Tenor sought for unique winemakers’ festival

The ‘Fête des Vignerons’ – a unique winemakers’ festival that takes place every 20 years in the Swiss town of Vevey – is searching for a soloist to lead some of the festivities, which get underway in 2019.

The tenor will sing the ‘Ranz des vaches’, an Alpine cowherd’s song, which is one of the highlights of the three-week event. Soloists chosen for this event often become celebrities.

The Winemakers’ Festival  started in 1797 as a single pageant, and now features 15 events. In 2016, it was added to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. For the 2019 edition, there are plans to build a 20,000-seat stadium on the main market square of Vevey, with views of Lake Geneva and the Alps.  

The event will feature thousands of actors, 1,000 singers and other performers – many of them from Vevey and the neighbouring canton of Fribourg. Around 25,000 people a day are expected to attend the show or soak up the atmosphere during the festival. 

The goals of the event include fostering community spirit, helping to maintain the area’s artistic life, and providing a sense of cultural continuity while promoting expertise among master winegrowers. According to the festival’s official websiteExternal link, the last event in 1999 cost CHF54 million ($57. 5 million) to organise, and made a profit of CHF4.15 million ($4.4 million).