Time well spent: Raye opens Montreux Jazz Festival with a landmark anniversary performance

In Montreux, Switzerland, there is a chalet steeped in exceptional musical history. Step inside and the scent of heady incense still lingers in the air, transporting you back in time. Every surface tells a story: a postcard signed by Freddie Mercury, memorabilia from Prince, David Bowie, Jamiroquai and countless other artists who once found themselves on the shores of Lac Léman. The chalet belonged to Claude Nobs, the visionary founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, whose home became an extension of the festival itself – a sanctuary where the music never truly stopped.

Nearly six decades after Nobs launched the festival in 1967, that same spirit remains intact. While festivals around the world have grown into sprawling spectacles, Montreux has preserved an intimacy that feels increasingly rare. Even its newly constructed venue seats just 4,000 people, allowing audiences and artists to share the same lakeside promenades and creating the kind of closeness from which legendary performances are born.

The opening night carried particular significance. Long-time festival partner Audemars Piguet, which has supported Montreux since 2010 and has served as its Global Partner since 2019, collaborated with British singer-songwriter Raye to create an entirely bespoke performance titled This Stage May Contain Moments In Time – a concert designed exclusively for the festival's anniversary. Through its APxMusic programme, the Swiss watchmaker has increasingly positioned itself not just as a sponsor, but as a collaborator, commissioning performances that encourage artistic experimentation rather than commercial spectacle.

The choice of Raye felt particularly fitting. Few artists have embodied creative independence quite like the British musician, who forged her own path, eventually becoming one of Britain's most celebrated artists, sweeping the 2024 BRIT Awards with a record-breaking six wins. It is a career built not on instant gratification, but on resilience, patience and an unwavering commitment to craft – values that also underpin both Montreux's enduring legacy and Audemars Piguet's philosophy.

It was inside the newly constructed Stravinski Auditorium that such ideas came to life. Rather than presenting a conventional greatest-hits performance, Raye's set unfolded as something more reflective – a carefully curated evening celebrating the artists who came before her and the passage of time. Conceived in collaboration with Audemars Piguet, the performance wove together music, storytelling and visual direction while paying tribute to the festival's extraordinary six-decade history. The festival's relationship with time was woven into the staging, too. Throughout the evening, Raye and her band performed atop a giant rotating watch face, a subtle nod to both the performance's title and Audemars Piguet's world of watchmaking.

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It is this dialogue between generations that has defined the iconic festival. Jazz may have given the festival its name, but over the decades, its stages have welcomed artists far beyond the genre. Nina Simone, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, David Bowie, Prince and Stevie Wonder have all contributed to the festival's mythology. Montreux's rich musical history became a character in the performance itself. Raye took to the stage exactly 50 years after Nina Simone made her Montreux debut, opening with a haunting rendition of 'Who Knows Where the Time Goes', as once covered by the soul singer. "As a music super-fan, it's pretty thrilling and surreal to stand on the same stage," she told the audience.

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If Montreux's past anchored the evening, Raye's family gave it its emotional centre. For the final song (aside from the anticipated encore), the star was joined on stage by her younger sisters Amma and Absolutely for a performance of 'Joy', a hit from her newest album. But by far the show's most emotional moment came from her performance of 'Fields', somewhat of a duet with her late Grandad Michael, one that left a dry eye scarcely in the auditorium.

As promised, the evening contained numerous surprises, such as guest appearances by Mark Ronson, who joined Raye on stage for a rendition of his hit with Bruno Mars 'Uptown Funk'. And, if Ronson brought the energy, the Brit's next guest brought the emotion, as Alicia Keys took to the stage. The star began with a performance of her tune 'If I Ain't Got You,' before duetting 'Oscar Winning Tears' with Raye.

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By the time the audience spilt out onto the shores of the lake, it felt clear that This Stage May Contain Moments In Time had become exactly that: one of those singular Montreux performances destined to join the festival's rich mythology. In championing a show that was equal parts intimate, ambitious and deeply personal, Audemars Piguet's role extended well beyond sponsorship.

Through its APxMusic programme, the Manufacture helped create the conditions for something original – a performance that honoured six decades of musical history while proving Montreux's greatest tradition is not looking backwards, but giving artists the freedom to create the moments future generations will remember.