Caribana has announced the line up for this year's festival which will take place along the lakeside near Crans près Celigny from the 3rd to 7th June 2015. Among other artists scheduled to play at this summer festival are Swedish band "The Cardigans", see video below of their 1998 hit "My Favourite Game" from their album Gran Turismo. Photo above - The Cardigans, courtesy Caribana Also on the programme are Kill it Kid, Marilyn Manson, Metronomy, Ben l'Oncle Soul, see video below of track "Hallelujah!" and Austrian band Parov Stelar with a mix of pop, soul, jazz and swing. See video below with their track "Jimmy's Gang". Full line up here. Photo above - Parov Stelar Band, courtesy Caribana Tickets now for sale. Note: There are early bird prices on offer for Feb/ March and in April/ May. Let's hope the weather is warm and cardigans won't be needed to watch The Cardigans! More on Caribana and the other bands coming up on this site. The Cardigans - "My Favourite Game" Parov Stelar - "Jimmy's Game" Ben l'Oncle Soul - "Hallelujah!"

From the Elastique Citrique to Circus Space and beyond.... Lili Parson, a Nyon native has joined the troupe of the Royal Opera House's latest co-production- a modern version of Monteverdi's Orfeo, one of the first operas ever made. Part of the Elastique Citrique, Nyon's circus school since she was 5, training, performing and teaching there until last year, she left for London in August to join the National Center for Circus Arts (aka Circus Space) with the aim of becoming a professional circus artist. She is currently doing a year's preparation course before auditioning for several Circus schools across Europe and the world (Brussels, Stockholm, Quebec, London...). Although she has already had some pretty impressive experiences, performing this year in Denmark at the European youth circus festival, and participating in 2013 in Labo'Cirque, a three week program aiming to give a near-professional experience to promising young Swiss circus artists through the creation of a show, the Orfeo performance is of another scale. Produced by the Royal Opera and the Roundhouse, this daring new version of Orfeo uses an English translation of the original text, is performed on the circular stage of the Roundhouse and features a collaboration with the East London Dance Company. Lili is one of 14 young artists from dance or circus backgrounds chosen by the Company to support the singers throughout the play in a series of acro-dance pieces, giving the Opera a grounded and embodied bonus. Although Lili's main discipline is the Cyr Wheel- a huge ring in which she turns and performs acrobatics (you can see her in action here) she is a multi-talented artist and has been taking dancing and theatre classes as part of her year at Circus Space. She auditioned alongside some 30 people and was chosen to perform in this great experience! The rehearsals- a whole day a week since the end of October, and some more intense work over the Christmas holidays- were added to her already full schedule of training and getting ready for the Circus auditions at the end of the year, a pretty spectacular achievement! Orfeo started on the 13th of January, to appraising critics acclaiming the freshness and directness of the production. The Royal Opera has decided to offer a free live streaming of Wednesdays the 21st's performance, on its website. The Opera will begin at 20:30 Swiss time, at this location. You can read a review of the Opera here. You can catch a glimpse of Lili in this sneak-peak video.

On Saturday 28th March, Diccon Bewes will be giving a guided Victorian tour of Geneva. The tour begins at 15:00 (meet at Payot bookshop in Cornavin railway station at 14:30). Diccon is the author of the very successful books "Swiss Watching", ("a best book of 2010" - Financial Times) and "Slow Train to Switzerland" Diccon comments on all things Swiss related and will be dressed up in Victorian costume for the tour itself! Details here For non-English speakers, a simultaneous French translation will be provided by Hadi Barkat. A unique opportunity to discover a new outlook on the city. This should be an entertaining stroll! Diccon will end this tour with a signing of his books in English and in French. Nyon events - Win Paléo tickets Other events, tonight (Friday 27th March) there will be Celtic music at the 1306 Club ( ruelle de la poterne in Nyon) starting at 2030. Entry free, hat distributed for the artists at the end of the evening. Win Paléo tickets The weekly competition to win Paléo tickets has now begun on the festival's website and it continues until the 25th May. To play, click here The full Festival line-up will be announced on Tuesday 14 April! Tickets will go on sale at midday on Wednesday 22 April Photo above - Paléo in 2014

Les Hivernales is an annual winter rock' n' beat festival that began last night Thursday the 26th Feb and continues on Friday 27th, Saturday 28th, Sunday 1st March in Nyon. From the "beach" area down by the lake, to the Salle Communale to the Quai 23 restaurant and more, there is plenty of music on offer in ten different venues across the town. Entrance to some venues are free, some are fee paying. There is also the option to buy a pass for each evening. See here Video below - Transistor Girl playing Friday 27th February at Cactus Jack at 22:30

Merry Christmas from Living in Nyon! This Christmas message was photographed by the lake in Prangins, however, two swans in the water became very curious to know what was going on. The Christmas message was trampled on somewhat. So it's Merry "Christas" to all Living in Nyon readers! n Th

Consumer issues in Switzerland - from head lice lotion to chicken nuggets. Plus, an appeal for winter clothes for asylum seekers, drop off in Nyon and Gland. If you are interested in consumer issues here in French speaking Switzerland and want to know more about the products and services you buy and use, then Living in Nyon can recommend two excellent sources of information. The first is "Bon A Savoir" (Good to Know) - a monthly magazine which can be found in many newsagents including Naville. At just CHF 4.50 it's packed with info and tests on products. November's issue tested 8 different bottles of head lice lotion and produced a graph with its results. See here. Also in this month's issue are tests on the dried fruit that can be found for sale in main supermarkets. These fruits were checked for their pesticide and preservative content, provenance, cost per 100g etc. The results are surprising! Not all of the tests are not available online, you have to subscribe or buy the magazine to see all the results. However the savings to be found in some of the magazine's comparative testings on products such as health insurance premiums, and telephone charges more than make up for the purchase price! Even if your French is quite basic, you should be able to understand the tests and their results. A Bon Entendeur (ABE) is a television programme produced by RTS TV and broadcast on a Tuesday night and this also covers consumer issues ranging from an analysis of the actual meat content in the chicken nuggets that are sold in shops and fast food outlets, to the maze of "packages" offered by telephone and internet companies to consumers. See a programme from the 14th October here Mens clothing and toiletries required for asylum seekers in Gland EVAM, the (Etablissement Vaudois D'accueil des Migrants) in Gland has put out an urgent appeal for warm coats, jackets, jeans, trousers , belts, shoes (all kinds), socks, gloves, woolly hats, scarves, back-packs, hold-alls, bath towels (all sizes) and toiletries for the male asylum seekers currently in the Gland reception centre and waiting a decision on their future. At this stage of their asylum application, the men are not allowed to work unless their application status changes. Further info here Clothes can be dropped off at the following places. 1. Nyon: Centre Horizons, Maison de Paroisse, ch. des Eules. Bin at door. 2. Gland: Chapelle Catholique, chemin de l'Abbaye, go down steps on left - bin For further info on the work of EVAM see their frequently asked questions page on their website here.

Every year on the 6th January, there is a "Galette des Rois" parade through Nyon to celebrate Three Kings Day. The parade start outside La Combe shopping centre and follows the "Three Kings" through the top end of the old town in Nyon, finishing in the Place du Château. Children carry lanterns or candles, and the parade is accompanied by a "Fanfare" (brass band music). At the end of the parade, children and adults will find an enormous cake (the Galette des Rois), waiting for them in the castle square. This has been baked and donated by the bakers of the region and is then served up to members of the public. It's a fun thing to experience, but wrap up well! The parade starts at 18:30 and can take a while to get going sometimes, however, hot drinks are often available at the end of the parade!

A Very Happy New Year to Living in Nyon readers and a big thank you to all our advertisers: Ecole Moser (a German, French and English teaching school in the centre of Nyon), the Geneva English School with its new nursery and library, Brillantmont School, an international school in Lausanne for 11-18 years olds, Falaque restaurant in Nyon (healthy food - from their kitchen to your dining table), Rock my Baby nanny and babysitting agency, COV, the Conservatoire of Nyon - musical tuition in English and French, and finally the Usine a Gaz, Nyons's own music and theatre venue. This site would not continue without their support. If your business or company would like to advertise with the site in 2015 and reach thousands of readers, contact info@livinginnyon.com to find out about our reasonable rates. New Year's Eve If you are looking for somewhere to head off for New Year's Eve, to dress up in costume and dance, the Usine a Gaz, Nyon's own music venue is holding a masked ball on the 31st December. See here Alternatively, here is what's happening in Geneva - dancing in the Plainpalais area of the city from 22:00 to 03:00. Over in Lausanne, gather in the streets with a bottle of champagne and watch the "burning of the cathedral", at midnight, a tradition since 1904. See video from the RTS website. And finally, next on the Nyon agenda is the "Three Kings" ceremony on the 6th January. The "three kings", parade through the old town in the early evening and distribute cake to adults and children. The timing of this event has not yet been advertised so keep watching this space.

The latest news from Paléo is that the music festival will run over seven days in 2015 to celebrate 40 years of the festival! To those new to Nyon and who have never heard of Paléo, it's an annual event for the town and is one of the biggest rock, pop and music festivals in Europe. Normally, for six days, the Paléo fields (just above Nyon) are rocking to the sound of music. Next year they will rocking for seven! There are lots of surprises planned for the celebratory year and they will be revealed at the line up on Tuesday April 14 2015. More details to follow

If you are looking for a final bit of entertainment before the end of the Christmas/ New Year Holidays , check out the " swimmers' party" in the lake in Nyon on Sunday 4th January from 11:00. There will be vin chaud, soup and other surprises in store! Members of the public can join in the swim if they dare! (registration on the day) . Details here This event is organised by the members of the voluntary association of the "bains de trois jetées". This association erects the small sauna by the lake each winter which is open to the public.

On Thursday 20th November at 18:30 there will be a debate on the future of Nyon's "Rive", the lakeside area of the town. What is needed along the lakeside, what can be developed, what's next for the area? The debate will be moderated by Madame Marie-Christine Fert from La Côte newspaper. There will be various invited guests: Madame Fabienne Freymond Cantone (Nyon Municipal responsible for Urbanism), Mr Georges Darrer, president of ProNovioduno, Mr Trevor Greenwood, resident of the Rive and other guests. The debate has been initiated by the PIP party of Nyon (parti independent Nyonnais) . The debate begins at 18:30 followed by an apéritif and will be held in the Ferme du Manoir in the place du Château in Nyon.

Jazz Concert at the Conservatoire - Friday 5th December The Conservatoire of Nyon will hold their last concert of the 2014 season on Friday 5th December at 20:30 with the Cajón Jazz Trio. The concert will be held at the Villa Thomas along Nyon's lake side.This is a small, intimate concert venue so it's recommended to reserve tickets in advance, either by telephoning 022 994 2360 between the hours of 14:00 and 17:00 emailing info.nyon@cov-vd.ch, or on the night itself from 19:30. Pre-reserved tickets not collected 15 minutes before the performance will be put back on sale. Video Below - Cajón Jazz Trio Also on Friday at the Usine a Gaz, local band The Kreeks (indie pop) will be playing at at 21:30. Free entry! Sunday 7th December It's the Christmas market in Nyon on Sunday 7th December from 08:30 to 18:30 Lots of stalls selling Christmas products, Father Christmas too for the children, food and drink! See website here - note the website for the Rive area, does not seem up to date as last year's poster is still being shown for this event! There are clearer details on the Nyon tourist site Christmas Market Coppet Note - there will also be a Christmas market in the château of Coppet beginning Wednesday 3rd until the 7th December. For full details and opening hours see website here Christmas cookie workshops for children on Wednesday 3rd from 14:00 -16:30, Saturday 6th from 15:00 - 17:00 and Sunday 7th from 13:00 - 15:15. Other workshops too! See website hereDid you know that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart passed though Swiss Romandie in 1766? On Sunday 7th at the Château of Nyon from 16:00-17:15, there will be a Mozart recital given by Michel Kiener in the castle followed by an apéritif. Tickets CHF 25 - free entry for under 18 email info@chateaudenyon.ch to reserve or call 022 363 8351. More details here