Verbier Festival

Verbier Festival grew from a 1991 plan by producer Martin Engstrom into a classical music festival launched in 1994 in the Alpine resort of Verbier, pairing marquee concerts with an academy that trains young musicians alongside senior artists. The Verbier Festival Orchestra, formed in 2000 and drawing musicians aged sixteen to twenty-nine from dozens of countries, anchors a roughly two-and-a-half-week program each late July and August across venues scattered throughout the resort, from a large tent to the village church.

Verbier Festival began taking shape in 1991, when the Swedish-born producer Martin Engstrom started planning a classical music event for the ski resort of Verbier, and by 1994 the first edition had launched what would grow into one of Europe's most prestigious summer classical festivals.