The theme for 2023 was «Humility», which was presented in all its possible musical facets. 2024 continues the three-year «Change» cycle with a second thematic focus: the Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy 2024 is all about transformation. As an inseparable part of global development at all levels of society – in environmental issues, the social fabric, the spirituality or all forms of art –, the theme of transformation will be presented and celebrated with various programme components.

Three concerts from the series “Music for the Planet” with ambassador Patricia Kopatchinskaja will focus on humans’ humility before nature and its changes. 

Swiss pianist Francesco Piemontesi, Artist in Residence 2023, will also perform a range of concerts. 

Conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla will accompany a week of the Gstaad Conducting Academy as well as conduct a programme of the Gstaad Festival Orchestra. 

Jaap van Zweden will conduct the performances of Mahler’s epochal 2nd Symphony, the "Resurrection Symphony",  and Shostakovich’s 9th Symphony. 

Guest orchestras include the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and ensembles such as the Choir of the Bayerischer Rundfunk München and the Gaechinger Cantorey.

A concert production of Puccini’s Tosca with soprano Sonya Yoncheva in the lead role will be realized in collaboration with the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

Major debuts will be given by pianist Mitsuko Uchida, pianists Arthur & Lucas Jussen, and soprano Pretty Yende, among others. 

In addition to the approximately 60 concert events, there will once again be four academies, around ten academy concerts, and numerous children’s, youth, and amateur projects.

The Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy 2024 lets you experience brilliant concert highlights, including a carte blanche series with four different programmes by violinist Julia Fischer, performances by stars such as Jonas Kaufmann and Camilla Nylund (taking on leading roles in a huge evening about Wagner), the pianists Helénè Grimaud (with three programmes), Yuja Wang (in one recital), Sir András Schiff (who has returned to the Gstaad Piano Academy) and Jan Lisiecki, or the violinists Daniel Hope (in collaboration with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra), Janine Jansen (with Mendelssohn’s violin concerto, accompanied by the GFO, conducted by Jaap van Zweden) and Vilde Frang (with Elgar’s monumental violin concerto and the LSO). The diversity of this year’s programme is also reflected in the magnificent symphonic evenings in the festival tent in Gstaad where you can enjoy Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7, performed by the Gstaad Festival Orchestra and conducted by Jaap van Zweden, Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7, performed by the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer, and Mahler’s «Titan» and Holst’s «The Planets», performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Antonio Pappano. Once again, you can expect to see many exciting debuts on the programme this year, including jazz accordionist Richard Galliano or the new star in the baroque scene, Lea Desandre. Star guitarist Miloš Karadaglić, accompanied by the Festival Strings Lucerne, and Andrej Hermlin and his Swing Dance Orchestra will provide brand new musical moments. And then there’s Quatuor Vision: they will perform works by Bloch and Shostakovich alongside jazz, folk songs and works by Bryce Dresner on the stage in the Open Air Arena on the summit of the Eggli, at an altitude of over 1,557 metres – the perfect opener to the DJ party that will follow. Oh, and we haven’t even mentioned that the DDC Dancefloor Destruction Crew are back in Gstaad with their telltale event «Breakin’ Mozart».