Swiss concert series Baloise Session has announced a four-year extension to its long-running sponsorship agreement.

Basel-headquartered insurance and financial services provider Baloise has partnered with the event for 25 years, and has served as its presenting sponsor since 2013. The new deal runs until 2029.

The 2023 edition of the intimate series, which hosts 15,500 fans annually to the club-like setting of the 1,150-seat Event Hall of the Basel Fair, runs from 21 October to 9 November. Artists include Freya Ridings, Jessie J, Ellie Goulding, Eurythmics Songbook featuring Dave Stewart and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

“We are proud to have had Baloise by our side as a loyal partner for the past 25 years,” says Baloise Session CEO Beatrice Stirnimann. “This sponsoring engagement has allowed us, as an independent event organiser, to make the Baloise Session what it is today: a festival that attracts musicians and visitors from around the world and has gained an international reputation.”

“Thanks to this timely contract extension, we have the necessary planning security to further develop the festival”

Running every autumn for the past 38 years, the Baloise Session has presented acts such as Alicia Keys, Rod Stewart, Lewis Capaldi and Eric Clapton.

“We want to thank Baloise for the major trust it has placed in our institution over many years,” adds Stephan Werthmüller, chair of the festival board. “Thanks to this timely contract extension, we have the necessary planning security to further develop the festival.”

This year’s event wraps up with shows by the Eurythmics Songbook featuring Dave Stewart/Joss Stone (7 November), UB40/Gentleman (8 November) and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds/Richard Hawley (9 November). Tickets cost from 80-150 Swiss francs.

“The Baloise Session is a unique music festival that brings people together and offers them magical musical
moments,” says Baloise CEO Clemens Markstein. “We are proud to continue supporting this renowned series of events as presenting sponsor, and look forward to many more years of collaboration.”

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Swiss concerts series Baloise Session is the first major European festival to cancel its in-person 2021 edition, as organisers say it’s “impossible to plan with any certainty” due to the limitations of the pandemic.

The Baloise Session, which has hosted acts including John Legend, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Alicia Keys and Lionel Richie, was due to take place between the 23 October to 10 November at Basel’s Event Halle but will now forgo the event for a second consecutive year.

“The decision was a difficult one to make but health comes first,” says Beatrice Stirnimann, CEO of the Baloise Session. “Covid-19 continues to affect the world and the Baloise Session in 2021. The health of our visitors, artists and staff comes first. Concerts in an intimate setting with an enthusiastic audience do not fit with social distancing and all the other current pandemic restrictions.

“Concerts in an intimate setting with an enthusiastic audience do not fit with social distancing and all the other restrictions”

“The artists are sensibly continuing to severely limit their travel, are not planning any new tours, and in these difficult times are hardly able to make binding concert engagements. All these facts make it impossible to plan with any certainty. Without planning and financial security, the Baloise Session cannot be held.

“Our principal sponsors Basler Kantonalbank, Novartis, Dufry, AMAG, Cornèrcard and IWB also show great understanding and are helping financially to make ends meet. We are extremely grateful for this loyalty. This is the lifeblood of our 35-year-old festival,” she concludes.

The Baloise Session, which sold out all 15,500 tickets for two consecutive years in 2018 and 2019, will return in 2022 and in the meantime will continue with its livestreamed concert series ‘Baloise Session @ Home’.

Elsewhere in the European festival market, French metal festival Hellfest yesterday begged the government to make a decision on whether this year’s season could go ahead and Danish festival organisers have appealed for government support.

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The future of Swiss festival the Baloise Session is looking bright, as insurance group Basler Versicherungen extends its current presenting contract for another five years.

The deal means the event, which takes place each autumn at Basel’s club-like Event Halle, is secured for the years up to and including 2025.

The sold-out 2018 edition of Baloise Session saw performances from George Ezra, Buddy Guy, Lauryn Hill and John Legend.

“The Baloise Session is unique and brings fresh delights year after year,” says Basler Versicherungen chief executive Michael Müller. “We are proud to be presenting sponsor for the seventh time and to contribute to musical diversity in Switzerland through our engagement.”

“We are grateful that Basler Versicherungen, with whom we share a history that goes back more than 20 years, recognises the power and emotionality of music,” comments Beatrice Stirnimann, chief executive of the Baloise Session.

“The Baloise Session is unique and brings fresh delights year after year”

Stirnimann calls the partnership “a valuable commitment” that gives the Baloise Sessions team “the freedom to add further melodious chapters to the 34-year history of the festival and deliver unforgettable concert experiences to visitors.”

Stephan Werthmüller, chairman of the board of Session Basel, adds that the sponsorship renewal is “a testament to a solid partnership based on mutual trust and appreciation.

According to the chairman, “such a long-standing collaboration is extraordinarily important in the field of culture.”

The 2019 edition of Baloise Sessions takes place from 12 to 31 October. The line-up for this year’s event will be announced on Wednesday (21 August), with ticket sales beginning on Wednesday 28 August.

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The 2018 edition of Baloise Session comes to a close tonight, bringing the curtain down on another successful year for the Swiss festival, which sold all its 15,500 tickets after missing out by a whisker last year.

Performers this year included Lauryn Hill, John Legend, George Ezra, Buddy Guy and Lo and Leduc, with indie-rockers Walking on Cars and US singer-songwriter LP playing tonight’s closing show. The festival once again took place in the candlelit club-like setting of Basel’s Event Halle, running from 19 October to 6 November.

“It is a huge testament to our work to achieve a 100% sell-out,” says Baloise Session CEO Beatrice Stirnimann. “That’s not a given these days.

“It is a huge testament to our work to achieve a 100% sell-out”

“The exclusive concert experiences in a unique club-like setting appear to be in tune with the times, and are [also] greatly appreciated by the performers. I’d like to take this opportunity to express my warmest thanks to our visitors.”

Video from eight Baloise Session 2019 concerts – Beth Hart, RAD Trio featuring Candy Dulfer, Buddy Guy, George Ezra, John Legend, Clueso, Sunrise Avenue and Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals – are available until the start of December on ARTE Concert, with Lauryn Hill to be added shortly.

Baloise Session will return on 12–31 October next year.

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Baloise Session, the intimate annual concert series held in Basel, Switzerland, has announced its 2018 lineup. This year will see big names including Ms. Lauryn Hill, John Legend and George Ezra perform in the candlelit club-like setting of Basel’s Event Halle.

Running from 19 October to 6 November, the indoor festival will host ten themed concerts, including nights dedicated to ‘Indie Chartbreakers,’ ‘Songpoets’ (featuring George Ezra), ‘Pure Blues’ and ‘Iconic Night’ (featuring Ms. Lauryn Hill). Also on the bill are two ‘Evenings with…’ John Legend.

Organisers hope “stars and newcomers [will conjure] up magic moments of music” together.

This year’s event will be the 33rd edition of the festival, and the third since the death of its founder, Matthias Müller, in 2016. By putting together a characteristically genre-bending lineup of artists both up-and-coming and legendary, organisers hope “stars and newcomers [will conjure] up magic moments of music” together, in front of a crowd of 20,000 people across the series.

Last year’s event saw a similar genre-bending lineup, as Alicia Keys, Madness, Kool & the Gang and Nelly Furtado all took to the Swiss stage to perform.

The full lineup for this year’s Baloise Session can be found below:

19 October – Sunrise Avenue / Veronica Fusaro

20 October – John Legend / Alina Amuri

21 October – John Legend / Nicole Bernegger

25 October – Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals / Jimmy Cliff

26 October – Lo & Leduc / Clueso

27 October – George Ezra / Jack Savoretti

30 October – Buddy Guy / Beth Hart

2 November – Tribalistas / Maria Gadú

5 November – Ms. Lauryn Hill / Marius Bear

6 November – Walking On Cars / LP

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