Arts & Culture
July 2014Montreaux Jazz Festival
Montreux's two-week-long jazz festival is one of the world's best known, bringing fans of the genre, and of world music in general, flocking to Switzerland. Set up in 1967, it has featured an eclectic range of artistes, from Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie to New Order and David Bowie - the programming has extended beyond jazz, although that does remain its focus.
Montreux is on the 'Swiss Riviera' on the banks of Lake Geneva, within easy reach of Geneva airport. The main festival venue is the Convention Centre, which has two major stages (the Stravinsky Auditorium and the Miles Davis Hall), the smaller Montreux Jazz Café, and some open-air stages. There are also performances in the original venue, the Casino, plus small-scale shows on boats plying the lake.
The headliners at the 46th Montreux Jazz Festival in 2012 were Paco Lucia & Band, Tony Bennett, Rufus Wainwright and his Band, the Ting Tings and Jane Birkin .
