Blog

In the short articles of our blog, various authors reflect the activities in the Musikdorf Ernen.

Interview with Ada Pesch

Damn the Busses, Full Speed Ahead

American-born Ada Pesch is Artistic Director of the Baroque festival at Musikdorf Ernen, which she founded here in 2004. Musical ambition might...

Cross-over Jazz: The Charl du Plessis Trio

As luck would have it this morning, I ran into pianist Charl du Plessis on the lovely Dorfplatz, the central square in Ernen that’s more or less the aorta of the village. Last even...

Three fine authors read in “Queerlesen”

Returning to the beautiful town of Ernen for a fourth time this summer, I left high temperatures behind in the lowlands, happy to be getting into cooler mountain air. But it was ju...

Trusera Waters and Muehlebach Wurst

Cited for the first time in the 15th century, the Trusera brought water for centuries from the Milibach in the Rappen valley to irrigate land at lower altitudes. In recent decades,...

An Interview with the Intendant

Francesco Walter, the energetic artistic director of the Musikdorf Ernen project, recently spoke about how he came to his job, and what makes this small village in the Walliser alp...

The Baroque Weeks Begin!

Ada Pesch, concertmaster for the Philharmonia Zürich, is usually at work at the conductor’s left in the opera house. But for this “Baroque” week in Ernen, the American-born violini...

The Art of Casual Hiking: Furgge to Binn

The Ernen Tourist Office advertisement for a Wanderbus (hiking bus) caught my eye a week ago. On Thursdays and Sundays, there were pick-up points that meant leaving the driving to ...

Using Nature’s Offer: From Sheep to Woven Fabric

Margrit Zimmermann and Amanda Imhof – two determined women native to the Binntal − have recently joined forces to design a new project: “From Sheep’s Wool to Finished Fabric.” Both...

Ernen takes the Doron Prize: An interview with Anton Clausen

The interview below first appeared (in German) in the May 2015 edition of Landschaftspark Binntal’s “Park Infos.”

President of the Musikdorf Ernen Association, Anton Clausen, re...

Gastronomy: Both the Simple and Supreme

When my daughter and her husband visited me in Ernen, we took time to test culinary waters in the immediate area. The two of them are savvy “foodies,” always looking to explore the...

Chi Ho Han Takes on Musical Alps

No question, young Korean pianist Chi Ho Han tackled a repertoire that was highly challenging. While a skeptic might call his choice “the brash courage of youth,” Han was quick to ...

The Boots are made for Walkin’

There isn’t much like the Binn valley for a full day of hiking, whether you're a seasoned mountaineer or a newcomer to the steady rhythm of the sport. Today’s breathable textiles, ...

A Certain Caliber of Music, and of Light

With the bench already occupied, two young couples simply waited for the start of the concert on the freshly-cut grass next to the church. Both men lay on their backs with a hand o...

What Village are We, Anyway?

The picturesque village of Ernen in the Swiss canton of Wallis is perched like a promise on the lowermost flank of the Binn Valley, some two hours from Berne. Once the main village...