60 Years of the Montreux Jazz Festival

For its 60th anniversary, the Montreux Jazz Festival returns to the convention centre and once again brings together music legends with the voices of tomorrow.

There are festivals that impress above all through their programme. And then there is Montreux. For six decades, the festival on Lake Geneva has created encounters between music legends, emerging talents and an audience from all over the world. To mark its 60th anniversary, the Montreux Jazz Festival is now opening a new chapter — in a familiar place, but with fresh energy.

Home again! After two years on the lakeshore, the Montreux Jazz Festival is returning to its iconic venues. For the first time since the extensive renovation, the Auditorium Stravinski and the Montreux Jazz Lab will reopen their doors. Yet music fans will not have to do without the unique atmosphere by the water: the festival route along the promenade will remain in place — with free concerts, culinary delights and meeting places that have always made Montreux far more than a mere concert event.

On both stages, the openness that has shaped the festival since its founding is reflected once again. The programme brings together established greats and new voices, jazz legends and pop phenomena, international stars and promising talents. The musical map of this anniversary edition stretches from Johannesburg to London and Los Angeles to Stockholm. RAYE opens the festival with a soirée conceived especially for Montreux and featuring several special guests. In the Jazz Lab, Eddy de Pretto opens with Lonely Club, a collaboration with choreographer Maud Le Pladec that brings together music and contemporary dance. Disco pioneer Cerrone will provide the closing highlight with his orchestral project Disco Symphonic.

On the two evenings with special performances, the Lab will be transformed into an American jazz club: Marcus Miller pays tribute to Miles Davis on what would have been his 100th birthday, while Charles Lloyd also celebrates an anniversary, having already performed at the very first edition of the festival. Also appearing are further key figures from the festival’s history, including Deep Purple, Sting, Van Morrison, James Taylor and Billy Cobham, one of the most influential drummers in jazz and fusion history. British singer-songwriter PinkPantheress will perform in Switzerland for the first time, while Tyla, GIVĒON and Conan Gray will make their debuts in French-speaking Switzerland.

To celebrate its 60th edition, the Montreux Jazz Festival adorns itself with an extraordinary anniversary poster. Fashion designer Kévin Germanier, originally from Valais, has created a work of radiant opulence for the occasion. Inspired by haute couture gowns, he devised a fantastical upcycling piece made from 60,000 beads and sequins. All the elements come from previous designs. Beads made of glass, wood and plastic were carefully embroidered onto a velvet fabric. ​“Six people embroidered at the same time in order to achieve the desired result. It is a true technical tour de force, an organised chaos,” says the fashion designer, who now lives in Paris.

When Claude Nobs laid the foundation for the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1967, he had a budget of just CHF 10,000 for the first three-day edition. Hardly anyone at the time could have imagined that a small festival on Lake Geneva would become one of the most important music events in Europe. His ambition was clear from the very beginning: ​“I never wanted to be merely a stopover on the tours and festivals that artists were doing across Europe.” The trained chef and visionary achieved far more. Montreux became a place where musical boundaries blur, generations meet and history is written again and again. Sixty years later, Claude Nobs’s idea remains the same: to bring artists together, overcome musical boundaries and create unforgettable moments. Or, as Sting once put it: ​“In Montreux, I feel connected to the great community of musicians.” That is precisely the feeling that is likely to shape this anniversary edition as well.

When: 3 to 18 July 2026
Montreux Jazz Festival 2026

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