The Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation: a new deal

Supporting young artists is the motto of the new foundation, the educational and experimental offshoot of the Montreux Jazz Festival. Known for its workshops, creative audacities and renowned competitions, the MJAF will multiply its support measures throughout the year. And become an international reference in the field.

Artists' first steps require more and more help from influential platforms: local support, opportunities to perform on other stages, long-term follow-up, and increasingly solid professionalization and promotion tools as the means of communication are renewed.

Thanks to the links forged around the world since the festival's inception, competition winners will have the opportunity to perform in prestigious jazz clubs such as New York's Blue Note and its Japanese twin, Blue Note Tokyo. Since their creation in 1999, the festival's jazz competitions have already revealed artists such as Peter Cincotti, Tigran Hamasyan and Léo Tardin.

An autumn residency: the Montreux Jazz Academy
Imagine a house that brings together resources, contacts, tools and mentors from all over the world for three weeks. This fall artistic residency, located in a beautiful Villeneuve house bequeathed by Sylvia Waddilove for culture, is MJAF's first flagship project. It will be a tailor-made breeding ground for a handful of promising young artists, focused on consolidating their skills and mastering their image. A privileged time-space, the academy will help them to become experts in disseminating their talent, at ease both on the web and on stage.

The first to benefit? Mauritian Jerry Léonide, Polish Wojciech Myrczek and Brazilian Leandro Pellegrino, winners of the 2013 piano, voice and guitar competitions respectively.