Twenty Years at Gstaad Palace

For twenty years, Dora Live Band, our international cover band, has been the resident live band for New Year’s Eve at the Gstaad Palace, one of Switzerland’s most storied five-star hotels in the Swiss Alps. What started with a single phone call has grown into a real friendship, and today the relationship reaches far beyond one night a year.

How It All Began

Twenty years ago, Dora sent a demo to the Palace in a pink envelope, heavily perfumed. Andrea Scherz, the Palace’s director and someone the band still calls its godfather, almost never opens his own mail. That day he did, because the scent filled his office. He called Dora directly: there was an important evening that Saturday, was she available? She said yes, then hung up the phone with no musicians booked. She called Jérémy, who called Sébastien, and the founding trio was born within the hour.

The Trio That Started It All

That first show ran on youthful energy and a certain fearlessness, and it was enough. In the years since, the band has grown around Dora, with Jérémy on piano and Sébastien on guitar, alongside musicians met on tours around the world. The show and the remixes have reached a level rarely seen among cover bands, something the Palace’s own guests notice year after year.

More Than One Night a Year

The relationship isn’t limited to New Year’s Eve. Winter concerts in the Palace’s Lobby routinely draw record crowds, guests dancing on the bar, the room impossible to cross. Every summer, the VIP Polo evening has become another fixture guests look forward to. Gstaad has become a recurring chapter in the band’s calendar, not a single date.

Twenty Years On

The band’s story has even been featured in the Palace’s own in-house magazine, The Journal, which followed Dora backstage for its 105th-anniversary issue. As she put it herself: “Good things come to you eventually, you just have to believe in them.” Two decades on, that first phone call has become one of the band’s longest-standing residencies, and one of its favorites.

Part of the Family

To the band, the Palace and its staff feel like family. Dora and the musicians always attend the staff party, and know most employees by their first names. The director remains a close, personal friend of the band, and today the band oversees the full artistic direction of the Palace’s New Year’s Eve show, not just the performance itself.

NYE Highlights

Want to see the Palace go wild? Here’s a taste.

Let’s Talk

Curious what a twenty-year residency looks like up close? Get in touch to talk about your own event, or discover our corporate & private event services.