Mathieu Jaton named to head Montreux Jazz

The board of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland has named Mathieu Jaton, who was chief aide to the late festival founder Claude Nobs, to take charge of the annual event, it announced Tuesday. Jaton, who began working for the festival in 1999 and became its general secretary in 2001, had been "chosen by Claude Nobs to be his successor", the festival foundation said in a statement. Nobs, who founded the summertime jazz event in 1967, became a legend in musical circles for bringing the top names in jazz to the shore of Lake Geneva and for gradually broadening the festival's scope. He died last week, aged 76, and the festival foundation said that Jaton's appointment followed "very moving memorials" to "an exceptional person who shaped the world of music and his region for nearly 50 years." A tribute to Nobs will take place at the Stravinsky Auditorium on February 8, the foundation said, to be followed in the spring by a memorial event in New York. Finally, on July 26-27, London's Royal Opera House will host a "special event" conceived by Nobs. The programme will be released later, the statement said. The 47th Montreux Jazz Festival will be held from July 5 to 20, 2013.