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The Lyôbâle organization has set itself the goal of filling the air above the Rhine in Basel with the sounds of alphorns for 30 minutes once a year.
The Lyôbâle organization has set itself the goal of filling the air above the Rhine in Basel with the sounds of the alphorn for 30 minutes once a year.
For this event, groups of alphorn players gather on both banks of the Rhine, while soloists perform on the ferry. This is the sixth time the event has been held.
It was created at a time when, due to the coronavirus, cultural events were largely prohibited. The message is that these sounds, carried by the flow of the Rhine, will spread this quintessentially Swiss music throughout the world and bring joy to everyone who hears it.
Lyobâle—the Rhine alphorns in Basel—has been a source of great anticipation for several members of the Ammertal Alphorn Players for a few years now. Our group begins rehearsing the pieces weeks in advance. Since the trip from Ammersee to Basel is relatively long for us, we combine Lyobâle with a short vacation and explore Basel and the surrounding area.
Saturday, the Day of the Rhine Alphorns, is entirely dedicated to the alphorn. In the late morning, players from Switzerland, Germany, and France gather in the beautiful and very spacious auditorium of the Lysbüchel School. It’s always a joy to see each other again; their shared hobby brings them together, and they meet old friends from last year and make new connections.
Martin and Grégoire’s organization gets better and better every year. We’re greeted in the morning with coffee, tea, and croissants; the alphorns are set up; and the hall fills up—this year with about 100 alphorns. Divided into three playing groups, we rehearse the pieces together once. It always goes very well, despite the large number of players and the fact that we’re playing together for the first time.
After the rehearsal, we were once again treated this year to the now legendary cheese buffet, sponsored by Maître Anthony, and delicious wine, sponsored by Domaine de La Pierre Latine. We were allowed to take home the still-plentiful leftovers of cheese and wine, plus a bag of Basler Leckerli, sponsored by Basler Jakobs Leckerly, for dessert.
On our way from school to the venue on the Rhine, we handed out flyers to passersby inviting them to the open-air music event. At the venue on the banks of the Rhine, near the cathedral, Café Pulpo welcomed us with refreshments and light snacks. Thank you so much for the kind refreshments right before our performance!
Starting at 4:00 p.m., the three alphorn groups were guided through the pieces by their respective conductors—each year with further-optimized communication technology. The pieces, which were composed or arranged specifically for the Rheinalphörner by Martin Roos, Olivier Brisville, Willy Jacques, Robert Scotton, and, this year, by Gaby Laetsch, play with echoes and distance effects, as well as call-and-response. For a total of 30 minutes, approximately 100 alphorns filled the Basel spring air with melodies that carry far, blend together over the Rhine, and touch the hearts of many. The full choir alternated with three soloists (Olivier Brisville, Christofer Borloz, and Patrick Ginggen), who played on the Rhine ferry and successfully mastered the challenge of the wobbly surface.
The sight of the many impressive alphorns—each about 3.60 meters long—and the tapestry of sound that could be heard from afar drew a large crowd despite the cool temperatures: young and old, tourists and locals, gathered along the banks of the Rhine and on the Basler Pfalz, the observation deck behind the cathedral.
The musicians who still had energy and were in the mood after this official part of Lyobâle gathered afterward at Münsterplatz. There, following the traditional vesper call from Basel Cathedral, the remaining approximately 80 alphorns formed an impressive circle and played the pieces from Lyobâle 2025 once more, some of them conducted by the composers themselves. We musicians and the audience were treated to a particularly magical moment when, during Gaby Laetsch’s piece “Rhein-Echo und Tanz,” a full measure of silence was intended, and right in the midst of that silence, the cathedral bells began to ring, filling the pause with their sound.
The Lyobâle 2025 festival, which was once again a resounding success, came to a close with the piece *Les Louerettes* by Robert Scotton, performed by the trio (Robert Scotton, Oliver Brisville, Martin Roos), featuring sounds that ranged from calm to joyful to mystical.
On Sunday, feeling happy and fulfilled by so many wonderful experiences, encounters, and the sounds of the alphorn, we drove back to Lake Ammersee, and we’re already looking forward to Lyobâle 2026.
Thank you so much, Martin and Grégoire, for this touching annual celebration of Rhine poetry!
On both banks and right in the middle of the river, 70 alphorns filled the air along the Rhine on Saturday. What normally echoes down from the mountain peaks into the valley could be heard this weekend along the Rhine between the Mittlere Bridge and the Johanniter Bridge. This is what the extraordinary concert sounded like. Anyone strolling along the Rhine on Saturday, March 19, witnessed an extraordinary concert: Nearly 70 alphorn players had spread out in several groups along the banks with their instruments. At four o’clock sharp—in this case, in the afternoon—the conductors gave the signal, and the powerful sound of the long wind instruments echoed back and forth between Grossbasel and Kleinbasel. Like an echo, the groups picked up the melodies from the opposite side and even played together at times. “The entire event was extremely complex to organize. That’s because some of the individual groups had to play in sync. That was the challenge.”
“And we coordinated everything via cell phone, with exact times,”says Bruno Birri, who is involved in the project. The serenade was launched by the Grégoire Fabre Organization and artistic director Martin Roos. Willy Jaques composed the alphorn pieces. The idea to fill the Rhine with the sound of dozens of alphorns originated during the quietest part of the lockdown. The event took place for the first time in 2021. The organizers had hoped for good weather this year as well, and their wish was granted.“It’s about filling the space above the water with sound,”according to a press release. In keeping with this spirit, the sound resonated not only from both banks of this stretch of the Rhine across the river, but also from right in the middle: Three alphorn players were stationed on the Vogel Gryff ferry, joining in the performance. Many pedestrians stopped to listen to the concert along the Rhine and thanked the musicians with applause. Some assured that if a similar event were to take place again next year, they would gladly come back to listen. It has been a thoroughly Swiss year for the city of Basel and the Basel region: In addition to the Schwingen festival, which takes place in Pratteln in August, the Rhine region has now also been able to enjoy an alphorn concert—even without any big mountains.
Under bright sunshine, Ana Stankovic and Gerhard Echle from the Villingen Alphorns traveled to Basel. The project was initiated by Martin Roos and Gregoire Fabre, who wanted to bring a little joy to the air in Basel by sharing traditional Swiss music in a safe way. On the Dreirosenbrücke, Martin and Gregoire conducted about 40 alphorn enthusiasts via Zoom, who were positioned along a stretch of approximately 100 meters on both sides of the Rhine. There were teams of 3 or 4 players spaced about 20 to 30 meters apart. In addition to the Swiss alphorn call, the event also featured the world premiere of “Rheinalphörner” by Martin Roos.