More than almost any other European country, Switzerland experienced a flourishing of classical festival culture in the 20th century. Famous artists such as Pablo Casals, Yehudi Menuhin, Tibor Varga or Josef Szigeti taught or founded festivals in Switzerland. The increasing importance of classical music culture was also a boon for the Swiss violin dealers.
Yehudi Menuhin established a summer festival, the ‘Gstaad Menuhin Festival’, in the Bernese Oberland as early as 1957, which was subsequently expanded by him and other famous artists in the following decades and is still a defining element of Swiss music culture today.
In Lucerne, the violinists Rudolf Baumgartner and Wolfgang Schneiderhahn founded the ‘Festival Strings Lucerne’ chamber orchestra in 1956 as part of the Lucerne Festival. The ensemble is internationally renowned for its prolific concert performances and legendary recordings.
Other festivals, such as the ‘Tibor Varga Festival founded in Sion in 1964, also attract many European artists to Switzerland. Academies affiliated with the festivals have developed into training centres of international renown. Swiss violin dealers such as Henry Werro, Pierre Gerber, Alfred Vidoudez and Fritz Baumgartner became points of contact for many artists. Important instruments of old Italian violin making passed through their hands.