Nestlé saves on classical music sponsorship
The Nestlé Group is reducing its sponsorship commitment in the classical music sector. The food company - the main sponsor of the Salzburg Festival for 27 years - will no longer be a main sponsor from 2019.
A Nestlé spokesman on the Handelszeitung: "Nestlé will be a project sponsor in the future." Accordingly, it will only finance one opera production. The "Nestlé and Salzburg Young Conductors Award," a prestigious conducting competition, will also no longer be supported. In Salzburg, there are fears that the tradition-steeped sponsor will drop out altogether, because the new contract is only valid until 2020.
The Kühne Foundation of Klaus-Michael Kühne and his wife Christine has become the new main sponsor of the festival. The cultural commitment of Nestlé's subsidiary Nespresso is also on the line at the Verbier Festival, as Handelszeitung-Research shows. Nespresso and the Festival of Classical Music jointly state: "No decision has yet been made on the future of the partnership with the Verbier Festival."
Peter Brabeck, long-time CEO and Chairman of Nestlé, is Chairman of the Verbier Festival Foundation. Nestlé is also reportedly planning to reduce its financial commitment to the Lucerne Festival at the KKL in Lucerne. Neither Nestlé nor the Lucerne Festival would comment on the conditions. Meanwhile, the food company will invest 1.4 million Swiss francs in the Fête des Vignerons folk festival, which will take place in the Lake Geneva region in 2019.
