival is only five years old.) On the program there is a young pianist named Bertrand Chamayou, who played a recital here in the Washington area last month. (We had it on our schedule but were unable to make it there.) Also performing in Gstaad this year: Fazil Say, Nelson Freire, Waltraud Meier (singing the Wesendonck Lieder), and many others. The Gstaad festival is so exclusive that there were apparently no reviewers allowed. If anyone knows anything else about this, let me know. A week in the Bernese Oberland listening to good music: I could get used to that life.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Charles

Just picked up your ‘Music in Gstaad’ log from March. Ironically I was in Geneva yesterday and saw the strange sight of the 2006 poster surrounded by copies of the wonderful programmes from the Festival’s first years - 2001 and 2002 - when the organization was great, hopes were high and the musical atmosphere was top quality and reviewers were welcomed.

Times change. Shall we call for the return of the original team from 2001?

Jane McIntosh
mcm@another.com

Charles T. Downey said...

Thanks for the comment, Jane. Have you been to the Gstaad Festival? This year or in previous years?

Sarah said...

Hi Charles
Yes I've been to the New Year Music Festival in Gstaad. This year's edition is from Tuesday 29 december to Sunday 3 January 2010.
It starts with the "Musique et la Nuit" performed by Marthe Keller, the Swiss actress and the programme (announced in London last Tuesday) has an interesting programme.
They have a website for contact - www.nymf.ch

Unknown said...

Hi all
And the 5th edition starts on 29 December 2010. There will be a number of lead-in events in the spring, summer and autumn in Gstaad itself and in Italy, France, the UK, Belgium and other parts of Switzerland.