Press Release

12 July 2024 – Verbier (Switzerland) – The Verbier Festival is pleased to announce that it is joining with Apple Music Classical to bring its incredible roster of artists and repertoire to a global audience for the first time ever.  Apple Music Classical is the music streaming app designed to deliver the best listening experience for classical music lovers. Included with Apple Music subscriptions at no additional charge and with over five million tracks, Apple Music Classical is home to the world’s largest classical music catalog.

By joining forces, the Verbier Festival experience is made more accessible to audiences around the world and showcases eminent classical artists, often in rare collaborations and repertoire that only the Verbier Festival is able to create.

Founded by Martin T:son Engstroem in 1994, the Verbier Festival brings together the world’s greatest musicians in the heart of the Swiss Alps and sets the gold standard of exceptional concerts with more than 300 chamber and orchestral musicians, star performers and conductors, and emerging soloists of  its Academy.

In 2022, the Verbier Festival created the VF Gold label with Deutsche Grammophon, releasing great performances from its archive. Twenty-five recordings are already available, including artists such as Martha Argerich, Ivry Gitlis, Daniel Harding, Evgeny Kissin, Mikhail Pletnev, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Bryn Terfel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Daniil Trifonov and Yuja Wang.

The first album to be released as part of this new arrangment is Mischa Maisky in Verbier, available on Apple Music Classical from July 19^th 2024, with an exclusive commentary track from Mischa, Lily and Sascha Maisky. The album includes works by Edvard Grieg, Richard Strauss, Piotr Tchaikovsky and Sergei Rachmaninoff in performances recorded live at the Verbier Festival. Mischa Maisky is joined by his children Lily and Sascha Maisky, as well as Martha Argerich and Charles Dutoit.

The Verbier Festival and Apple Music Classical will be offering subscribers exclusive playlists from VF Gold, the Festival’s musical programming, artists and more, in a dedicated space on the app that will be regularly updated.

“We are delighted with the support partnership that our partnership with Apple Music Classical is giving the Verbier Festival. The Verbier Festival’s ambition is to run all year round, in particular with the orchestra’s tours and audiovisual activities. Our archives over the past 30 years are full of truly remarkable concerts and this agreement will enable us to showcase them internationally. Editorial content, playlists and other exclusive material are all opportunities to accomplish our vision and we are delighted to have Apple Music Classical as partners,” said Martin Engstroem and Hervé Boissière, Co-CEOs of the Verbier Festival.

The 31st edition of the Verbier Festival will take place from July 18 to August 4, 2024 in Verbier and is made possible thanks to the support of a large number of philanthropic, corporate and public donors, including the commune of Val de Bagnes, the Loterie Romande, the Canton of Valais, The Friends of the Verbier Festival Association, the Festival’s major donors, including the Chairman’s Circle and Aline Foriel-Destezet, and its main sponsors, REYL & Cie and SICPA.

Mischa Maisky in Verbier album programme, with Lily Maisky, Sascha Maisky, Charles Dutoit, and Martha Argerich. Listen to the single out now

Bruch, Kol Nidrei, Op. 47
Tchaikovsky, Nocturne in D Minor, Op. 19 No. 4
Andante Cantabile for Cello Solo and String Orchestra, Op. posth
Mischa Maiksy, Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra
Recorded on July 29^th, 2008.

Grieg, Cello Sonata in A Minor, Op. 36
Mischa Maisky, Martha Argerich
Recorded on July 29^th, 2008. 

Strauss, Don Quixote, Op. 35
Mischa Maisky, Charles Dutoit, Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra
Recorded on July 25^th, 2010.

Juon, Trio Miniaturen, Op. 18a, 24a: 4. Danse phantastique, Op. 24 No. 2
Schubert, Du bist die Ruh, Op. 59 No. 3, D. 776
Mischa Maisky, Lily Maisky, Sascha Maisky
Recorded on July 30^th, 2022.

Rachmaninoff, Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G Minor
Mischa Maisky, Lily Maisky, Sascha Maisky
Recorded on July 23^rd, 2018

Soon to be released on VF Gold:

• Portraits Of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra: Vol. I with Gábor Takács-Nagy and Martha Argerich
• Tsotne Zedginidze: The Verbier Festival Debut Recital 2022
• Debussy : Pelléas et Mélisande with Charles Dutoit, Stéphane Degout and Magdalena Kožená…

Discover the VF Gold catalog

Apple Music Classical

Apple Music Classical is the standalone music streaming app that gives classical music lovers and musicians the optimal streaming experience by making it easier to find any recording in the world’s largest classical music catalogue with fully optimized search; enjoy the highest audio quality available and experience many classical favorites in a whole new way with immersive Spatial Audio; browse expertly curated playlists, insightful composer biographies and descriptions of thousands of works, and so much more. Apple Music Classical is included in an Apple Music subscription at no additional cost.

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