The renowned Verbier Festival will stage its first ever edition outside the Swiss Alps in Shenzhen, early next year.
The city is set to host the prestigious classical music event from 30 January to 8 February 2026 at the Shenzhen Concert Hall and the newly constructed Longgang International Arts Center, China Daily reports.
Coinciding with the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Switzerland, the festival will present 25 concerts featuring a stellar line-up of performers from around the world.
These include the Argentine pianist Martha Argerich, US violinist Joshua Bell, the Soviet-Israeli cellist Mischa Maisky, Dutch violinist and violist Janine Jansen, and the Russian pianist Mikhail Pletnev.
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The dedicated Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, led by music director Gábor Takács-Nagy, will perform six of the programme’s concerts.
Shenzhen’s edition of the festival will also host a series of masterclasses and workshops allowing emerging musical talents from across Asia to engage with and learn from the maestros.
Festival founder and co-CEO Martin Engstroem has noted that China was a natural place for the Verbier Festival to branch into, given the number of Chinese musicians who have taken part in it since its 1994 inauguration. “It’s time we met them where they are,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ding Zhongyuan, deputy director of Shenzhen Municipal Culture, Media, Tourism and Sports Bureau, has said that the Verbier Festival’s “commitment to artistic education and global influence” aligned closely with Shenzhen’s vision of being a “new engine for cultural development.”
