Musical Composition: Playing with the Verbier Festival Archives
Event details
| Date | 10.10.2026 |
| Hour | 16:00 › 20:00 |
| Speaker | Alain Dufaux, directeur de la Plateforme EPFL CHC - Cultural Heritage & Conservation ; Constance Frei, musicologue, professeure UNIL/EPFL ; Charlotte Graber, musicologue HEM, Genève ; Stephen McHolm, directeur de la Verbier Festival Academy |
| Location | |
| Category | Cultural events |
| Event Language | French, English |
Thanks to a donation from the Claude Latour Foundation, the Pôle Culture (VPI) is organizing a master class followed by a public concert based on the Verbier Festival archives, which are being digitized at EPFL by the EPFL Cultural Heritage & Conservation Platform (CHC).
During the masterclass, the selected students are invited to create a musical piece lasting no more than 5 minutes in the style, aesthetic, and genre of their choice (jazz, rap, rock, metal, classical, etc.). At the end of the day, the pieces will be presented to the public, accompanied by comments from a panel of experts.
PROGRAM:
- 10:00–16:00: Masterclass (registration required)
- 16:00–16:15: Welcome for the audience
- 16:15–17:45: Listening to the compositions with commentary from experts
- 17:45–18:15: Submit a music sample of your composition (max. 5 min, in MP3 format)
- 18:30: Aperitif with the audience (registration required)
MASTERCLASS:
The Verbier Festival is opening its archives and making audio tracks from classical music concerts available. Participants will be able to transform, reinterpret, and reinvent these tracks to create a personal, original 5-minute piece in any musical style.
Throughout the process, four experts will guide the participants, sharing their advice and helping each person bring their project to life.
The Experts:
Alain Dufaux, Director of the EPFL CHC Platform—Cultural Heritage & Conservation
Constance Frei, musicologist, professor at UNIL/EPFL
Charlotte Graber, musicologist at HEM, Geneva
Stephen McHolm, Director of the Verbier Festival Academy
Practical Information:
- Open to a maximum of 6 EPFL students
- Saturday, October 10, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Montreux Jazz Café
- Prerequisites: Submit a music sample of your composition (max. 5 min, in MP3 format)
- Technical requirements: bring your own computer and headphones
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EPFL CHC and the Verbier Festival:
The EPFL Cultural Heritage Conservation Platform (CHC) was established at EPFL in 2010 under the name “Metamedia Center.” For the past 16 years, it has pursued a dual mission: to digitize and preserve audiovisual collections and heritage of major significance in Switzerland and around the world, and to enrich and bring them to life through research and innovation projects conducted in EPFL’s laboratories, startups, and in collaboration with EPFL partners. The collections thus assembled become true research infrastructures: they provide a unique resource for education and research, accessible to students as well as to innovation communities at EPFL and around the world.
It was with this goal in mind that EPFL and the Verbier Festival launched the Verbier Festival Collection project in 2021. The project aims to preserve and promote the festival’s heritage, with the goal of rekindling younger generations’ interest in classical music.
A pioneer since 1994, the Verbier Festival is the first festival in the world to have recorded all of its concerts. This exceptional collection now includes 3,000 hours of audio recordings, more than 1,000 hours of video, 12,000 historical photographs, archival documents, and a collection of annotated sheet music. It serves as a unique resource for research, innovation, and cultural transmission. As part of this collaboration, EPFL students are invited—upon registration and following a selection process—to participate in a master class during which they will draw on part of this heritage to create a musical work, which they will then present to an audience and a jury.
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Partners: Claude Latour Foundation, Verbier Festival, CHC Platform—Cultural Heritage & Conservation at EPFL, UNIL, Montreux Jazz Café, NAGRA
>>> Free admission; aperitif available with registration
Links
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Festival Les Culturelles (Pôle Culture VPI)