How European classical music festivals are coping with a world in crisis

War, the cost of living and Covid-19 have presented classical music festivals in Europe with a series of challenges. Michael Church talks to impresario Martin Engstroem about how he’s keeping the music playing

High times: performers at Verbier Festival in the Swiss Alps (Louis Michel)

Classical music festivals are financially risky at the best of times. The ongoing political and economic uncertainty – plus the impact of the pandemic – means they’ve never been riskier. Those with the best chance of survival are based in big cities. The geographical locations for the three summer festivals which Martin Engstroem has created could hardly be more challenging.

But this Swedish impresario has always lived dangerously. Quitting his safe job as artistic boss of the record company Deutsche Grammophon, he set up his first festival 30 years ago in what was then an unassuming little ski resort called Verbier, in the high Swiss Alps. As he said at the time, he liked the idea of combining performances and partying on top of a mountain. But as he had access – through Deutsche Grammophon – to a glittering roster of famous musicians, the affair acquired such cachet that everybody who was anybody in the world of classical music wanted to be there.

Four years ago, working on Verbier principles but on a smaller scale, Engstroem launched two further festivals, the first of which was on the shores of the Baltic in Riga. Latvia is a small country, and Engstroem wanted to help boost its international profile: he wanted people to remember that in the 18th century, Riga was Latvia’s biggest city, even dwarfing Stockholm. The Riga festival did well, but when Russia invaded Ukraine it ground to an immediate halt: most of its backers were Russians, and no EU country could touch their now tainted money. Riga, moreover, is in serious danger of being drawn into the war.