For seven decades, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad has been one of Europe's most important classical music events. Founded in 1957 by Yehudi Menuhin in the mountainous landscape of the Saanenland, the festival has developed into a cultural meeting place for generations of musicians from all over the world. In 2026, Daniel Hope will shape the future of the festival for the first time as its artistic director with his program Family Matters —in the spirit of Menuhin's vision of music as a unifying force between people, generations, and cultures.
The opening concert – a prelude marked by reunion
70 years of shared joy in music in Gstaad – the anniversary festival opens on July 16, 2026, in the church in Saanen with a concert that connects the past, present, and future in a particularly personal way. For the new artistic director Daniel Hope, this evening is also a journey back to his own beginnings: the memory of that lunch at the Hotel Olden on August 17, 1983 – his tenth birthday – when he first met Pinchas Zukerman, remains a formative biographical experience for him. Equally deeply rooted is the memory of his mentor Yehudi Menuhin, under whose watchful and benevolent eye he was able to mature as an artist. The anniversary edition is therefore all about togetherness – in all its facets. Pinchas Zukerman and his lifelong friend Zubin Mehta will perform together at the festival's opening. Mehta has been well known to audiences at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad since his debut in the festival tent in 2004. Together they will be on stage with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra – an ensemble that represents a musical home for Daniel Hope and a formative "birthplace" of his artistic career. Even as a young musician, he was able to experience the inspiring dress rehearsals of the ZKO in the church in Saanen under Edmond de Stoutz. Hope has also invited cellist Amanda Forsyth, Zukerman's wife, to perform Jacques Offenbach's moving Larmes de Jacqueline – the "Tears of Jacqueline" that once became world-famous thanks to the legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré. Of course, such a memorable and emotionally charged evening would not be complete without the great classics of Viennese classical music: works by Haydn and Mozart frame the program and lend the concert a timeless tonal elegance. An evening dedicated to a great musical family – and a story that is ready for its next chapter.
Daniel Hope © Daniel Waldhecker
The program, running from July 16 to September 5, 2026, is based on the principle of musical community. Over 75 concerts will be presented in churches and historic venues around Gstaad, as well as in the festival tent. The focus is not only on musical virtuosity, but also on encounters: between generations, cultures, and artistic attitudes. At the heart of it all is the idea of family as a cultural and emotional resonance chamber. Here, family means both origin and elective affinity – friendships, artistic partnerships, and shared learning. Hope himself has been closely associated with the festival since his youth and sees his first anniversary program as a tribute to this living tradition. The anniversary year brings big names from the international classical music world to Gstaad. Musical guests include conductors and soloists such as Zubin Mehta, who is being honored on his 90th birthday, and pianists such as Daniil Trifonov and Khatia Buniatishvili. At the same time, the Next Generation series opens up new stages for young talents and shows how the musical future is being shaped today.There is a special focus on new formats. The Summit creates a forum for questions about the future at the interface of music, culture, and society. Topics such as social change, cultural responsibility, and the role of art in the 21st century are discussed in debates and concert formats. The festival is thus expanding its classical concert structure to include spaces for dialogue, reflection, and exchange. The educational tradition also remains central. The Menuhin Festival Academy is at the heart of promoting young talent. Young musicians learn in close collaboration with international artists in the fields of conducting, piano, singing, and string instruments. Daniel Hope himself takes on the artistic direction of the string courses, continuing Menuhin's educational legacy: music as a shared experience of growth.
For its anniversary, the festival will be visible not only as a series of concerts, but as a cultural way of life. Discovery formats, family concerts, and musical hikes—the so-called President's Hikes—open up new approaches to classical music. Here, music becomes part of the landscape, nature, and social life. Seventy years after its founding, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad remains a place of encounter. A place where music is not only heard but experienced – as history, as the present, and as a shared promise for the future.
July 16 to September 5, 2026
www.menuhin.ch
Sir András Schiff © Nadja Sjöström
