The Sion Festival has successfully celebrated 60 years: thank you!
“It is a journey that leaves both musicians and listeners transformed,”. mused Janine Jansen regarding the evening dedicated to the Goldberg Variations at Sion Cathedral. The thought applies to every concert at the Sion Festival, and to the festival as a whole.
At the end of each edition, we feel a little different, enriched by the wonderful encounters with the music, the artists, the partners, the volunteers, the whole team, and you, dear audience. We thank you heartily for your presence and your fidelity in the hope that you too have left with a little something extra.
What is more, music is always “in the making,” as Giuliano Carmignola claims: it is born in the moment, moves, changes and reinvents itself continuously. Like G. Carmignola and J. Jansen, the other musicians at the festival gave us a brilliant demonstration of this. The Sion Festival has successfully celebrated 60 years with an edition marked by a new creative endavour: the first under the combined artistic direction of Pavel Vernikov and Janine Jansen.
We hope to see you again next year, just as enthusiastic as ever, so that we can continue to share moments of joy and inspiration!
The team of the Fondation Sion Violon Musique
The 60th Sion Festival in brief
The 13 events attracted almost 4’000 spectators, with an average occupancy rate of 80%. The opening concert featuring Richard Galliano at the Théâtre de Valère was sold out. Five other evenings were also well attended, including two chamber music concerts with Janine Jansen, and the Mnozil Brass concert at the hall Recto-Verso in Grône to close the festival. The violin was certainly the life of the party (inherited from the father of the Sion Festival, Tibor Varga), but was happy to share the limelight with other protagonists: accordion, brass, jazz, chamber opera, black light theatre… In addition, some 1’000 people took part in the “Musique en fête” musical stroll, which took them from the old town of Sion to the new Pôle Musique for 10 free concerts.
A look back at the three weeks of the festival
First week
The festival opened with a concert dedicated to Richard Galliano, the accordion “sacred monster” who enchanted the audience with his infectious music. He shared the stage with Svetlana Makarova, Letizia Belmondo and the South Czech Philharmonic. The Violon Mon Amour concert brought together winners of the Tibor Varga and Tibor Junior competitions, including Gyula Stuller, Tibor Varga’s compatriot, assistant and friend. With the help of the Festival Orchestra, it concluded with a noted performance by the Vernikov family, made up of Pavel Vernikov, Svetlana Makarova, and their son Daniel, who distinguished himself on trombone and Cossack dance. The concert by jazz pianist Moncef Genoud – who paid an original tribute to Tibor Varga – was undoubtedly the highlight of the ‘Musique en fête’ day.
Second week
During Janine Jansen’s four chamber music concerts, the violin revealed all its richness and all its moods. Slavic sounds of passion and melancholy filled the Théâtre de Valère in Sion on the first appointment with the Dutch star, who was surrounded by talented young musicians. The following evening, the audience was carried away by the sounds and rhythms of the Serbian language as they experienced the emotions of the female protagonists of Ana Sokolović’s opera Svadba (Marriage), performed for the first time in Switzerland by the Slovenian Chamber Music Theater. The human voice was also a guest at the final of the Tibor Junior International Violin Competition: mezzo-soprano Marie-Claude Chappuis joined the three finalists in a poignant aria by Bach. There was a change of atmosphere with the last concert of this second week, bringing a distinctly Italian flavour: Giuliano Carmignola and I Solisti Aquilani revisited Vivaldi with verve and warmth.
Third week – Janine Jansen & friends
Two chamber music concerts with a demanding but generous programme opened the third and final week. Janine Jansen, Timothy Ridout and Daniel Blendulf soared with their version of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for string trio, which brought the audience into a rare communion with the music and its performers at Sion Cathedral. The same musicians, accompanied by Pablo Ferrández and Denis Kozhukhin (among others), revealed with sensitivity and virtuosity the great expressive power of 20th-century French masterpieces and, in their wake, of Richard Dubugnon’s Poème élégiaque – a Swiss Premiere. And romantic yet luminous, the final evening of chamber music brought together Janine Jansen and her friends around Brahms and Dvořák.
Third week – Other horizons
As usual, the Sion Festival also set its sights on other artistic horizons. The IMAGE Theatre took with its black light theater audience, young and old, into an imaginary world populated by phantasmagorical creatures, phosphorescent or evanescent, who danced, pirouetted and floated…. With his jazz quartet, Marius Preda blew a little wind of madness, twirling between a multitude of instruments, including the cymbalum, and magically juggling styles. In a packed house, the Mnozil Brass thrilled and entertained some 800 music lovers, breaking down stylistic boundaries with casualness, virtuosity and humour.r.
What they say about it
“With two artistic directors, the anniversary edition of our festival could only be magical. These great artists have brought together their universes with connivance and coherence, at the service of all those who love music”, declares Olivier Vocat, President of the Fondation Sion Violon Musique. “I am proud to have been able, with Janine Jansen, to offer the festival a varied but harmonious programme”, adds Pavel Vernikov. “An audacious programme that focuses not only on established artists and well-known works, but also on rising stars, original projects and creations”. “I am filled with joy and great memories”, says Janine Jansen. “This 60th edition was a true celebration of music and friendship in the magical town of Sion. I feel privileged to be part of this wonderful festival not only as a musician but also as artistic director together with my dear friend Pavel Vernikov”
The winners of the Tibor Junior Competition 2024
- Corina Deng (16 yrs, Canada): First Prize, Audience Prize, Calma Management Prize, Prize for the Best Interpretation of the contemporary piece
- Viktor Vasilev (17 yrs, Bulgaria): Second Prize, Foundation Prize (a bow circa 1940)
- Qingyuan Yang (14 yrs, China/UK): Third Prize, “over 20s” Jury Prize, Foundation Prize (a Nicola Gagliano circa 1735 violin, made available by the Atelier Schilbach)