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Verbier is easily accessible by various means of transport.
Venues & Accessibility
Learn more about our performance venues and accessibility.
Where to Stay
Explore available accommodation options in Verbier.
Eat and drink
Explore a selection of places to eat or drink during your visit to Verbier.
Your experience at the Verbier Festival
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Flex pack
20% discount starting 7 concerts purchased from the Mainstage programme (excluding Carré Or).
Gift cards
Share your passion for classical music by offering a Verbier Festival gift card (valid until the end of the current edition, i.e. August 3, 2025).
Bagnard
40% discount for permanent residents of Commune de Val de Bagnes (excluding Carré Or and cat. C)
RailAway
The Verbier Festival, in partnership with RailAway, offers you 30 % off your train tickets to Verbier.
Under 35
For adults under 35 years old, for all Mainstage concerts excluding VFJO, Academy, and afternoon church concerts (excluding Carré Or).
Students
For students with student identity card available on all Mainstage concerts (excluding Carré Or, open seating concerts, and VFJO and Academy concerts).
Children
For children under 16 on all Mainstage concerts (excluding Carré Or and Academy concerts).
Combins pass
Attend all evening concerts at Salle des Combins (Carré Or) from the 17th of July 2025 to the 3rd of August 2025. Contact the Ticket Office to buy your Pass.
Ravel 150
Includes Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s two concerts on July 17 2025.
Soloists & Ensembles
The Academy searches the world for the most promising pianists, violinists, violists, cellists and chamber music ensembles of trios and quartets.
Atelier Lyrique
The Verbier Festival Academy’s Atelier Lyrique stands out among professional training programmes by offering a unique blend of opera role and song repertoire studies.
Creative Project Development
The Creative Project Development Residency offers an opportunity to an imaginative and entrepreneurial young artist to develop and workshop an original project.
Audio Recording
The Academy’s Audio Recording Programme offers a unique opportunity to up to three emerging sound engineers to work alongside a professional recording team.
VFJO
The Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra (VFJO) is an international orchestral training programme for young musicians aged 15 to 18.
VFO
The Verbier Festival Orchestra (VFO) is a rite of passage for today’s exceptional young orchestra musicians.
Conducting
The Verbier Festival Conducting Programme offers a stepping stone to emerging artists who are on the verge of leading orchestras at the highest level.
VFCO
The Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra is the Verbier Festival’s worldwide Ambassador.
UNLTD Summer 2025
Le Cinéma
Six bold concerts at Cinéma de Verbier — genre-blurring nights, headline artists, unexpected encounters.
La Chapelle
A candlelit sanctuary for sound. Four intimate concerts—meditative journeys, bold detours, and resonant music.
South
The Festival’s late shift lives here. Four concerts where genres clash, stories unfold, and music dares to go further.
ideaLab
Where music meets ideas. IdeaLab blends concerts and conversation to explore the ‘why’ behind the music.
KiDs Summer 2025
Concerts, creative workshops, musical fun in the open air, and a one-of-a-kind storytelling camp—VF KiDS offers magical moments for children of all ages throughout the Verbier Festival.
Storytellers in the Classroom
The Storytellers project offers valuable educational enrichment in primary schools across the canton of Valais.
Music Discovery
Each summer, VF KiDS offers fun and interactive workshops for young children at the Verbier Festival.
Zoo
Dive into a world of imagination through the eyes of VF KiDS.
Ludwig's world
Interactive exhibition for all ages.
Verbier Festival Gold
Gems from the Festival archives.
VF Collection
An ambitious heritage project that extends our artistic mission beyond the summer season
Apple Music Classical
The Verbier Festival is pleased to announce its partnership with Apple Music Classical.
Jukebox
An immersive audiovisual space for archival treasures.
Broadcast and streaming
The Verbier Festival lets music-lovers worldwide enjoy concerts live or on replay.
Our Sponsors
The Verbier Festival thanks its sponsors and partners for their valuable support.
Public Funders
The Verbier Festival thanks its public funding partners for their unwavering support.
Patrons
The Verbier Festival is grateful to its philanthropic patrons for their generous support
Donors to the Friends
The Friends is a group of music-loving donors whose support has been a cornerstone of the Festival’s rise to the top.
Legacy Giving
Help us build a sustainable future.
Founder & Director
En 1991, Martin Engstroem put the wheels in motion for what in 1994 would become the Verbier Festival & Academy.
VF Green
Aware of climate and sustainability challenges, the verbier festival works to promote sustainable practices.
Contact
Our telephone numbers, email and postal addresses, office hours and directory of personnel.
Board of Directors of the Verbier Festival
Learn more about the Verbier Festival's Board of Directors.
Your experience at the Verbier Festival
We value your feedback. Share it with us here.

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Academy: Soloists & Ensembles
academy

The Academy searches the world for the most promising pianists, violinists, violists, cellists and chamber music ensembles of trios and quartets to become students of its Soloists & Ensembles Programme.

Up to seven from each solo discipline and one ensemble are selected for three weeks of mentorship and coaching by a faculty that is second to none. Up to four Junior Students, aged 13 to 15, may also be invited to soak up the Festival experience with the aim of inspiring them to apply for full Academy positions in the future. The study and performance of chamber music is fundamental at Verbier. Soloists take part in chamber music masterclasses in addition to those in their respective solo disciplines.

programme dates

includes arrival and departure dates

2026

12 July – 3 August 2026

how to apply

Applications to the 2026 edition of the Academy’s Soloists & Ensembles Programme open on October 10 2025.

apply

Application deadline: 16.01.2026

apply now

masterclasses

Information for students

Soloists normally perform in at least six masterclasses in their solo disciplines and four masterclasses in their assigned chamber music groups. When possible, Junior Students will perform in at least two masterclasses or private coaching sessions; they may also be assigned to a chamber music group at the Academy’s discretion.

Ensembles perform in approximately ten masterclasses.

Information for the public

The masterclass schedule will be announced in November 2025.

mentors 2026

Chamber music

Kirill Gerstein
Klaus Hellwig
Steven Isserlis
Mihaela Martin
András Schiff
Gábor Takács-Nagy

21C Artist Training

All Academy musicians learn to navigate the business of music through exposure to concepts they don’t learn in school: interactive concert programming to address changing audience tastes and demographics, effective marketing and social media, media training, financial management, sound and video recording, and mental and physical wellness practices. Musicians meet with artists, educators and businesspeople who are living proof that there is no single career path for a young artist.

Gary Leboff
Pedja Muzijevic
Alexis Milligan
Ruth Phillips
Karen Zorn

alumni mentors

In its quest for excellence, the Academy has developed collaborations with some of the greatest mentors and coaches. Returning 2026 mentors are marked with an asterisk.

Piano

Joaquín Achúcarro
Sergei Babayan
Dmitri Bashkirov †
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
Michel Béroff
Bella Davidovich
Leon Fleisher
Claude Frank †
Richard Goode*
Gary Graffman
Klaus Hellwig*
Joseph Kalichstein
Stephen Kovacevich
Menahem Pressler
Ferenc Rados
András Schiff*
Rena Shereshevskaya

Violin

Kristóf Baráti
Kolja Blacher*
Guy Braunstein
Zakhar Bron
Ana Chumachenco
Augustin Dumay*
Pamela Frank*
Ivry Gitlis
Ida Haendel
András Keller
Young-Uck Kim
Boris Kuschnir
Mihaela Martin*
Igor Oistrakh
György Pauk †
Dora Schwarzberg
Joseph Silverstein
Dmitry Sitkovetsky
Isaac Stern †
Viktor Tretiakov
Donald Weilerstein
Eduard Wulfson
Pinchas Zukerman

Viola

Yuri Bashmet
Isabel Charisius
Gerard Caussé
Roberto Diaz
Yuri Gandelsman
Nobuko Imai
Kim Kashkashian
Paul Neubauer
Lawrence Power
Máté Szücs*
Antoine Tamestit
Lars Anders Tomter*
Tabea Zimmermann

Cello

Nicolas Altstaedt*
Alban Gerhardt
Lynn Harrell †
Frans Helmerson*
Gary Hoffman
Steven Isserlis
Ralph Kirshbaum
Laurence Lesser
Julian Lloyd Webber
Miklós Perényi
Ferenc Rados
Torleif Thedéen
Jian Wang
Alisa Weilerstein

Chamber Music

Nicolas Altstaedt
Alfred Brendel
Pierre Colombet
Pamela Frank
Kirill Gerstein*
Amihai Grosz
Klaus Hellwig*
Mathieu Herzog
I Giardini
András Keller
Gabriel Le Magadure
Mihaela Martin*
Raphaël Merlin
Menahem Pressler
Ferenc Rados
Quatuor Ébène
András Schiff*
Alasdair Tait
Gábor Takács-Nagy*
Pinchas Zukerman

Improvisation

Yilian Cañizares*

contact

academy@verbierfestival.com

Programme Ticketing
Verbier Festival
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