Audio Technology Switzerland becomes technical partner of the Verbier Festival, extending its long-standing partnership with the Montreux Jazz Festival. For seventy-five years, the Nagra name has been synonymous with the recording, preservation and faithful reproduction of music.
This summer, Audio Technology Switzerland SA, the Swiss company that designs and manufactures Nagra products, becomes a technical partner of the Verbier Festival – extending a legacy of collaboration that already includes the Montreux Jazz Festival, and reflecting a shared commitment to preserving, experiencing and transmitting musical heritage.
Created in 1967 by Claude Nobs and recognised today as one of the world’s leading music events, the Montreux Jazz Festival has built an unparalleled legacy of legendary performances, recorded from the very first edition. In 2013, UNESCO inscribed this archive, the Claude Nobs Collection of the Montreux Jazz Festival (1967–2013), on its Memory of the World Register – an inscription held by the Claude Nobs Foundation.
Experience – Lake House, Montreux
As an Official Partner of the Montreux Jazz Festival, Audio Technology Switzerland has created a dedicated Nagra listening space within the Festival’s Lake House Bibliothèque, a venue devoted to musical discovery through books, archival recordings, listening sessions and conversations with artists, journalists and producers.
Built around the Nagra Anniversary Turntable and the PREAMP II-S, the installation allows visitors to explore a curated selection of records in exceptional listening conditions. Integrated into this unique cultural environment, it invites music lovers to rediscover the stories, artistry and emotions that great recordings continue to convey.
Heritage – Montreux Jazz Memories
Audio Technology Switzerland also contributes to Montreux Jazz Memories, an initiative of the Montreux Jazz Digital Project, the joint programme of EPFL and the Claude Nobs Foundation, to preserve the voices and memories of those whose lives have been touched by the Festival.
Using Nagra VII professional recorders, the project captures conversations with artists, engineers, organisers, festivalgoers and members of the wider community. Together, these personal accounts form a lasting oral history of the Festival’s cultural and social impact, complementing the Claude Nobs Collection and preserving the human stories behind its legacy for future generations.
“For nearly two decades, EPFL has been digitising and preserving the Claude Nobs Collection, inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. With the Nagra VII recorders used for the Montreux Jazz Memories project, we are now capturing the voices behind this heritage, already more than 1,200 testimonies, preserving the human memory alongside the musical one.” — Alain Dufaux, EPFL, Cultural Heritage & Conservation Platform
Transmission – Verbier Festival
The Verbier Festival has become an international reference for classical music, bringing together world-renowned performers, exceptional young artists and one of the world’s most respected music academies. Together, these institutions embody Switzerland’s enduring commitment to preserving musical heritage, nurturing artistic excellence and transmitting it to future generations.
As Technical Partner of VF Studio, Audio Technology Switzerland has equipped two dedicated listening spaces built around Nagra electronics and loudspeakers by fellow Swiss manufacturer Stenheim.
At the VF Studio Jukebox, festival visitors can explore a curated selection of past and live Verbier Festival performances through a PREAMP II-S and a pair of Nagra Reference AMPs, offering an immersive experience of some of the Festival’s most memorable musical moments.
For the Verbier Festival Academy, Audio Technology Switzerland has also installed a dedicated multichannel listening system built around four Classic AMP stereo power amplifiers. Used by students, professors and guest artists, the installation supports critical listening sessions and masterclasses, providing an immersive experience in which future recording engineers and musicians can refine their listening skills and deepen their understanding of musical interpretation, recording and sound reproduction.
Together, these two installations reflect a shared commitment to preserving musical heritage, advancing the art of listening and passing both on to future generations.
A Shared Philosophy
Experience, heritage, transmission: three purposes, one conviction that has guided Nagra for seventy-five years: technology should serve the music, preserving the emotion of a performance and bringing it closer to listeners, today and for generations to come. Whether in a Montreux listening room or a Verbier masterclass, the goal is the same: that a great performance, once played, is never lost.
“The sound of Montreux belongs to the artists who created it. Captured for posterity since 1967, it continues to inspire new generations of musicians. Nagra brings the other side of that story: the Swiss art of listening, ensuring that this extraordinary musical heritage can continue to be experienced as it deserves.” Montreux Jazz Festival
About Audio Technology Switzerland
Founded in 1951 by Stefan Kudelski, Nagra has designed some of the most influential equipment in the audio industry. From the Oscar® Award-winning Nagra professional tape recorders to the multi-award-winning HD electronics range, the company has constantly striven for the utmost excellence in electronics design and manufacturing. In 2012, Audio Technology Switzerland S.A., formerly Nagra Audio division, was created. Still largely owned by the Kudelski family, it manufactures and markets Nagra professional, high-end audio and security products. It perpetuates the tradition of sophistication and originality that has established the prestige of the Nagra brand all around the world for 75 years.
