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 It gets that nickname in part from the quality of the
musicianship. Argentine-born piano star Martha Argerich is a
regular, and this year the big names have included Russian
pianist Evgeny Kissin, British cellist Steven Isserlis and
American violinist Joshua Bell.
But the comparison has a deeper root. The three-week-long
Verbier Festival, which runs from July until August 3, draws the
moneyed elites and big corporate sponsors.
George Clooney's smiling face is a fixture around the town as
the brand ambassador for food giant Nestle's Nespresso coffee
line, while Swiss private banker Julius Baer is another sponsor.
Martin Engstroem - the Swedish artists' agent who founded the
festival in 1994 and lost 1.2 million Swiss francs ($1.3
million) of his own money in the first two years before the
banks and the municipality agreed to help out - won't be drawn
to repeat that Davos comparison.
But he is more than happy to concur that Verbier, with its
breathtaking mountain scenery, posh hotels and restaurants ready
to serve everything from local dried meats to imported giant
prawns, has become a go-to place for summer music lovers.
"Almost all the music festivals are in cities - all the bigger
festivals," Engstroem said while seated in the portico of one of
the marquees set up by the sponsors outside the main "Salle des
Combins" hall, with a view of the Alps.
"We are selling 44,000 tickets a year so we are one of the
bigger ones and we are the only one really out in nature.
"We are also the one that is the highest in Europe, 1,500 m
(5,000 feet) so it's a completely different way of listening to
music. You're with one foot in nature here and if you like that
combination then you should come," Engstroem said.
"If you don't want your experience of listening to music to be
interfered (with) by an occasional cow going by or a plane or a
dog barking then you shouldn't come here."
The number of cows spotted on a recent weekend in Verbier, from
a reporter's eye view, was zero, but the number of luxury SUVs
and limousines coursing up and down the narrow streets and
filling the parking lots was close to uncountable.
SUMMER SOCIAL SCENE
Verbier is very much a summer social scene for the wealthy, who
meet in their palatial chalets built into the hillsides above
the town for post-concert buffet dinners.
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Talk at one such event ranged from critiquing singers in that
evening's production of Beethoven's "Fidelio" conducted by Marc
Minkowski, to one woman's plans for expanding her latest London
restaurant chain - having sold a previous venture.
Michelle Despine of Geneva, attending a piano recital on Sunday,
agreed it was elitist but no different from any other Swiss mountain
resort.
"So naturally it's a bit elitist, with the very beautiful chalets,
but if you make the rounds of the Swiss mountain resorts who will
find that is true everywhere," she said.
A fellow recital-goer, teacher Samuel Torche, from the Swiss town of
Bossonnens, near Montreux, saw more of a downside in the presence of
so many high-rollers at a place of high culture.
While delighted to be able to hear Canadian piano virtuoso
Marc-Andre Hamelin for what Torche felt was a reasonable 65 Swiss
francs, he said many of the people in the audiences at the bigger
events in Verbier "are not connoisseurs, they are here because of
the place, because it's a prestigious venue".
Engstroem said the festival has made an effort to accommodate the
wider public, noting that between 10,000 and 15,000 people come
every year "and never buy any tickets, they just go to public
events".
The festival runs a summer music camp for about 60 youngsters, he
said, and another 300 young people work in different academies or
workshops.
It also affords an opportunity for younger musicians to network with
each other, and with the stars.
"If somebody gets invited to Verbier then this someone will come to
Verbier because it is the crown of the festivals in Europe,"
Hungarian cellist Istvan Vardai, 28, said after a recital he played
on a Stradivarius cello on loan from a British instrument dealer.
"I have a lot of friends here, musician friends, and I couldn't
imagine any better thing to do at this particular time than to be in
Verbier."
(editing by David Stamp)
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