Members of the Orchestra
Excellence and Musicianship are Key
The Gstaad Festival Orchestra (GFO) comes together each Festival for the length of the Menuhin Festival Gstaad for a concert programme. Following the premiere concerts in Gstaad (always in mid-August) the orchestra embarks on a concert tour in Europe and performs as a guest at selected festivals as well as in the programmes of established concert series.
The GFO consists of the 45 musicians from the kammerorchesterbasel (ECHO Prizewinner in 2008 in the category of “Best Orchestra”), some 15 students from the International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA) and the Hochschule der Künste Bern (Musik) (HKB) (strings only), as well as 15 to 20 musicians from other leading international orchestras. Innovative as well as traditional symphonic works will be prepared during an intensive rehearsal period in Gstaad. The musicians from the kammerorchesterbasel who perform some 80 to 120 concerts yearly, for the most part chamber orchestral music or works featuring soloists, thus receive with the GFO the welcome opportunity to rehearse and perform large-scale symphonic music. The orchestra is made up of 85 musicians. The kammerorchesterbasel’s highly acclaimed (by audiences and critics alike) spirit of making music can be experienced and expressed in a different form in the large-scale ensemble of the GFO. The GFO concerts will be marked by the same unique spirit. The Gstaad Festival Orchestra will perform at the highest artistic level.
The inclusion of some 15 string students from the International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA) and the Hochschule der Künste Bern (Musik) (HKB) represents an opportune link to the IMMA’s 30 years of teaching activities in Gstaad and Blonay, founded by Lord Menuhin and continued by maestro Alberto Lysy. The GFO provides students from the IMMA and the HKB with the unique opportunity to rehearse and perform symphonic music at the highest level. The number of students will be limited to 15.
Christoph Müller, the intendant of the Menuhin Festival and orchestra director of the kammerorchesterbasel is responsible for the artistic direction of the orchestra.