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MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL

Leonard Cohen to open Montreux Jazzfest

Canadian troubador Leonard Cohen is booked to lead off the 47th annual Montreux Jazz Festival this summer.

Published: 18 April 2013 14:18 CEST
Leonard Cohen to open Montreux Jazzfest
Photo: LeonardCohen.com

Cohen is among a group of headliners including Sting, Joe Cocker, Green Day, Prince, Kraftwerk, ZZ Top and Deep Purple announced by new festival director Mathieu Jaton on Thursday.

Jaton took over the reins from festival founder Claude Nobs who died in January.

Cohen, 78, who is embarking on a European tour in June that includes dates in London, Paris, Belgium, Germany and Italy, is scheduled to open the Montreux festival on July 4th.

He will perform again the following night at the Auditorium Stravinski, one of the festival’s two main venues.

Organizers in February announced that Prince would be appearing in three dates July 13th, 14th and 15th.

The festival, held annually in the town overlooking Lake Geneva in the canton of Vaud,  runs from from July 4th to 21st.

For full programme details check the Montreux Jazz Festival website.

 

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MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL

Line-up released for Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival

After being postponed due to the Covid pandemic, the Montreux Jazz Festival will be held this July.

Published: 1 June 2021 16:45 CEST
Line-up released for Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival
A statue of Freddie Mercury in the Swiss town of Montreux. Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

British singer-songwriter Rag’n’Bone Man and French neofolk musician Woodkid are headlining this year’s Montreux Jazz Festival, downsized and to be held mostly outdoors due to the pandemic, organisers said Tuesday.

French-Lebanese trumpeter and composer Ibrahim Maalouf and British singer-songwriter Arlo Parks, who was named best breakthrough artist at this year’s Brit Awards, are also in the line-up.

“Small is beautiful,” is the informal slogan for the 55th edition of the festival, which was cancelled last year due to the coronavirus crisis.

The festival has been scheduled for July 2-17, coinciding with the planned loosening of anti-Covid measures in Switzerland.

Around 20,000 spectators are expected to turn out — more than 10 times fewer than in 2019, when some 250,000 took part, according to organisers.

For more than half a century, Montreux has been a magnet for big names of the music business and rising stars alike.

It has retained its jazz label despite dramatically expanding its repertoire, with big names in rock, punk, R&B and hip-hop also on the bill this year.

The 2021 programme has been condensed and the format adjusted to easily adapt to the Covid-19 situation in the idyllic Swiss town of Montreux, on the shores of Lake Geneva.

The main stage has been built on the lake, 25 metres (80 feet) from the shore, opposite a grandstand that can hold up to 500 spectators.

It will be one of only four stages used for the festival — two for ticket holders and two free of charge — able to accommodate a total of up to 1,500 people a day.

Tickets go on sale on June 8. Organisers also said they would livestream several of the concerts “in order to bring the festival to a larger audience”.

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