It is therefore particularly delicate to play with this fire. The founder and director of the Verbier Festival, Martin Engstroem, is well aware of this. He acts with caution, always choosing virtuosos who have not only technical prowess to demonstrate, but real musical sense. And his instincts rarely deceived him. The first concert of the first edition of the festival, in 1994, featured German violinist David Garrett*, then 13 years old, in a Mozart concerto conducted by the great conductor Zubin Mehta. In the same edition, the pianist Evgeny Kissin (then aged 23) dazzled, as did the violinist Maxim Vengerov (20 years old).
Martin Engstroem acts with caution, always choosing virtuosos who have not only technical prowess to demonstrate, but real musical sense.
In addition to the possibility for these young soloists to perform in recital or as a soloist with an orchestra, the Verbier Festival generally associates them with experienced musicians for chamber music concerts. There were also the pianists Lang Lang from 2001, then aged 17 (he had just launched his international career), Yuja Wang from 2008, then aged 21, Daniil Trifonov from 2012, then also aged 21…
Most of the young talents who have graced the Verbier stages have remained loyal to it. This is of course the case for Evgeny Kissin, who has returned to Verbier almost every season and who will be heard this summer, as well as for many very young guest musicians who are growing at the same pace as the festival: Lucas Debargue, Edgar Moreau*, Bomsori Kim, Alexandra Conunova* and two of the finest pianists of their generation, Alexandre Kantorow and Mao Fujita*. Of the latter, we remember the fabulous complete Mozart Sonatas in several concerts that he gave on his first appearance in Verbier, in 2021. Still unknown to the public at the time, it was the revelation of a grace. He was 23 years old.
Good news: Mao Fujita is back this summer, for a recital, for a duet with violinist Leonidas Kavakos and for the closing concert of the festival, with the Concerto no 2 by Saint-Saëns which Charles Dutoit will direct. Alexandre Kantorow will also perform in recital and in the titanic 2nd Concert by Brahms, conducted by Lahav Shani.
Another expected return is that of violinist Daniel Lozakovich*. He also exploded in Verbier, in 2016, the year he recorded his first record for Deutsche Grammophon, becoming the youngest artist ever signed by the prestigious label. Aged 15, he delivered a stunningly mature interpretation of Bach’s Second Partita in recital, with his famous Chaconne. Eight years later, here he is for a duet with pianist David Fray in a program entirely devoted to Bach.
But new figures are emerging. First, the winners of major international competitions. Such as Dmitry Shishkin, joint winner of the Geneva Competition in 2018 and Second Prize winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition the following year, who is coming to Verbier with a recital and one of the “unprecedented encounters”, these programmes specific to the festival where soloists merge into ensembles with variable geometry to serve the chamber music repertoire.
It’s also Bruce Liu, the Canadian pianist who won the Chopin Competition in 2021, also in recital, as well as in concerto (Chopin’s 1st). Or Yunchan Lim, still a pianist, and what a pianist! By winning the Van Cliburn Competition in 2022, he became the youngest pianist to win this trophy. And his recording of 24 Studies by Chopin stunned the musical world. We understand why his recital in Verbier is already sold out, but he still plays in a new Encounter (a Piano Quartet by Dvorák) and in a concerto (Beethoven’s 5th) with conductor Antonio Pappano.
Even younger, and a truly exceptional prodigy in the breadth of his talent, the Georgian Tsotne Zedginidze presents himself, aged 15, as a pianist and composer, having already invested the event the last two summers. He will play his Trio for piano and stringsAlexandra Dovgan is also back, at the age of 17, after her remarkable recital last year: this time she will play the Grieg Concerto under the direction of Gábor Takács-Nagy.
There will be no end to it, as young people breathe life into the festival. We can particularly see the trace of this in the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra, which James Gaffigan conducts in several afternoon concerts. You should not miss the last of them, where the band, this time directed by Ion Marin, will perform Verdi’s opera Falstaff in concert version, with singers from the Verbier Festival Academy.
All musicians marked with a * are alumni of the Verbier Festival Academy.
