UNDER THE ARENA LIGHTS
- Feb 27
- 3 min read
Three decades of Art on Ice show that figure skating can command the space of a major concert, reaffirmed this year in a jubilee tour across Switzerland
In the arena, you hear the ice first. It is a sound that settles deep in the body. The blade cuts across the surface and leaves a fine line behind it, like a signature. When a skater accelerates, the sound lengthens, then breaks in the instant of a turn. The audience responds later. First it follows, then it understands, and only then does it applaud. In that sequence, there is respect for skill.
For 30 years, Art on Ice has built its story on a clear conviction: that figure skating can carry an arena the way concerts do. When music is performed live and the lighting shifts in real time, the skater becomes a performer under pressure, in a space where even the smallest nuance is visible.
The 2026 jubilee edition runs from 26 February to 7 March, with performances in Zurich from 26 February to 1 March, followed by Fribourg on 3 and 4 March, and Davos on 6 and 7 March.
Photo: David Biedert / Art on Ice Production AG (AOI 2024, Zurich Hallenstadion – Ilia Malinin)
Photo: Stéphane Schmutz / Art on Ice Production AG (AOI 2024, BCF Arena, Fribourg – Minerva Hase & Nikita Volodin; backstage, making-of montage)
Photo: David Biedert / Art on Ice Production AG, AOI 2025, Zurich Hallenstadion
Figure skating reveals two truths. One is technical and exacting: edges, speed, axis, control, landing. The other is human: the fear before a jump, the focus that narrows to a single point, and the moment when the body must deliver what the mind has already decided. From within the arena, the difference between a good skater and an exceptional one becomes visible in the details. In the calm of a hand at entry. In the steadiness of rotation. In the line that continues seamlessly after landing.
What makes Art on Ice distinctive is its ability to dissolve the boundary between those who come for sport and those who come for music. Devoted skating audiences watch Olympic champions at close range, while concertgoers discover the technical mastery and expressive depth of the athletes. The arena breathes as a single space in which every performance is felt physically.
Thirty years speak to continuity and to the trust of its audience. Today, Art on Ice stands as a symbol of contemporary Swiss production, a balance of organisational precision and creative freedom. This anniversary reveals how durability grows from sustained commitment to quality. Art on Ice is a meeting point of elite sport, live music, and contemporary stagecraft.
For its jubilee season, the programme follows the idea of “Swiss Best of”. On stage are Noah Veraguth, Stress, and Stefanie Heinzmann, alongside international artists James Bay and Jess Glynne. On the ice appear world champions and leading names across disciplines, including Madison Chock and Evan Bates, as well as Swiss favourites Lukas Britschgi and Kimmy Repond.
At the end of the evening, when the lights soften and the ice remains scored with the traces of blades, what lingers is a testament to work. Every line across the surface speaks of speed, of attempts, of hours spent in rinks far from public view. Art on Ice has lasted 30 years because it honours that work and places it at the centre of the arena. In that combination of talent, labour, discipline, music, and precise organisation lies the reason audiences return.
