The mirror was transformed into a screen, during the closing night of the Montreux Jazz Festival 2023 – Audemars Piguet and Mark Ronson return in Switzerland
At Lake Geneva the Montreux Jazz Festival 2023
Every year nearly 250,000 spectators arrive in Montreux, a town between the Alps and Lake Geneva, for the Montreux Jazz Festival, the second-largest jazz festival in the world. It takes place every summer on the shores of the lake, celebrating the jazz, soul, and blues scene – which are the roots of the event. Other styles of music are featured as well, with more than 380 concerts, and happenings during the fifteen days of the Festival.
Keith Jarrett, Charles Lloyd, and Ella Fitzgerald at Montreux Jazz Festival
During these fourteen days, Montreux became the center stage of the musical and cultural scene. Swiss and international artists have carte blanche to experiment onstage, and backstage, and create an Imaginarium around the events and the region. In 1976 Claude Nobs co-founded the festival, which at the time was just three days long, unlike the two weeks it lasts nowadays. Nobs owned chalets in the region since the 80s, and his house became a meeting place where artists like Quincy Jones and David Bowie, gathered and shared at their house. Since then Montreux has attracted the attention of legendary artists such as Keith Jarrett, Charles Lloyd, Ella Fitzgerald, and even Deep Purple, whose song Smoke on the Water was inspired by the 1971 fire at the Montreux casino during a Frank Zappa concert.
Keith Haring and Andy Warhol – Montreux Jazz Festival
The panoply of the Festival – from 1967 to the present day – has seen the contribution of graphic artists like Jean Tinguely, the creator of the Festival logo. Notably, in the 80s, both Keith Haring and Andy Warhol designed posters for the Festival. In 1955, David Bowie also produced a poster.. More recently, artists like Yoann Lemoine (aka Woodkid) and Malika Favre have followed in their footsteps, leaving a lasting cultural impact on the region. Nowadays, these artworks have become an object of desire for collectors, with a serigraph by Haring for the 1983 Montreux Jazz Festival fetching more than one-thousand euros online.
Over the years, the Festival has transformed Montreux into a rendezvous point for the musical and artistic scene, and many artists even decided to extend their stay in Montreux to record albums and tracks. Among those who found inspiration in Montreux, Queen chose the Mountain Studios in Montreux (July 1978) to record their seventh LP, Jazz, setting the stage for many more artists in the upcoming years, who followed their example and used the occasion of the Festival to record their albums in the Swiss recording studios.
Mark Ronson: a concert for the closing night at MJF
Besides the names announced to take part in the 2023 Festival, the British-American DJ, songwriter, and producer Mark Ronson has been engaged by Audemars Piguet for the curatorship – being in charge of selecting the artists for the Festival – and for the closing night of the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 15th.
Ronson, the winner of an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and seven Grammy Awards, began his DJ career in New York in the late 1990s and became known for his blend of funk, hip-hop, and rock. Since 2022, he has been an Audemars Piguet ambassador as part of the Long-term APxMusic program, dedicated to the creative process and the promotion of talent in the music field.
For the closing concert of the Montreux Jazz Festival, Ronson called the musicians who performed for artists such as Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, and Bruno Mars. They will be gathered around Mark Ronson and his protégés: Yebba and Lucky Daye.
Ronson now puts them in the spotlight, with the support of the creative director Daphnée Lanternier’s perspective, who designed a mirror hanging over the crowd and transformed it into a screen during the concert to connect the public and artists. Entitled “Mark Ronson and His Favorite Band Ever,” the concert pays tribute to the music itself, and the creative process of this show was recorded by Lauren Luxenberg and transformed into the film “Syncing Sounds – Live.”
The collaboration between Ronson e Audemars Piguet
It’s not the first time that Ronson has given the spotlight to musicians and artists and collaborated with festivals worldwide, such as the Glastonbury Festival or the Governors Ball music festival in New York. Similarly, the collaboration between Ronson and Audemars Piguet is not new, as it began in 2022 with the “Syncing Sounds” video series. This project retraces the creative process of the producer as he worked with R&B artist Lucky Daye on the composition and production of the track, “Too Much.”
«The closing night of the Montreux Jazz Festival marks the second year of collaboration between Audemars Piguet and Ronson,” explains François-Henry Bennahmias, CEO of Audemars Piguet. “He has risen once more to a challenge. Together, we will continue to create new creative synergies and push boundaries to develop unique experiences».
Syncing Sounds – Live
“Syncing Sounds – Live” is a movie directed by Luxenberg that unveils the months of collaboration that gave life to Ronson’s closing night concert. Captured by Luxenberg, a London-based film director, the film follows the British-American producer, capturing the conversations that led to the conception of the show, from text messages and voice notes to exchanges between Ronson, his guests, and Lanternier.
The artists and their repertoire become the main focus of the movie, but the camera also records the months of preparation and rehearsals, including the apex of the project: a jam session in New York before the closing night of the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Royal Oak Offshore Music Edition: celebrating the Montreux Jazz Festival
On the occasion of the 2023 Festival edition, Audemars Piguet also launched a new version of one of his watches, the Royal Oak Offshore Music Edition, originally launched in 2022.
The watch has a black ceramic reference in 37 mm and celebrates this artistic relationship with a Tapisserie dial that reproduces the motifs of an equalizer (or VU meter) while the studs recall jack plugs and crown guards inspired by mixing consoles.
30th anniversary of the Royal Oak Offshore
The Royal Oak Offshore Music Edition joins the first five models in the collection, which are available in various materials and diameters, and celebrates the synergy that the Manufacture has established with the music scene and the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
However, 2023 also marks the 30th anniversary of the Royal Oak Offshore, the model that marked the brand’s success worldwide. To commemorate this milestone, Audemars Piguet now offers four 37mm Selfwinding Chronograph models with bezels adorned with diamonds, available in 18-carat pink or yellow gold, paying tribute to the brand’s heritage and the history of the Royal Oak Offshore.
Montreux Jazz Festival: UNESCO Memory of the World and the Parallel Experience
The Montreux Jazz Music Festival was born in 1967 under the creative direction of Claude Nobs and has been directed by Mathieu Jaton since 2013. It currently operates with a budget of 10 thousand CHF. Over its fifty years of history, many artists have taken the stage at the Montreux Jazz Festival, including legends like Nina Simone, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Marvin Gaye, Prince, Leonard Cohen, David Bowie, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder. Both David Bowie and Freddie Mercury even came to live in the region to record their albums.
In this scenario, the collaboration between Audemars Piguet and the Festival was born, beginning with participation in preserving the historic archives of the event. Over the years, this collaboration has grown stronger, with Audemars Piguet becoming an integral part of the Festival year after year.
Memory of the World – a collaboration that lasts for more than ten years
It all started in 2010 when Audemars began supporting the development of the Montreux Jazz Digital Project, together with the Claude Nobs Foundation and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). The project has enabled the digitalization, restoration, and preservation of the Festival’s sound archives, which are acknowledged by UNESCO as part of its Memory of the World.
According to the Claude Nobs Foundation, more than 5,000 concerts have been recorded, totaling over 11,000 hours of video and 6,000 hours of audio, and 200,000 professional photographs have been digitized.
The program was launched in 1992 to preserve archives and library collections all over the world, ensuring that this collective heritage is permanently accessible to all. Through the partnership with EPFL, the archives, with more than 11,000 hours of live music, have been preserved and digitized since 2017, becoming a testimonial to the history of music, covering jazz, blues, and rock. From Aretha Franklin or Ray Charles to Prince or David Bowie, more than 5,000 concerts have been recorded live in audio and video.
Since 2013, the French-Swiss broadcaster “Radio Télévision Suisse” (RTS) has been in charge of HD recordings, allowing the festival to keep archiving its heritage. While the Ultra-HD recording has been tested since 2014, it is thanks to the Montreux Festival that the Swiss streamed its first HD broadcasts, transmitting the Festival concerts and shows.
Besides this project, it took until 2019 for the brand to join the Festival as a Global Partner, and the 2023 edition marks the second year of this project, called Audemars Piguet Parallel Experience. Initiated in 2022, these free concerts on the fringe of the Festival offer artists the opportunity to perform in the Montreux Riviera. Last year, for instance, The Blaze and Arlo Parks performed in the setting of the Palace de Caux.
This project has been carried out together with the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (IRCAM) in Paris, the School of Design and Art School of Valais (EDHEA), the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences of the University of Geneva (CISA), EPFL CHC, and the Artists in Lab program from the Zurich University of the Arts.
For the second year, Audemars Piguet Parallel returns to the Montreux Jazz Festival
For this second year, Audemars Piguet Parallel returns to the Montreux Jazz Festival with a series of musical experiences designed by the brand in collaboration with the Festival. The series has been created as interludes that take place during the usual happenings and are part of the Audemars Piguet x Music brand’s musical program. Through this program, the brand supports emerging talent through collaborations that promote the creative practice and development of artists. During the 2023 edition, three artists with electronic and festive sounds will perform on stage: Turkish DJ Carlita, British band Metronomy, and the Berlin collective Keinemusik (Rampa vs &ME).
Since its foundation in 1875, the Swiss watchmaker brand Audemars Piguet has nurtured the local artisan community, pushing craftsmanship further, and investing in cultural initiatives, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival. The brand has been a partner with the Festival since 2019, but their relationship goes back even further, playing a part in the Montreux Jazz Digital Project and starting partnerships with artists and musicians from all over the world.
Audemars Piguet: heritage in the Vallée de Joux
Audemars Piguet is a Swiss manufacturer of luxury watches and clocks, founded by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet in the Vallée de Joux in 1875. It is best known for introducing the Royal Oak wristwatch in the 1970s, which helped the brand rise to prominence within the watchmaking industry.
The history of Audemars Piguet began at the end of the 18th century in the Vallée de Joux, where family artisanship gave birth to a network of horological traditions that endure until today. These families were originally farmers who used to produce watches during the seven-month winters and sold them in Geneva. Thanks to the technological and mechanical advancements brought by Huguenots, the watch-making industry thrived and flourished in the region.
Audemars Piguet’s oldest building, where the business was originally set, was built in 1868 in the village of Le Brassus. To complement the original workshop, in 1907 they built the first Manufacture, and today, this building is still part of the brand’s headquarters.
Audemars Piguet’s headquarter and manufacture
Until 1950, the Manufacture employed between ten to thirty artisans, but thanks to the success of their Royal Oak in the 1970s, the brand now counts more than 2000 employees worldwide, with buildings and manufacturing sites in Le Brassus, Le Locle, and Meyrin. Despite its growth, Audemars Piguet’s headquarters remains in Le Brassus, and in 2008, they inaugurated the Manufacture des Forges, where their watches are produced and shipped worldwide.
In 1892, only twenty years after its foundation, Audemars Piguet introduced one of their trademarks, the chiming: that year, they produced the first minute-repeater wristwatch in history. According to archives, between 1882 and 1892, more than half of the watches and pocket watches produced incorporated a striking mechanism. Since then, the Manufacture has created Grande Sonnerie, Petite Sonnerie, and Minute Repeater mechanisms. These strike the hours, quarters, and minutes, for more than 720 sequences played by hammers, which strike hardened steel gongs when activated.
The Hôtel des Horlogers
In 1857, watchmaking was booming in La Vallée de Joux, and it became necessary to build a hotel, named Hotel de France, in reference to the diligence of the postal service which linked Le Brassus to Les Rousses.
In 2003, Audemars Piguet became the new owner and renamed it “Hôtel des Horlogers” in tribute to the craftsmanship of the region. The location was then renewed in 2016, by constructing a building in compliance with the sustainability and energy criteria of modern buildings. The project is signed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), which designed the hotel so that all the rooms would offer a view of the region, thanks to glass walls descending towards the valley.
For the 8,715 sqm surface, BIG worked in collaboration with CCHE, and the two of them were also involved in the construction of the Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet.
