Concert series with distinctive flair

«Chamber Music Plus»? No longer. From summer 2026, the popular chamber music series will be called «Kammermusikfest». The programme, featuring six «Festkonzerte», one jazz concert, two orchestral concerts, and two extra concerts, is precisely that: a big and festive celebration of chamber music (in all sizes). Since 2019, the series has been curated by the Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson. Beatson’s creativity in programme design has long been legendary, as has his knack for assembling the ideal combinations of musicians for each ensemble.

A good mix is key

He has no secret recipe for success, says Beatson, but the question is legitimate. «Putting together a programme is comparable to the art of a chef. It is about selecting high-quality ingredients and bringing them together in the right proportions.» Over the years, he has succeeded in building a core of fantastic musicians who fit together perfectly. The theme, which he devises each year with the festival director, is also a factor in its success. «It provides a meaningful framework for the programmes and helps to ensure that the focus always changes. The unmistakable flair of the concerts is important to me.»

Innovative programmes

For the theme «Flow», he has devised concert programmes with evocative names such as «Air Flow», «From Source to Sea», «River of Time», «Cascade», or «In Dream», which present old and new music and bring together acclaimed soloists with young talents. This year, in addition to the universally popular masters Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Dvořák, the theme has also led him to many French works, such as those by the Romantics Camille Saint-Saëns and Ernest Chausson, the Impressionists Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, or the moderate Modernists Francis Poulenc and Jean Françaix.

It is also striking that the programmes include numerous arrangements of well-known works. Why? The art of arranging is very old, says Beatson. Not only Bach, Mozart, and Brahms mastered the art of arrangement, but also Debussy, Schoenberg, and others. «They created arrangements of pieces that particularly interested them.

Understanding emotions

For us, it is a pleasure when we can present something we think we know in a new light.» For example, John Cage's piano work «Dream», which will be performed in Ernen by five violas and without any piano. Orchestral pieces such as Debussy’s «La Mer», Mendelssohn’s «Hebrides Overture», or Smetana’s «The Moldau» will also be discovered in chamber music versions. Beatson says he is very interested in the reactions to his programmes. «I want to experience and understand them.» That is why he likes to sit in the audience when he is not playing himself.

The bass that is silent

This is likely to be the case in the extra concert «Meditation». Alongside works by Arvo Pärt, Morton Feldman, and an improvisation by the Swedish double bassist Jordi Carrasco Hjelm, John Cage’s «4’33’’» will be experienced—a solo piece for piano from 1952 that made history. Not a single note sounds during the performance duration of 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Instead, noises and ambient sounds become an integral part of the composition. Can this still be performed today, when the element of surprise has long worn off? Absolutely! All the more so as it appears here as the central work of a meditative concert.

Fun fact: It won't be the piano that is silent, but a double bass. Cage would probably have liked the «recasting». That is the wonderful thing about music—that it can have different meanings for people at different times. «It is important to understand the historical context of a piece. But a piece also exists independently of it and can even be liberated from it!»

While «4’33’’» was once surprising, today, depending on the context, it can be funny, moving, joyful, or sad. «We musicians perceive the moods of the audience and recognise whether a silence is captivated or indifferent,» says Beatson. This is also why the Musikdorf has grown dear to his heart, because here he finds an audience «that listens, empathises, and responds immediately and sincerely.»

Kammermusikfest | 2– 14 August 2026
6 Festkonzerte, 2 Orchestra Concerts, 1 Jazz Concert, 2 Extra Concerts!

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Written in December 2025, by Marianne Mühlemann