| About 6'000 spectators, an attendance rate of 89%, seven sold-out or near-sold-out concerts: the Sion Festival 2026 will be remembered as a vintage year. From 21 August to 6 September, with a special off-season concert on 29 June, artistic co-directors Pavel Vernikov and Janine Jansen once again brought together classical, contemporary and popular music with another art form, theatre this time. And above all, their respective audiences, who turned out in force. Some 3,500 spectators flocked to the venues during the 11 evenings of concerts, and more than 2,500 visitors filled the streets of Sion during the 24 hours of ‘Musique en fête’. The four concerts in the main hall at NODA BCVS were practically sold out: performances by the Philharmonic Brass with Tugan Sokhiev and the Camerata Chișinău with Simon Trpčeski and Valentin Uryupin; the WOW show featuring Fanfaribole, the Fanfare du Losange and Neïma Naouri; and the narrative concert Wagner.Ring with Julie Depardieu and the minui ensemble – a world premiere. The opening concert at Sion Cathedral featuring the Camerata Chișinău, Pavel Vernikov, Svetlana Makarova and the SLIXS vocal ensemble, as well as three concerts at the Black Box at the Pôle Musique, were also a resounding success: the closing concert of ‘Musique en fête’ featuring the Guttman Tango Ensemble, the family concert with the Playtoy Orchestra, and the chamber music concert featuring Boris Brovtsyn, Amihai Grosz, Blythe Teh Engstroem, Daniel Blendulf, Jonathan Swensen and Denis Kozhukhin. Many of these chamber musicians also took part in a Church Trail, a new initiative that won the audience over. Conceived by Janine Jansen, it took the audience on a journey through three iconic churches in Sion, presenting three programmes with distinct musical colours, for which the cast was joined by Svetlana Makarova, Lucie Horsch and David Jansen. From symphonic music to musical theatre, from Baroque music to brass, from musical toys to rock, from vocal music to bagpipes, not forgetting chamber music – a flagship of the Sion Festival: This 62nd edition struck a delicate balance between tradition and modernity, between comfort zone and experimentation, between reflection and entertainment, between the general public and niche audiences... The 63rd edition will take place from 1 to 15 September 2027. | 
