How to Get Here
Verbier is easily accessible by various means of transport.
Venues & Accessibility
Learn more about our performance venues and accessibility.
Where to Stay
Explore available accommodation options in Verbier.
Eat and drink
Explore a selection of places to eat or drink during your visit to Verbier.
Flex pack
20% discount starting 7 concerts purchased from the Mainstage programme (excluding Carré Or).
Gift cards
Share your passion for classical music by offering a Verbier Festival gift card (valid until the end of the current edition, i.e. August 3, 2025).
Bagnard
40% discount for permanent residents of Commune de Val de Bagnes (excluding Carré Or and cat. C)
Under 35
For adults under 35 years old, for all Mainstage concerts excluding VFJO, Academy, and afternoon church concerts (excluding Carré Or).
Students
For students with student identity card available on all Mainstage concerts (excluding Carré Or, open seating concerts, and VFJO and Academy concerts).
Children
For children under 16 on all Mainstage concerts (excluding Carré Or and Academy concerts).
Combins pass
Attend all evening concerts at Salle des Combins (Carré Or) from the 17th of July 2025 to the 3rd of August 2025. Contact the Ticket Office to buy your Pass.
Ravel 150
Includes Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s two concerts on July 17 2025.
Soloists & Ensembles
The Academy searches the world for the most promising pianists, violinists, violists, cellists and chamber music ensembles of trios and quartets.
Atelier Lyrique
The Verbier Festival Academy’s Atelier Lyrique stands out among professional training programmes by offering a unique blend of opera role and song repertoire studies.
Creative Project Development
The Creative Project Development Residency offers an opportunity to an imaginative and entrepreneurial young artist to develop and workshop an original project.
Audio Recording
The Academy’s Audio Recording Programme offers a unique opportunity to up to three emerging sound engineers to work alongside a professional recording team.
VFJO
The Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra (VFJO) is an international orchestral training programme for young musicians aged 15 to 18.
VFO
The Verbier Festival Orchestra (VFO) is a rite of passage for today’s exceptional young orchestra musicians.
Conducting
The Verbier Festival Conducting Programme offers a stepping stone to emerging artists who are on the verge of leading orchestras at the highest level.
VFCO
The Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra is the Verbier Festival’s worldwide Ambassador.
Le Cinéma
Six bold concerts at Cinéma de Verbier — genre-blurring nights, headline artists, unexpected encounters.
La Chapelle
A candlelit sanctuary for sound. Four intimate concerts—meditative journeys, bold detours, and resonant music.
South
The Festival’s late shift lives here. Four concerts where genres clash, stories unfold, and music dares to go further.
ideaLab
Where music meets ideas. IdeaLab blends concerts and conversation to explore the ‘why’ behind the music.
Storytellers
The Storytellers project offers valuable educational enrichment in primary schools across the canton of Valais.
Music Discovery
Each summer, VF KiDS offers fun and interactive workshops for young children at the Verbier Festival.
Zoo
Dive into a world of imagination through the eyes of VF KiDS.
Ludwig's world
Interactive exhibition for all ages.
The Friends
Music-loving donors supporting the Verbier Festival.
Patronage
Gifts to the Verbier Festival Foundation.
Legacy Giving
Help us build a sustainable future.
Sponsorship
A partnership built for success.
Founder & Director
En 1991, Martin Engstroem put the wheels in motion for what in 1994 would become the Verbier Festival & Academy.
VF Green
How can we all help to make sure that future generations can enjoy it as much as we do?
Contact
Our telephone numbers, email and postal addresses, office hours and directory of personnel.

verbierfestival

Orchestras: VFJO

The Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra (VFJO) is an international orchestral training programme for young musicians aged 15 to 18. Nearly 60 students are mentored by three internationally acclaimed conductors, and coached by a roster of established players from around the world.


programme dates

includes arrival and departure dates

13 July – 4 August 2025

how to apply

Applications to the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra 2025 programme open on 10 October 2024.

Candidates must read the guidelines before starting their application or sending any questions to the Verbier Festival Team.

guidelines

apply

Application deadlines:
Live Auditions: 12.12.2024 (23:59 EST)
Video Auditions: 16.01.2025 (23:59 EST)


repertoire 2025

In 2025, the VFJO performs two symphonic concerts and an opera. Repertoire highlights include:

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
Symphony No. 8

EDWARD ELGAR
Enigma Variations

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Eugene Onegin


james gaffigan

Music Director

James Gaffigan is the second Music Director of the VFJO, after the founding Music Director Daniel Harding, who served from 2013 to 2016. Gaffigan’s history with the VFJO goes right back to its beginnings, having conducted the orchestra in its inaugural summer when it was known as the Verbier Festival Music Camp. He has since watched it evolve into a permanent and important fixture of the Verbier Festival. James Gaffigan will not appear at the Verbier Festival in 2025; he returns in 2026.


conductors 2025

Roberto González-Monjas
Stanislav Kochanovsky
Gábor Takács-Nagy


coaches 2025

Coachings, sectional rehearsals and private lessons are led by a roster of established orchestra members from around the world, many of whom are former musicians of the Verbier Festival Orchestra.

David Ballesteros violin 
London Symphony Orchestra

Caroline Simon violin
Trondheim Symfoniorkester & Opera

Germán Clavijo viola
London Symphony Orchestra

Nicolas Hartmann cello
Orchestre National de Lyon

Mary Javian double bass
Philadelphia Curtis Institute of Music

Magdalena Bogner flute
Komische Oper Orchester Berlin

Rémi Grouiller oboe
Orchestre de Paris

Aleksandar Tasic clarinet
Novi Sad Academy of Arts

Simon Van Holen bassoon
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Clément Charpentier-Leroy horn
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Jonathan Reith trombone
Trombone Solo, Orchestre de Paris

Robin Fourmeau percussion
Sinfonieorchester Basel


supervision

The VFJO works closely with Altitude, a Verbier-based summer and winter camp known internationally for its quality of service and professional staff. Altitude boasts many years’ experience in caring for and working with children and young adults of all ages and nationalities. Its mission is to provide a positive environment for young people to learn, laugh, and build confidence.

Altitude provides several highly qualified, experienced councillors who lead groups of no more than 15 VFJO students each. Most activities—musical and otherwise—are undertaken together with all VFJO students. These smaller groups live in the same chalets, eat their breakfasts and dinners and travel together.

English is the primary language spoken for all VFJO activities, but the staff of both the VFJO and Altitude come from many different countries and speak a variety of languages.



Verbier Festival
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