Music festival on a mountain high

The festival offers classical music in grand hotels. St Moritz tourism

The sounds of spring will be music to the ears of holidaymakers heading for the Upper Engadine in eastern Switzerland. At the end of March, 18 classical concerts will be held as part of the "Snow and Symphony" festival to mark the end of winter.

Director Peter Aronsky is presenting a programme which boasts such stars as conductor and pianist, Vladimir Ashkenazy, violinist Gidon Kremer and singers Vesselina Kasarova and Barbara Hendricks.

Many of the concerts will be held in the luxury grand hotels of St Moritz and neighbouring resorts, which are as much a part of the Upper Engadine as the spectacular alpine landscape.

One of the festival highlights will be a performance by Gidon Kremer and his chamber orchestra on March 26 high above St Moritz at the station on the Corviglia summit. Instead of normal concert seating, ticket holders will be shown to deck chairs!

The Kremer orchestra will perform the meditative first concert for violin by Pèteris Vasks – music fitting for the occasion.

Ashkenazy, joined by his son – the clarinetist Dimitri Ashkenazy, will play Mozart concerts for piano and Rossini’s “Variations for Clarinet and Orchestra” at the Palace Hotel.

The Hotel Saratz in Pontresina will host an evening of song with Barbara Hendricks. Among her selections, she’ll sing compositions by Richard Strauss, which he composed during his stays in Pontresina.

swissinfo