MUSIC BRINGS JOY

“Music brings joy and we also have to present music to people in Gstaad with joy – and all the concerts are organized in this spirit. We have spoken presentations which allow our audiences to know what is going on – and we have concerts with a “proximité inedite” because we have international, star musicians performing in these tiny churches. The musicians themselves are surprised that we have the courage to welcome them in these small salles.”

THE STARS IN GSTAAD

“We have stars” Caroline said in French to music media consultant Michele Lariviere on the festival website. “This year, for example, we are going to pay homage to a number of great artists – notably to Placido Domingo.”

“Vraiment il a versé ma vie de musicienne par son talent incroyable, sa musicalité. En plus c’est un très bon musicien; nous avons en meme fait du quatre mains ensemble. Il joue très bien du piano. Donc il y a une hommage à Placido Domingo le 29 décembre,” Caroline told Michele.

PRINCE ALBERT DE MONACO

Then the next evening “as this is the 20th annual edition of the new year festival, we also celebrate the 20th annual patronage of the Prince Albert of Monaco. So we receive the musicians of the Prince; Cecilia Bartoli and Asmik Gregorian, who is absolutely fabulous, on 3 January.

The Great Duo – as Nadine Sierra takes to the stage with Michael Spyres, the Italian tenor and and we have a remarkable American singer Corinne Winters who performs with Xavier Anduaga the young, rising star tenor – il vient de faire une triomphe au Liceu in Barcelona. Vraiment c’est le tenor, le jeune tenor, tous jeune: il a peine 30 ans. Il est quasiment dans les “jeunes talents” qu’on present chaque année, tu vois, presque” Caroline told Michele.

YOUNG TALENTS

“We make the selection for the “young talents” with a great deal of care to truthfully choose those to whom we do not give false hopes but effectively a platform in view of the career which they will evidently achieve in the future.

We will certainly present the winner of the Concours Violin Lysy – that is a permanent and perennial partnership.”

RETIREMENT COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

“And this year we are working with the retirement community – it’s going to be extraordinary and it’s an extremely important project for us which places us among senior citizens who do not necessarily have the opportunity, the possibility or the physical strength needed to come to a concert at 7 o’clock in the evening.

ALONG THE GSTAAD VALLEY

“We try to spread the festival along this quite long Gstaad valley” which runs from the Suisse Romande, French-speaking Canton of Vaud to the Schweizer Dootsch, Germanish-speaking Canton of Bern. “So I thought in terms of the festival programme – and the small church of Lauenen which I adore where we can welcome 200 people. We have the Metaboles choir coming to sing by candlelight. It is an intimate atmosphere “très filtré” which Caroline finds “formidable.”

Caroline herself lives part of the year in a small chalet in the village of Lauenen about 7 kilometers from Gstaad at the end of the valley under the glacier. She has welcomed stars such as Marthe Keller, Edwin Crossley-Mercer, Nathalie Stutzmann, Lisette Oropesa, Rosa Feola, Elina Garanca, Jonathan Tetelman, Lise Davidsen, Maxim Vengerov, Leontina Vaduva, Roberto Alagna and the late violinist Alberto Lysy since she founded the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad as Artistic Director in 1999 and then the Gstaad New Year Music Festival.

LEARNING TO PERFORM

“For the young musicians” Caroline continued in her interview with Michele, “the Chapelle on the Promenade in Gstaad is not an easy, small hall to play. You see the audience. It is a good place to learn for the concentration, the “metier” or the skill of succeeding in concentrating even when the first row of the audience is less than five meters in front of you. The young musicians all love playing in this little chapel for this reason – it is a good “style” exercise.”

FREE ENTRANCE

“We also have two concerts with complementary entry – on New Year’s Day, on 1 January 2026 we offer to the people of Rougemont and Chateau d’Oex a concert with Marina Viotti who sang for the Olympic Games celebrations in Paris and who is truly a star.

On 6 January we have a chamber music concert with Elisabeth Sombart playing two Mozart concerti.

We try to allow for everyone to come to our concerts; they are also complementary for everyone under the age of 25 years.”

SINATRA, JAZZ AND BROADWAY

“Then we have a hommage to Frank Sinatra with an extraordinary tenor Vittorio Grigolo and jazz concerts too – the Paul Lay Trio return and on 10 January Joachim Horsley returns too – from Hollywood, which will be sympa. We are going to have fun.”

The South African soprano Golda Schultz returns to the festival too – this time to sing a series of songs off Broadway with her pianist Jonathan Ware.

“And up to the final moment we authorize and celebrate improvisation!”

We look forward to seeing you in Gstaad – printed programmes will be in the tourist office and just ask the Festival team for information: Clement, Philippe, Clement & Jane when you see us.

Tickets on the Swiss online agency Ticket Corner.

Princess Caroline Murat, founder and artistic director of the Gstaad New Year Music Festival and the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad 1999