Tour de force

Born in Stockholm, in 1953, Engstroem learned music history at university and began his career by organizing Sunday afternoon concerts for young musicians as a teenager.

Before founding Verbier Festival, he worked at artist management companies in London and Paris.

The first time he set foot in Verbier, a ski resort in Switzerland, he knew it was the right place to base a festival.

"There is only one road leading up to the village on top of the 1,500 meters high mountain and the same road down. It's not a passage. It's an island that I think is best for young talents to get together and focus on music."

The first Verbier Festival kicked off with Zubin Mehta conducting the Young Israel Philharmonic in July 1994. The Verbier Festival Academy was founded the same year.

In 2000, an orchestra of 120 young musicians from 18 to 29 years old was formed as the festival's orchestra in residence. In 2005, the Chamber Orchestra was founded.

Every year, Engstroem and his faculty travel to eight cities to audition 1,200 to 1,500 young musicians.

The 28-year-old Chinese cellist Zhou Mi passed the audition in Basel in 2010.

"I was an obedient student when I learned cello at Wuhan Conservatory, always doing what the teachers asked to do," Zhou comments. "But at Verbier, we peers shared our own understanding of music and the faculty members are more inspiring."