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Les Athénéennes Festival

In 2010, three local musiciens – Audrey Vigoureux, Marc Perrenoud et Valentin Peiry – organised a series of intimate concerts inside the chapel of the building designed by Louis Brocher in 1865: the Athénée 4. It was a blockbuster. So they did it again in 2011 and 2012 until it was time to create a festival: Les Athénéennes. Ladies and gents of Geneva, we’re about to experience the 9th symphony edition of this festival in our city and “spirituality” was chosen as the main theme.

“At the height of WWII, Winston Churchill was challenged to defend a budget that called for an increase in arts funding. “How can you propose this at a time of extreme national crisis?” asked one member of Parliament. Churchill replied, “I do it, sir, to remind us what we are fighting for”.”

The 9th edition of the festival Les Athénéennes will take place from June 6th to the 14th around the theme of spirituality. In short, eight evenings, over one hundred and fifty artists, twenty-two concerts including seven creations and three film concerts, two parties, pieces by Mozart, Messiaen, Bach, Schubert, Morton Feldman, nu-jazz progressive tribal hard-bop, swing cabaret hip-hop psycho, old music vs traditional Syrian music, dj-sets and installation … 

The festival will kick off with the pianist Nicholas Angelich, winner of the Victoires de la Musique 2019. Expect to meet again Gerard Depardieu for a reading of the St. Augustine works accompanied by the Rondeau-Chemirani-Dunford Trio. On the jazz side: quartet, trio, the Marcel Duchamp XXL Tout Puissant Orchestra, etc. 

Three venues are now part of the festival’s DNA – the Alhambra, the Temple of the Madeleine and l’Abri – where artists will share new projects and unexpected musical blends. We promise you exceptional moments.

Photography © Frederic Laverriere

From June 6th until the 14th
Doors open at 7pm
Price Alhambra: 50CHF (full fare)
Price Temple de la Madeleine (full fare)
Festival pass: 180CHF (full fare)
Online booking
Free seating

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