Exceptional stories are waiting for you this summer

WAGNER
Götterdämmerung

Fri. 17.07 | 18:30

Götterdämmerung brings to a close twenty-six years of labour and the Ring of the Nibelungen cycle, aa monumental saga rooted in Norse mythology. Wagner wrote the libretto himself, beginning with the end of the Tetralogy and the apocalyptic fall of Valhalla. The Immolation Scene is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious in the entire operatic repertoire, depicting Brünnhilde’s final sacrifice. It is a formidable and demanding role, entrusted on 17 July to American mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung.It is a repertoire she knows intimately, having earned acclaim in the iconic roles of Fricka, Sieglinde and Waltraute. She will perform alongside the Verbier Festival Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen, who will also conduct Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie in the second half.

MOZART
Così fan tutte

Sat. 18.07 | 18:30

Così fan tutte is an opera buffa in two acts based on a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, the third and final collaboration between the two masters following Tha Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni. Unlike their previous two operas, which were adapted from Beaumarchais and Molière, this plot is entirely original, inspired by a real-life Viennese scandal involving two officers in Trieste who swapped wives— an anecdote reportedly suggested to Mozart by Emperor Joseph II himself. The result is a multi-layered comedy that appears light on the surface but cruelly dissects the mechanics of desire and the fragility of romantic vows. On 18 July, Gábor Takács-Nagy leads the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra in this final installment of the Da Ponte trilogy, following the triumphant successes of the first two parts at the 2022 and 2024 Verbier Festivals. Joining him is a stellar cast: Johanna and Rebecka Wallroth, sisters both on stage and in real life, Anna El-Khashem, Giovanni Sala, Konstantin Krimmel (rrecently named Singer of the Year at the Opus Klassik) and the incomparable Bryn Terfel.

ORFF
Carmina Burana

Sat. 25.07 | 18:30

In 1803, a Bavarian monk unearthed a six-century-old manuscript. Containing hundreds of poems celebrating love, wine and the whims of Fortune, it would take another century and a half, and a composer named Carl Orff, for these words to finally find their voice. A kind of modern cantata drawing on the spirit of Early Music, Carmina Burana and its thunderous “O Fortuna” have become one of the great landmarks of the classical repertoire. To unleash the full dramatic power of its orchestration, the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra will be joined by the Oberwalliser Vokalensemble, under the baton of James Gaffigan, the orchestra’s Music Director. This exceptional evening will open with another masterpiece from the interwar years, Prokofiev’s fiery Concerto No. 3, performed by Bruce Liu, whose solo recital is already sold out.

ULLMANN
The Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke

Tue. 28.07 | 15:30

In 1899, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a prose poem in just a few days, tracing the dazzling fate of a young soldier marching toward the Balkans, consumed by war and love in a single night.In 1944, from the Theresienstadt concentration camp, Viktor Ullmann selected twelve excerpts and set them to music: it would be his final work, composed shortly before his deportation to Auschwitz. This poignant melodrama written for narrator and piano, which celebrates the spirit of the “Roaring Twenties” with all the tragedy befitting the circumstances of its composition, will be performed on 28 July by the phenomenal Thomas Quasthoff and Academy alumnus Kirill Gerstein.