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.

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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 released on Tuesday.
   
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 8th, the foundation said, to be followed in the spring by a memorial event in New York.
   
Finally, on July 26th and 27th London's Royal Opera House will host a "special event" conceived by Nobs.

The programme will be released later.

The lineup for the 47th Montreux Jazz Festival, to be held from July 5th to 20th 2013, has also yet to be announced.

But French rock star Johnny Hallyday tweeted a few days ago that he would be at Montreux this year "to pay tribute" to Nobs, whom he hailed as "passionate and courageous."

His planned appearance has yet to be confirmed.