The Belgrade Jazz Festival, Serbia's oldest and most internationally acclaimed jazz event, brings another first-rate programme for its 42nd edition, presenting the latest currents in contemporary jazz. From October 21 to 24, 2026, Dom omladine Beograda will host 13 concerts by prominent international artists and a closing jam session.
The festival's key visual, featuring a stylised trumpet at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers below Kalemegdan fortress, inspired this year's slogan — "Jazz Confluence". Belgrade really is that confluence, where for more than half a century the genre's greatest heroes from every corner of the world have met, along with the most varied styles that together describe jazz.
For the first time in the history of the Belgrade Jazz Festival, the biggest star comes from the world of the blues — Ana Popović. It is also the first time the biggest star is from Serbia, and for good reason. Ana is the most successful Serbian popular-music artist of all time. She has received ten Blues Music Award nominations (the Oscars of the blues world), headlined leading blues festivals around the world, and appeared on the covers of prestigious blues and guitar magazines. This year Ana turns fifty and marks a quarter of a century since her solo debut, "Hush", while the Belgrade blues scene celebrates its 45th birthday. It is interesting that her first major performances were at Dom omladine Beograda, at the legendary St. James Club and at the Marsoni Blues Fest — exactly 30 years ago. The opening concert also evokes the festival's editions of the seventies, when many blues greats appeared here — B. B. King, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Memphis Slim... This is the right moment for our own blues heroine to continue that line!
The choice of American bands reflects today's diversity of the genre in the land where it was born. Among them, the trio The Messthetics draws particular attention, with roots in the celebrated alternative rock band Fugazi, whose members included bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty. This hard-edged post-punk trio is surprisingly joined by the world's leading jazz musician in 2025 (when he also impressed our audience) — tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis. This embrace of rock'n'roll and jazz brings a powerful groove, uncompromising solos and a fiery performance — without a doubt announcing the jazz event of the season in Belgrade. Also arriving at the Festival from the American scene are trumpeter Rob Mazurek in the Chicago Underground Duo project with drummer Chad Taylor, followed by Marquis Hill, winner of the Thelonious Monk competition and DownBeat's greatest talent among trumpeters in 2016, as well as the trio of violinist Arun Ramamurthy, whose music creates a hypnotic fusion of South Indian Carnatic tradition and contemporary jazz.
The European selection brings, as usual, the best of the best from the countries with which the festival has long worked. Saxophonist Tino Tracanna, who previously made a superb impression in Paolo Fresu's quintet, presents "Panorchestra", winner of the Top Jazz award for Best Italian Jazz Album. The octet, with six horn players, mixes the New Orleans tradition with Italian musical romanticism, organically joining distant worlds. The European "jazz team" will also feature the superstar duo of Spanish pianist Daniel García and Swiss vocalist Andreas Schaerer; pianist João Paulo Esteves da Silva and his quartet will present "País Distante", the second-ranked album in Portugal in 2025; and we will also get to know the greatest talents of Polish jazz: the group Akimbo shone at last year's Central European Jazz Showcase in Brno, while the quartet JuMa made its mark at the Jazz Juniors competition in Kraków.
The selection from the Serbian jazz scene brings encounters with leading players of the middle and younger generations. The opening night features the world premiere of Vladimir Nikolov's new programme, "History Now". His nonet's music draws on the rich history of jazz, interpreting it through the musical language of the present. Trumpeter Ivan Radivojević will premiere the complete programme of his second album, "Not Quite Sun, Not Quite the Moon", a blend of contemporary New York and Scandinavian melancholy. Young baritone saxophonist Đorđe Kujundžić mixes Latin rhythms with the blues, Balkan folklore and the cabaret spirit of Weill and Waits.
Over four days of another celebration of jazz in Belgrade, blues, neo-bop, post-punk, hip-hop, R&B, neo-soul, flamenco, Latin and funk all merge into a unique confluence of jazz, encompassing both the mainstream and the avant-garde.
As many as 12 groups are performing at the festival for the first time, which gives this edition a particular charm. The variety of their stylistic approaches paints an exciting picture of the present jazz moment, once again presenting an oasis of good taste in Serbian cultural life.
A limited number of season ticket packages for the 42nd Belgrade Jazz Festival (each package is valid for eight concerts in the main programme starting at 7 p.m.) is available at the eFinity box office at Dom omladine Beograda.
Individual tickets for all concerts are available at all eFinity points of sale and online.
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The City of Belgrade, the founder and patron of the Belgrade Jazz Festival, included BJF in 2007 on the list of events of special significance.
The Festival is organised by the Belgrade Youth Center.
The 42nd BJF is held under the patronage of the City of Belgrade – City Administration – Secretariat for Culture, and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia.
Friends of the 42nd BJF are SOKOJ and DPC Networks.
BJF is supported by: the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrade, Instituto Cervantes, the Embassy of Portugal and Camões Institute, the Zbigniew Seifert Foundation, Mid Atlantic Arts.
Creative concept and visual identity: Agency McCann Belgrade.
The Belgrade Jazz Festival is, by invitation, a member of the Europe Jazz Network.