Dear friends,
What an extraordinary year 2025 has been for the Verbier Festival. Financially, we have succeeded in stabilizing the Festival and have almost completely eliminated debts that had followed us for nearly ten years. In an increasingly competitive environment, we were also able to increase ticket sales by 21%. This success is certainly a sign of good health, but above all it is necessary to support our growth and finance our new ambitions. We experienced more sold-out events than ever before, which leads me to gently advise our faithful Friends not to wait too long before purchasing tickets for the 2026 Festival.
Together with my Co-CEO, Hervé Boissière, we have brought a sense of stability to the Festival—something I had never truly experienced in my past 32 years. It often felt like walking a tightrope, never knowing whether one would arrive safely on the other side.
Throughout all these years, the Friends Association has been my most reliable companion, with some Friends contributing every year since the very first edition in 1994—quite remarkable. More recently, some Friends have even chosen to leave us a bequest, which is, of course, the ultimate sign of friendship and support.
Thanks to the deep roots we have built over the years in Verbier, we have also been able to spread our wings. At the beginning of 2026, we will embark on an exciting new venture by creating our first sister festival in Shenzhen, China: 25 concerts over 10 days with our Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, Gábor Takács-Nagy, and a wide range of musicians from our extraordinary family of artists. While there are many festivals in Europe and the United States, there are still very few truly international ones in Asia. Ours will become one of the most important, and we have already signed a three-year agreement with Shenzhen. Additional tours with the VFCO will take us back to South Korea in April and then to Japan in October 2026.
Looking beyond 2026, we are also continuing the preparatory work toward realizing a true Cultural Center in Verbier—the first hall in the Alps dedicated, though not exclusively, to classical music. Building on the achievements and reputation of the Verbier Festival, this project will allow us to develop cultural activities throughout the entire year.
In this spirit of enthusiasm and gratitude, I would like to warmly thank my wonderful team and all the artists for making this past year such a success. And of course, my heartfelt thanks go as well to my wife Blythe, our Co-Artistic Director, to my dear President and most generous soul, François Reyl, to the Board of the Foundation and last but not least, to you, dear public, without whom nothing would be possible. Your passion for our Festival makes all the difference!
I wish you and your dear ones the happiest and healthiest 2026!
Martin T:son Engstroem
Founder & Co-CEO