Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Wagner and Messiaen — With Michelle DeYoung, Lucas Debargue, and Cécile Lartigau

The 2026 Verbier Festival gets off to an unforgettable start as the Verbier Festival Orchestra takes the stage with soloists Michelle DeYoung, Cécile Lartigau, and Lucas Debargue, under the direction of charismatic Finnish maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen! Messiaen only composed one symphony, and it is unlike any other you've heard: the Turangalîla-Symphonie, a name derived from two Sanskrit words that evoke "all at once love song, hymn to joy, time, movement, rhythm, life and death," according to the iconoclastic Messaien. This monumental work in ten movements features a fiendishly difficult role for pianist Lucas Debargue — a challenge he surmounts with his usual ingenuity and flair — and a starring role for Cécile Lartigau on the extraordinary ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument with an utterly singular sound, often featured in science-fiction and horror films. In the concert's opener, American mezzo-soprano DeYoung takes on the mighty role of Brünnhilde in the grand finale of Wagner's Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), featuring the fiery end of the Ring cycle with some of the composer's most indelible leitmotifs.