The International Very Short Film Festival (Festival des Très Courts), it’s an event without borders, with screenings held during three days simultaneously in nearly eighty cities in Switzerland, France, and 14 other countries.
Location: Auditorium Arditi, Avenue du Mail 1, 1205 Genève
Link out: http://www.trescourt.com/geneve
Start date: 11 May 2012
Start time: 19:30
End date: 12 May 2012
End time: 23:30
With Sean Paul, Charlie Winston and the Earth Wind and Fire Experience featuring Al McKay.
Location: Crans-Montana, Switzerland
Link out: http://www.caprices.ch/2012/
Start date: 11 Apr 2012
End date: 14 Apr 2012
music festival
Location: Usine a Gaz, Rue César Soulié 1
Link out: http://http://www.usineagaz.ch/
Start date: 9 Feb 2012
Start time: 20:00
End date: 12 Feb 2012
Helium hemisphere could change the face of festivals, other events
Image:©2011 EPFL / Alice
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – EPFL and the St Prex Classics Festival have created what promises to be the region’s most talked-about architectural project since the Rolex Learning Center at the polytechnic institute, although far smaller, less expensive and mobile.
The two teamed up to solve the practical problem of how to hold an open-air music and dance festival in the small intimate spaces of a medieval village, protecting performers and concert-goers from bad weather while preserving good acoustics and allowing relations with the neighbours to remain healthy.
Moon over Saint Prex, filled with dance and music, visible from miles away
The project has resulted in an extraordinary architectural structure that will be visible from miles around, with a moon-like floating top of helium that can be lowered in bad weather or as needed.
The installation can be dismantled completely and will offer a rich option over tents for outdoor festivals and other events in the future.
Image:©2011 EPFL / Alice
“Ao” is the code name for the project, after the god of clouds of Polynesian mythology. It is being designed by EPFL’s Space Conception Workshop, known by its French acronym Alice, under the leadership of Alice’s director, Dieter Dietz, with a number of students involved.
Architects Sibylle Koessler and Sara Formery have designed the installation, which will be presented to the public in August 2012 for next year’s St Prex Classics, if the CHF2 million in funds needed to complete the project can be raised on time: fundraising for the newly launched project has just begun.
Saint Prex Classics 2011 is in temporary quarters while new project moves ahead
The 2011 festival (see GenevaLunch report on the festival) kicks off Tuesday evening 16 August with free concerts as part of the new Festival Off featuring student performers, a wide mix of music and food and drink stalls on the main street of Saint Prex, a 12th century village on the shores of Lake Geneva, near Morges. The first major concert, also Tuesday evening, was quickly sold out: Philippe Jarousky and friends, at the 11th century roman church that overlooks the old town and Lake Geneva.
The view from the arena (Image:©2011 EPFL / Alice)
St Prex Classics concerts are being held mainly in the Salle du Vieux Moulin in Saint Prex and the Theatre Beausobres in Morges this year, with three in the St Prex church, rather than in the Grand Rue of the village’s old town, as was the case the first five years.
The complexity of the performances, the growing size of the audience and renovations in the old town excluded the use of the main street for concerts in 2011.
Ticket information for remaining concerts: St Prex Classics.
How the planned new performance arena works
EPFL’s description of the new performance centre, which can be completely dismantled:
“The base of the installation, made entirely of wood, takes its inspiration from the famous theatre of Epidaurus that existed in Greece in the 4th or 3rd century BC, in particular the curve of the tiered seating, opposite the clock tower. The seating can normally hold up to 700 people; this is reduced to 500 when the modular stage is enlarged to accommodate large orchestras or choreography.
“Although the medieval façade, including the clock tower, remains one of the main features of the new structure, the most spectacular element is actually to be found above it. A vast hemisphere of helium – 25 meters in diameter and visible for miles around – will float above the ‘arena’ and the village. Its white polyamide envelope can be illuminated from the inside or be used as a screen to display projected images. In case of bad weather, this balloon can be lowered to completely cover the stage and seating area, thus forming a dome. A transparent membrane, tightened around its circumference would then transform the square into a closed concert hall, without however being
separated from the old walls.”
Image:©2011 EPFL / Alice
Ao can be assembled and dismantled in less than a week, says the Alice team, with only part of the equipment, including the balloon, kept in Saint‐Prex. The structures forming the base of the tiered seating and the
technical ring will be rented each year to specialized companies.
Festival founder calls new structure the perfect fit
Hazeline Van Swaay, founder and director of the festival, is enthusiastic about the new structure. It “will allow us to continue to use the Old Town, while offering an improved level of comfort to the performers and to larger audiences. The cooperation with EPFL has brought an architectural dimension which measures up to the artistic quality of the St Prex Classics, and which truly highlights the location’s historic heritage.”
About Saint Prex
Saint Prex’s clock tower, which will feature as part of the backdrop for the new performance area, is part of a 13th century forge, one of the oldest existing buildings in Saint Prex.
St Prex, vieux bourg (old town), preparing for the St Prex Classics Tuesday 16 August
The area has been occupied by people for more than 7,000 years, first by lakedwellers whose homes were on stilts, and then in waves, by the Helvètes, Romans, Burgundians and Franks.
In 1234 the people along the lakefront, whose lives were regularly in peril from attacks, were offered stability when the archbishop of Lausanne built the bourg, the triangle of land that juts out into Lake Geneva. Villagers, in case of attack, could alert the cathedral across the water by lighting fires.
The village flourished as an agricultural and artisanal hamlet, then in the 18th century it became a summer haven for citizens of Morges. It developed into a glass centre 100 years ago, with a new glass factory in 1911, which today is one of the main glass recycling centres in Switzerland, the world leader in glass recycling.
St Prex tourism office, old clock tower
Click on images to view larger
St Prex Grand Rue will host the new Festival Off starting 17 August
ST PREX, SWITZERLAND – The St Prex Classics Festival, which opens 16 August, will have a little brother, the Festival Off.
The free festival will offer two concerts, at 18:30 and 19:30 on the following dates: 17, 19, 20, 23 and 24 August, on the main street of the medieval Vieux Bourg (old town) of Saint Prex.
The musicians include students from Swiss university music schools – look for violins, flutes, clarinets, accordeon music, trumps, Irish music, jazz and more.
Tents along the main street will serve as food and drink stalls, notably selling regional products.
St Prex Classics Festival highlights
St Prex festival concert in old church, 2010
The St Prex Classics festival has grown in importance in its six years and the 2011 programme, accompanied by the festival’s new name (formerly St Prex Festival), shows a new strength.
This year’s festival is varied; two events that are likely to hold special appeal for the international population in the region are:
- the “Trois pour Quatre” show 23-24 August, a Gershwin piano quartet featuring dancer/choreographer Julio Arozarena of the Béjart Ballets
- the “extraordinary encounter” 25 and 26 August between violinist Nigel Kennedy with the Kroke Trio and star dancers from Paris Opera, including Aurélie Dupont, star dancer.
Kennedy and the Kroke trio will be playing traditional Klezmer music that incorporates elements of jazz with Oriental and Eastern musical traditions. Festival founder Hazeline Van Swaay told GenevaLunch that the music “is absolutely beautiful and has greatly inspired the Paris Opera stars to create a unique music and dance event.”
Programme details for the St Prex Classics Festival
Ticket information and sales, Ticketcorner
Includes Argentinian tango, Hungarian dances and more.
Location: Bellerive, Switzerland
Link out: http://www.bellerive-festival.ch/programme/0707…
Start date: 7 Jul 2011
End date: 14 Jul 2011
Amy Winehouse, at Paleo 23 July, in Nyon
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Amy Winehouse is Paleo’s “surprise guest”, the top billing for the July music festival in Nyon, the organization announced Mondayy 11 April.
Soul queen Winehouse, who was until recently out of the limelight for several months recovering from health problems and drug addiction, will be doing a European tour this summer.
She’ll appear Sunday 23 July at Paleo. The festival’s excitement at adding her to the billing was tangible in its press release: “Amy Winehouse: an extraordinary voice, a true charisma and powerful, emotion-laden melodies. In the company of a deliciously vintage backing group, this rare artist can be discovered live on stage this summer at the Festival!”
Tickets for Paleo go on sale Wednesday 13 April, online and in outlets listed on the festival site.
http://www.dailymotion.com/videox3jtjiMad rush for tickets: Tuesday 13 April
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s largest open-air music festival promises another 5 days of hot music 19-24 July 2011, as it has done every summer for the past 35 years,
The lineup has now been announced and includes: Jack Johnson, James Blunt, The Chemical Brothers, The Strokes, Robert Plant, Portishead, PJ Harvey, Eddy Mitchell, Jamel, Jean-Louis Aubert, Cali, Katerine, Patrice and The National.
The guest of honour this year is the Caribbean for the Village du Monde, so expect some warm beats, with a range of flavours from the region.
The detailed music lineup is now on the Paleo site. Tickets can be purchased online or at outlets listed on the site, but plan ahead to queue for the tickets, which disappear very rapidly every year.
The 2011 poster competition was wone by Kyoungmi Kim, a graphic artist and third-year student at the Geneva High School for Art and Design (Head).
The competition is organized jointly by Paléo and the University of Applied Science of Western Switzerland (HES-SO).
Kim said of her winning design, “I didn’t want to go the way of over-serious abstract graphics. It seemed important to highlight the festive dimension of the event.”
Alpmobil electric car at the Grimsel pass, overlooking the Rhone glacier, Furka pass and steam rail line
Sierre and Crans-Montana, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Alps always look good in early autumn but the weekend of 3 September canton Valais has a powerful set of attractions on offer.
Vinea, the Swiss wine fair that is the country’s biggest outdoor wine festival, opens its doors Friday evening in Sierre and is expected to pull in some 10,000 people during the two days when 1,200 different wines are on offer from 150 wineries.
And if you’re heading for either event, you’ll be in a good position to take a ride on the extension of the renovated and beautiful Furka steam train that runs between Realp and Oberwald, past the Rhone glacier and over the high mountain pass. The new stretch from Oberwald to Realp opened two weeks ago.
An alternative (or combine the two) is to rent a special tourism offer electric car in Meiringen, canton Bern, a town made famous by the death of Sherlock Holmes at its Reichenbach Falls, and drive over the magnificent Grimsel pass. From there you can glimpse the Rhone glacier and watch the steam train heading up the nearby Furka pass, or hop on the train.
Furka steam train on its maiden voyage, new Realp-Oberwald line, August 2010
You can also do the trip starting in the Goms Valley (Oberwald or other towns) and head to Meiringen. The nearly silent cars cost CHF60 for the day and, of course, there’s no fuel to pay for.
European Masters golf tournament 2-6 September
Vinea, in the heart of the Alps, is Switzerland's largest outdoor wine fair
Just above the city in the resort of Crans-Montana, the Omega European Masters golf tournament, which opens 2 September, will be well underway; it continues until Sunday.
Weather in the resort is expected to be mostly sunny, with temperatures between 7 and 17C, so take along a jacket. Children under 16 are free and tickets for adults are CHF60-70, with weekend special offers. The number of tickets is not limited, so there is no problem buying at the entrance to the golf course. This is Switzerland’s spot on the European tournament.
Vinea opens a day earlier, features more Swiss wines and special guest Hermitage
The main street of Sierre is taken over by Vinea as of Friday evening, with a line of white tents housing 150 Swiss winemakers. The purpose of the fair is to bring together the public and producers in a relaxed setting to encourage consumers to learn more about Swiss wine. This is wine at its educational best: drunken visitors are rare, producers are keen to answer questions, even at the most basic level, and there is no sellilng so it’s pressure-free. If you want to buy wine, you’ll have to order it and have it shipped or pick it up later. Since many of the country’s wineries are small family operations whose cellars are open to visitors by appointment this offers a rare chance to sample their wines without having to call ahead, and to compare different wineries’ products.
Vinea has several new features this year, starting with a chance for the public to sample the winning wines of the major international wine competition, the Mondial du Pinot Noir, Friday evening. The awards ceremony for the Mondial is always held at the start of Vinea, but the wines are available to the public for the first time this year.
Today, musical improvisation is inevitably associated with jazz and the performance of classical music. But each summer for the past decade, a Lausanne festival has been reminding us that, 100 or 200 years ago, improvisation also ruled in this area.
Concerts (at the Conservatory and in various churches) and courses bring this pleasant music back into fashion, with musicians sometimes calling upon their listeners to suggest challenges or themes!
Location: Lausanne, Vaud
Link out: http://www.fmil.org/
Start date: 15 Aug 2010
End date: 18 Aug 2010
Some 45,000 enthusiastic fans made their way to last year’s event. Indeed, the journey itself proves just how different this festival is. Because the only way to get up the Gurten is on a funicular called the Gurtenbahn – unless you are a sports freak, that is, and prefer to make the journey on foot.
More than 60 Live-Acts and 60 DJs from Pop, Rock, Punk, Electro, Funk, Soul, R’n'B, HipHop, Country, Singer-/Songwriter and Blues are on the program. In addition to bands from all over the world, the Gurten Music Festival will also feature some famous Swiss musicians as well. The Waldbühne will be reserved exclusively for the crème de la crème of the Swiss music scene.
Location: Bern
Link out: http://www.gurtenfestival.ch/index_en.aspx
Start date: 15 Jul 2010
End date: 18 Jul 2010
Week-long festival of laughter, in French, with stand-up comics, Swiss humour
Location: Various locations in/near Morges
Link out: http://www.morges-sous-rire.ch/
Start date: 10 Jun 2010
End date: 19 Jun 2010
Cran-sur-Nyon’s “little” festival enjoys lakefront, good music, great crowds
It’s the music festival that kicks off the season on the shores of Lake Geneva, festive and on a human scale, with four nights, 180 artists and 32,000 people enjoying lakefront music. The big ones, Paleo and Montreux, follow and pull in thousands more fans but Caribana remains a comfortable size and a relaxed way to ease into summer. It opens tonight, Wednesday 9 June to sellout crowds for the Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday concerts.
The festival was started 20 years ago by a group of friends and even today it has a team of 30 volunteers to keep things on a human scale and to keep down costs. By 2002 it had grown to 20,000 fans and in 2005 a fourth night of music was added.
Sunday the party scene is thrown wide open to families with children, with a busy day of activities, musical and otherwise, including chess lessons, juice-making and quiet reading corners. Caribana 2010 closes with a bang or two at 17:30 when balloons are released from the festival grounds.
Caribana
- tickets
- programme
- Sunday with children
- transport: use public transport, much of it free and CHF10 for buses to Geneva and Lausanne (with stops) if you show your festival ticket
by Peter Brodbeck and Ellen Wallace
Chateau d'Oex 2010 (photo: ©2010 Peter Brodbeck)
Richard Ashford, Emma Hurst, Chateau d'Oex 2010 (photo: ©2010 Peter Brodbeck)
Collection of photos from the Chateau d’Oex balloon festival, GenevaLunch album by Peter Brodbeck and Josh Fassbind
Chateau d’Oex, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A sky filled with colourful giant hot-air balloons against a backdrop of wintry Swiss Alpine peaks is “simply magical”, says balloonist Richard Ashford. It can be improved on only by being in one of the balloons, at the height, so to speak, of the party.
Ashford, when asked about his favourite ballooning moments, says, “If I had to narrow the choice, I’d say flying over mountain tops on a sunny day with a 360-degree view is hard to beat. The silence is amazing, aside from the occasional burn to keep the balloon at a certain height, and everything below looks like a toy town.”
The Chateau d’Oex Balloon Festival
Richard Ashford and Emma Hurst are British, the pilot/owner and co-pilot of one of the balloons that participated in the 2010 Chateau d’Oex balloon event, which ended Sunday 31 January. They say there is nothing quite like it. “Chateau-d’Oex is a special event. The whole town is behind ballooning. It has the balloon museum with the Breitling Orbiter, shops hang model balloons in their stores and everyone and everything is about ballooning.” And, for the scores of balloonists, enthusiasts and the public, “there is also a whole night scene happening with parties and events and street music. It is very well organized and attracts the best from around the world.”
Chateau d'Oex 2010 (photo: ©2010 Josh Fassbind)
Balloonists who travel the world attending events like this tend to find old friends. “Yes, ballooning is relatively small, but it is part of the fun of the sport. We generally know each other and it is through this network that we often get invited to different events.” It is a very social sport, he adds. “We are a close-knit circle of enthusiasts worldwide, which creates a level of camaraderie. We’re like a big family, and this in itself makes it all worthwhile.”
Ashford says he has been ballooning for about 20 years. “It all started by chance when I unexpectedly came across a balloon landing in a field. I went to the balloon, helped the owner, and was immediately hooked.
2010 Paleo poster, artist: Philippe Comte
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Paleo 2010 has presented its new face to the world, and with the poster by artist Philippe Comte comes a new and much more functional website. The music festival, which in July 2009 pulled in 233,000 fans during its six days, has heavy web traffic and the new site should make life easier for the next festival’s fans.
Comte, 21, is a student at the University of Art & Design (HES-SO) in Geneva.
Click on image to view larger
Title: Sheep, pigs, cows and more farm animals will parade through Bern’s main streets.
Location: Bern
Link out: Click here
Description: Games, tasty farmhouse fare, and a parade of Swiss cows, sheep, pigs, and goats all in a day’s work in the Swiss capital of Bern.
Date: 14 Sep 2009
Title: Paddle for cancer dragon boat festival
Location: Lac de joux, Jura
Link out: Click here
Description: Join the 3rd annual Paddle for Cancer Dragonboat Festival at L’Abbaye on Lac de Joux.
Date: 06 Sep 2009
Title: La Batie, performance arts festival
Location: Geneva
Link out: Click here
Description: The largest performance arts festival in Geneva kicks off 15-days filled with theater, music, dance, mixed media and film. Special programming for younger audiences.
Date: 28 Aug 2009
Fêtes de Genève, fun on the ground and in the sky
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva and Switzerland’s biggest outdoor party kicks off tomorrow, 30 July, as the Fêtes de Genève get underway, after a two-week warmup called the pre-Fêtes. Music, art and food stalls in the streets, lakeside fair rides, a slow-up Sunday 2 August, spectacular fireworks Saturday 8 August: they’re all part of the fun.
And to put you in the mood the city is calling on amateur photographers to get out their cameras and start shooting their entries for the four seasons of Geneva photography contest, with tempting prizes.
Check it out on the GenevaLunch events page. Here’s where it is happening:
Title: Locarno film festival
Location: Locarno, Ticino
Link out: Click here
Description: The Locarno film festival is a great “Festa del Cinema” now in its 62nd year. The festival is particularly interesting because during the day it showcases cool and independent movies indoors, and over large screens and outdoors at night.
Start Date: 05 Aug 2009
End Date: 15 Aug 2009
Title: Fetes de Geneve
Location: Geneva
Link out: Click here
Description: The traditional Geneva Festival kicks off 30 July but the “pre-fetes” or pre-fest concerts and activities start on the 16th. Food, music, carnival rides and more on the shore of Lake Geneva. The host of honor this year is the Sultanate of Oman.
Start Date: 16 Jul 2009
End Date: 09 Aug 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva will host a 2009 edition of the fabled 1001 nights when the Sultanat of Oman comes to town as the guest of honour for the Fêtes de Genève.
The fete, which is Switzerland’s largest tourist attraction, consists of two weeks of partying and music in the streets followed by nine days of fun fair and a giant fireworks show. The pre-fete is 16-29 July, followed by the Fêtes themselves until 9 August.
The giant party is home to 150 food stalls and restaurants, 65 rides and 120 musical offers every evening.
The 2008 Fêtes brought the city thousands of visitors, with Geneva earning an estimated CHF120 million. The fireworks over the lake are widely considered some of the best in Switzerland.
Details: city’s Fêtes de Genève web site, Tribune de Genève article
Title: Tango madness in Lausanne
Location: Lausanne, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: This is the tenth edition of one of the most popular Argentinean tango festivals. Meeting places: the Montbenon Casino and the park.
You can dance non-stop from 15:00 to 4:00 the next day and until Monday 1 June. Milongas, live orchestras, DJs and more.
Start Date: 28 May 2009
End Date: 01 Jun 2009
Title: Zurich festival
Location: Zurich
Link out: Click here
Description: A celebration of the arts: opera, music, dance and more.
Start Date: 19 Jun 2009
End Date: 12 Jul 2009
Title: Europride in Zurich
Location: Zurich
Link out: Click here
Description: A month-long celebration of gay, lesbian and transgender culture in Zurich.
The main celebrations take place on the weekend of 5 June.
Start Date: 02 May 2009
End Date: 07 Jun 2009
Title: Turkish day in Switzerland
Location: Geneva
Link out: Click here
Description: A day to celebrate Turkish culture. Part of the program includes jazz from Istanbul, folk music, food and Turkish typical dances.
Date: 09 May 2009
Swiss chocolate
Updated 13:00 Versoix, Switzerland (Genevalunch) - Versoix’s fifth annual chocolate festival holds some surprises this year, apart from the traditional artisan chocolate displays. Thirteen of the chocolate makers are presenting works with an astronomy theme for the international year of astronomy.
Read more…
Title: New wine festival (Fete de la Saint Martin)
Location: Satigny, Canton Geneva
Link out: Click here
Description: Uncork this season’s wine and dress your kids in Halloween costumes. Starts at 11am.
For more information Tel: +41 22 753 90 00
Date: 08 Nov 2008
Title: Latin American and the Caribbean Film Festival
Location: Geneva
Link out: Click here
Description: Films from Argentina to Mexico with a detour in Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba.
Start Date: 07 Nov 2008
End Date: 23 Nov 2008
