Vasily Petrenko conducts Shor, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev — With Alexandre Kantorow

All the poetry of classical ballet and Russian Romanticism is on full display in this program befitting its grand finale status at the 2026 Verbier Festival, led by Vasily Petrenko and the Verbier Festival Orchestra. The festivities begin with the orchestral suite from Alexey Shor's ballet Crystal Palace, evoking the opulent ice palace constructed as part of a cruel prank by empress Anna Ioannovna in 1740, and conclude with selections from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, whose legendary "Dance of the Knights" remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration in pop culture. Between these two ballet favorites, piano superstar Alexandre Kantorow performs one of his signature pieces, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2. Often overshadowed by its more famous predecessor, this singular concerto has undergone a critical reevaluation in recent years and completed Kantorow's journey to the top prize in spectacular fashion at the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition. All together, this unbeatable lineup is the perfect way to close out another edition of the Verbier Festival, an unmissable summer destination for the world's greatest musicians.