Welcome to the Gstaad Academy

The transmission of knowledge and experience from one generation to the next has been a mission that has occupied the entire life of the immense musician and humanist Yehudi Menuhin, who founded our Festival in 1957.

It is with the idea of perpetuating its commitment to the next generation that we created the Gstaad Academy in 2008: a structure in its own right to support an increasingly rich academic offer.
At the Gstaad Academy we offer the complete range of master courses addressed to young professionals, as well as all the courses which are aimed at amateur orchestra musicians of all ages.

Professional students can choose from a selection of customized master courses with opportunities of high-profile performance, while enjoying
the platform of a leading international music festival which not only offers master courses but stages top-quality concerts on a daily basis.

Ambitious amateurs can count on an altogether joyful experience of practical music-making as well as experiencing spectacular concert performances.

The courses are directed by highly regarded musicians who have taken time off from their professional commitments for the sake of passing on their knowledge.

For the audience, the public parts of Gstaad Academy are a perfect opportunity of watching the artistic activities of upcoming musicians and their mentors in live. The works elaborated are then performed in the final concerts. It is thus possible to directly participate in the upcoming talents’ interesting development within a short period.

People’s experiences at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival are also unique in being coloured by the magical environment of Switzerland’s Saanenland countryside, one of the most beautiful Alpine foothill regions to be found anywhere
in the world.

We would like the Gstaad Academy to remain linked in spirit to the founder of the Gstaad Festival, Yehudi Menuhin, whose friends and guests at Gstaad
for 40 years included not only established artists like Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Maurice Gendron but also Menuhin's own students and young musicians of exceptionally promising talent.

After having had to cancel the 2020 edition due to the global pandemic, we will make full use of all our options to be able to hold the Gstaad Academy in the summer of 2021 in compliance with all protective measures.

Christoph Müller, Artistic Director