The prominent conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen (composer-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic) along with the huge opera star and performer (also a Metropolitan Opera regular), the American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, turned the opening of the 2015 Verbier Festival into a magnificent event.

Both are famous and both have won a lot of prizes : DiDonato won in 2012 the 54th Grammy Awards, the "Grammy" for Best Classical Vocal Solo for her solo recording Diva-Divo; as for Esa-Pekka Salonen, he won the same year for his violin concerto written for Leila Josefowicz the Grawemeyer Award (Music Composition), an award previously won by Witold Lutosławski, György Ligeti, John Adams, Thomas Adès, and Pierre Boulez, to name a few.

They interpret a program of works by R. Strauss (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Op. 28), Berlioz (Les Nuits d'été, Op. 7 ) and Schumann (Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, op. 97, "Rhenish").

© Photo: Nicolas Brodard.