Cycle "change" 2023 - 2025
The 2023, 2024, and 2025 editions of Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy are all about embracing “Change”. These years will showcase innovative projects created by Patricia Kopatchinskaja. Carrying the theme “Music for the Planet”, the concert series will feature programmes with powerful messages about the state of nature, humanity and society. Diverse genres and styles will be intertwined to provoke thoughts on the world’s current state, offering an overall artistic experience that breaks away from the well-established formats of classical concerts.
As for every event organiser or business in general, the topics of sustainability and climate change are also of greatest importance for Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy. However, they are now being placed on the agenda with priority, giving the issues more weight than ever before. An efficient overall organisation of the Festival will make an active contribution to achieving our climate goals. In this way, the three-year “Change” cycle will also be rounded off in a holistic and sustainable manner. Guests, the public and partners as well as sponsors can thus look forward to unique events coming up in Gstaad.
Throwback 2023: Change I – “Humility”
Humility & Nature
Humility & Role Models (focus on music by J.S. Bach)
Humility & Faith
In 2023, the focus on “Humility” is intended to sharpen our awareness towards nature, but also towards issues that are not entirely within our hands. We feel that humility is a very present attitude to life in our society in these years between the ongoing pandemic, war and climate change – as part of the Festival in summer 2023, we are trying to address these topics by a variety of programmes. Since many crises have been caused by the effects of the pandemic and war, values such as humility, modesty and respect take on a new meaning. In religion as well as in the individual faith and attitude towards spirituality, humility is a state of mind in which one submits to the divine and is aware of his own imperfection. This attitude is reflected, above all, in the music of J.S. Bach. During the opening of the 2023 Festival, we introduced our “Mission Menuhin” project. This endeavor is designed to chronicle and share our gradual steps toward creating a Festival that is more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Throwback 2024: Change II – “Transformation”
Trans-cendence
Trans-Mission
Trans-Classics
Transformation. To shape a society of tomorrow, efficient changes are indispensable – the digital transformation alone brings about profound impacts. Social values are changing rapidly, and anything that needs to change must undergo processes of transformation. Clinging to the old equals stagnation. Innovation is in high demand. The continuous pursuit of the unknown has kept the cultural scene in an unceasing state of change from the very beginning. Humanity continues to evolve culture from one generation to the next, constantly shedding new light on their own surroundings. Simultaneously, it requires courage to create something new and to experiment. To maintain relevance, we must exhibit a certain level of consistency and radicalism in artistic expression.
2025: Change III – “Migration”
“Origin”: Music of the homeland
“Inner Emigration”: Marking the 50th anniversary of Shostakovich’s death
“Escape to Exile”: Music born of displacement and exile
“Nostalgia”: Longing for home, voluntary migration and homesickness
Leaving one’s homeland – whether by choice or under duress – and beginning anew in exile often leads to profound ruptures in personal histories. By 2022, nearly 40% of Switzerland’s population had a migration background, underscoring how deeply migration shapes modern society. Embracing the unfamiliar, whether through the local Italian restaurant or the kebab stand at the station, is part of daily life. The 2025 edition of Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy seeks to illuminate the many dimensions of migration through the language of music. From exploring the pain of departure to the resilience required for new beginnings, the Festival offers a poignant and resonant reflection on one of humanity’s most defining experiences.
Music has the unique ability to reflect the emotional spectrum of migration, from the pain of displacement to the hope of new horizons. It resonates with themes of memory, identity and belonging, becoming both a balm for longing and a bridge to the past. For those who have left their homelands – by choice or necessity – music can hold the essence of what was left behind. It serves as a cultural archive and a means of preserving traditions, while also acting as a conduit for intercultural exchange and the reimagining of social and artistic landscapes.
At the heart of the 2025 Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy is a deeply personal exploration of migration. Many of the featured artists bring with them experiences of exile, political oppression, restricted freedoms, or the yearning for home and artistic expression. These individual stories lend an immediacy and emotional weight to the Festival’s programme, making the abstract realities of migration strikingly real.
The Festival approaches this theme through four musical lenses – “Origin”: Celebrating the rich musical traditions of home; “Escape to Exile”: Reflecting on music born of flight and displacement; “Inner Emigration”: Exploring works by composers who retreated inward to find freedom in oppressive systems; “Nostalgia”: Expressing the deep homesickness and longing for a homeland left behind. As Artist in Residence, the Turkish pianist Fazıl Say brings his extraordinary talent and personal connection to these topics, offering performances that resonate with the Festival’s exploration of migration. Through this powerful programme, the 2025 Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy transforms music into a living narrative – one that bridges cultures, honours resilience and captures the profound human journey of migration.
Migration in Music – Festival Highlights for 2025
Origin: Musicians and Their Homelands
- Avi Avital’s “Mediterraneo”, a musical journey inspired by Mediterranean culture
- Fazıl Say’s tribute to Istanbul, celebrating the city’s vibrant spirit
- Regula Mühlemann’s programme “Heimat”, reflecting on themes of belonging
Inner Emigration: Retreating to the Mind’s Sanctuary
- Chamber music by Shostakovich, featuring his symphonies as well as the Cello Concerto No. 2 with Sol Gabetta
- Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2, performed by the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich and the Gstaad Festival Orchestra
- Beethoven’s final three piano sonatas (composed in total deafness), performed by Vikingur Ólafsson
Escape to Exile: Stories of Displacement and New Beginnings
- Handel’s monumental oratorio “Israel in Egypt”, a narrative of exile and deliverance
- Patricia Kopatchinskaja’s “Roots in Exile”, blending Panufnik’s works, Moldovan folk music and compositions by Ysaÿe
- L’Arpeggiata’s evocative “West Balkan Route” programme
- American exile music with works by Schulhoff, Jacobi and Hindemith, featuring saxophonist Asya Fateyeva
Nostalgia: Music as a Reflection of Home and Memory
- Bomsori Kim’s “nostalgie française”, capturing the elegance of French music traditions
- Daniil Trifonov’s poetic recital “Sleeping Beauty
- ”Bizet’s “L’Arlésienne”, weaving melodies from southern France
- Dvořák’s heartfelt reflections on longing and homesickness in his “American” String Quartet and the Symphony No. 9
Music for the Planet 2025: Cycle III
In the third chapter of the “Music for the Planet” series, Patricia Kopatchinskaja presents two programmes that delve into themes of origin, future and the intensifying urgency of climate change. The first programme (August 3, 2025) highlights Shostakovich’s monumental Piano Trio No. 2, composed in 1944 during the closing days of World War II. This deeply moving work, with its unspoken lyricism and profound sense of mourning, culminates in a finale inspired by Jewish folk music, where raw pain and sorrow are powerfully conveyed. Interwoven with the music are texts by Swiss writer and satirist Franz Hohler, including his prophetic poem “Wann wird das sein?” (“When Will That Be?”), written in 1973 in response to the groundbreaking Limits to Growth report by the Club of Rome. Decades later, the poem resonates as an eerily accurate reflection on humanity’s struggle with environmental and societal limits. Hohler’s shorter works, such as “Die Göttin” (“The Goddess”) and “Schöpfung” (“Creation”), add a note of hope and renewal, suggesting the potential for change. Together, the music and words channel a sense of powerlessness, but through the transformative force of performance, this evolves into an experience of strength and cautious optimism – an invitation to embrace the opportunities within every new beginning.
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, who left her homeland at an early age to seek new opportunities and freedom abroad, describes the second programme of the “Music for the Planet” series (August 8, 2025) as follows: “The roots of our programme reach underground and into the heavens — but most of all, they live in our hearts.” This concert reflects on the act of taking root in exile, the trees that stand as silent witnesses and guides to human life and their increasing peril in the face of climate change. “We left to grow new roots, to forge connections elsewhere, yet the trees of our childhood … they still wait for us there.” At the core of this programme are the works of Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik, a close confidant of Yehudi Menuhin. Panufnik’s life was marked by continual confrontation with the realities of exile. In 1954, political turmoil forced him to leave his homeland and seek refuge in Britain. His lifelong fascination with trees – admiring their forms, their dancing branches, and their whispering leaves—shaped his artistic vision. He imagined their roots reaching toward the stars and their branches grounding themselves deep within the earth. Panufnik’s “Arbor Cosmica” is paired with evocative imagery by photographer Marco Borggreve, whose work captures the majesty, beauty and fragility of trees. Together, the music and visuals serve as a poignant reminder of the delicate balance of the natural world and humanity’s place within it. This programme invites us to reflect not only on the resilience of trees but also on their symbolism as bearers of life, memory and continuity amidst upheaval.
State January 2025