Reduced seating capacities
Duplicate concerts
Like every year, the Saanen church hosts the finest of recitals and chamber music concerts. In order to allow as many people as possible to enjoy them, several artists have agreed to perform twice (at 6 pm and 8.30 pm) and without breaks. The elegant building dedicated to Saint Maurice will thus see the following musicians perform twice consecutively and in front of maximum 300 spectators: Sir András Schiff (on August 3 playing Schubert), the striking duo made up of Sol Gabetta and Bertrand Chamayou (on August 6, as well as on August 5 in a trio with Isabelle Faust), another high-flying tandem consisting of Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Fazil Say (on August 7), pianist Hélène Grimaud (on August 10 with her “Memory” programme), the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (on August 16) and keyboard legend Maria João Pires (on August 27, playing Beethoven's Opus 111, among others).
More concerts under the Gstaad Festival Tent
In order to offer each spectator sufficient space (and thus adequate safety), several concerts that would normally have been held in the Saanen church have been “relocated” to the Gstaad Festival Tent. These therefore have a seating capacity of 700. This is the case for the very inviting Mozart-Mendelssohn programme performed by violinist Julia Fischer and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields on July 18, the magnificent choral evening performed by Hervé Niquet and his Concert Spirituel on July 24 (culminating in Handel's dazzling “Coronation Anthems”), the concert celebrating the 80th birthday of jazz icon Chick Corea in trio ( July 25), the two concerts highlighting the progress made by the Gstaad Conducting Academy students (August 4 and 10), and the evening of August 8 when the Kammerorchester Basel will premiere a new work by Thomas Adès and accompany Hélène Grimaud in Mozart's 20th Concerto.
Return of the great symphonic evenings
We've missed them since the beginning of 2020: we're offering you seven of them almost without moderation! The great symphonic evenings are part of the DNA of the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and the 2021 edition marks their grand return, with a maximum capacity of 1200 spectators (compared to 1800 under normal circumstances). With two opening nights by Jaap van Zweden and the Gstaad Festival Orchestra on August 13 and 14: the first with Khatia Buniatishvili (in Tchaikovsky's First Concerto) and the second with Sol Gabetta (in Elgar's sublime Cello Concerto). Followed by two top concerts presented by Valery Gergiev and his St Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra (August 20 and 21): the first featuring Alexandre Kantorow (in Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto) and the second Alexandra Conunova (in Sibelius's brilliant Concerto). These will be complemented by the traditional semi-staged version of an opera – Bellini's “I puritani” with Lisette Oropesa and Javier Camarena in the leading roles (August 28) –, an evening combining Italian bel canto and Latin America performed by acclaimed tenor Juan Diego Flórez and his Sinfonía por el Perú (September 3), and lastly a grand finale of picture and sound dedicated to British film scores (September 4).