Menuhin Festival Gstaad

Menuhin Festival Gstaad is the summer classical festival Yehudi Menuhin founded in 1957 in the Mauritius church at Saanen, where he played the first two concerts with Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Maurice Gendron. It now fills village churches and a 1,816-seat tent. In 2025 it drew 27,800 visitors, a record, and the 2027 line-up so far includes Anne-Sophie Mutter, Igor Levit and Daniil Trifonov. It is the summer stop on this Gstaad trail.

Chamber music and recitals fill the village churches, usually without an interval; the large orchestras and a yearly opera in concert form play in the tent, usually with one. Academy students give 'L'Heure Bleue' concerts at 5.30 pm, one hour without a break, admission with a collection. Drinks come from the tent bar, which takes cards. Some evenings on the Eggli add a three-course dinner (CHF 65 in 2026, drinks extra), with the gondola included.

The 2027 festival runs from 16 July to 4 September. Orchestra and opera nights in the tent fall mostly in August; in 2026 they ran from 2 to 30 August, while church concerts filled the whole season. Tickets for 2027 go on sale on 15 December 2026, when the full programme is out. Book early for the Saanen church: chamber concerts there and in Zweisimmen have sold out, and the festival asks for tickets at least a few days ahead.

Tickets are sold on menuhin.ch, on +41 33 748 81 82 and at the tourist offices in Gstaad, Saanen and Schönried; 2027 sales open on 15 December 2026. In 2026 seats cost CHF 30 in the Gstaad chapel, CHF 40–85 in the village churches, CHF 40–170 in the Saanen church and CHF 70–170 in the tent; academy concerts are free with a collection. Under-25s pay CHF 10 at the door if seats remain. Tickets cannot be returned. Doors open 30 minutes before. Every venue except the Temple de Château-d'Œx is step-free.

The tent stands on Sportzentrumstrasse in Gstaad, about 550 m from Gstaad station; the founding church is on Chilchgasse in Saanen, about 250 m from Saanen station. With a concert ticket the train fare is at least 30% cheaper (2026 offer). Drivers can park at the Wispile valley station and take the free shuttle to the tent. On tent dates a festival coach runs from Bern, Thun and Spiez, from CHF 25 return.

Menuhin Festival Gstaad is a classical music festival held each summer in the Saanenland around Gstaad, in the Bernese Oberland, founded by Yehudi Menuhin in 1957. The 2026 edition, the 70th, had more than 75 concerts in the churches of Saanen, Zweisimmen, Lauenen, Gsteig and Rougemont and in the Festival-Zelt Gstaad. Violinist Daniel Hope has led it since November 2025, and it is run from Saanen by Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy AG.

In 1956 the tourism director Paul Valentin asked Yehudi Menuhin for some summer concerts. On 4 and 6 August 1957 Menuhin, Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Maurice Gendron played in the Mauritius church in Saanen, which made Menuhin an honorary burgher in 1970. The tent came at the end of the 1980s, with symphony concerts from 1989. Menuhin led the festival until 1996. A 1,200-seat concert hall is planned to replace the tent.

Wine is not part of the festival programme. Its catering partners include Champagne Laurent-Perrier, the cider and juice maker Mosterei Möhl, and Le Caveau de Bacchus, a Geneva wine merchant whose shop Bacchus Gstaad stands at Promenade 38 (autumn hours Tuesday to Saturday). The Ermitage, the official festival hotel, says its guests get its lounge in the tent for champagne and appetisers before the concert and in the interval.