From 29 October to 1 November, Jazzfest Berlin will showcase over 135 international musicians from more than 25 countries at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, A-Trane, Quasimodo and Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Under the artistic direction of Nadin Deventer, the 2026 edition of the festival will spotlight 24 acts – featuring four world premieres, two European premieres and five German premieres, including works by Anthony Braxton, Alexander von Schlippenbach and the Globe Unity Orchestra, Camila Nebbia, Christian Lillinger and Wendy Eisenberg. The Jazzfest Community Week already begins on 26 October with workshops and neighbourhood concerts at the Jazz Institute Berlin and various venues in Berlin-Moabit.
The full programme for the 63rd edition of the festival has been published, and press accreditation is now open. Ticket sales start on 17 September at 14:00.
Berlin’s international art and music scene is characterised by openness, diversity and constant renewal, the city remains a place of aspiration and a canvas for people from all over the world. A testament to this urban diversity is the cross-generational and now award-winning short film DREAM BABY DREAM, which was created as part of Jazzfest Berlin 2025 with 60 participants. Exploring questions of belonging, utopia, dreams and trauma, the film not only provides the theme for this year’s festival, but will also open the festival on the Main Stage.
Jazzfest Berlin has always seen itself as a meeting place between tradition and the future, local perspectives and global experiences, as well as different communities, ways of working and forms of expression. This year, Camila Nebbia, Mariá Portugal and ganavya – Berlin-based artists originally from Argentina, Brazil and the United States – embody this dialogue: they move effortlessly between continents, artistic scenes and musical languages.
For six decades now, Anthony Braxton has been exploring liminal spaces, pushing aesthetic boundaries and inventing new musical systems. Fifty years after his first appearance at the Berliner Jazztage and seven years after his impressive Sonic Genome performance at Gropius Bau, the pioneering multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator returns to Jazzfest Berlin this year with a new septet. Furthermore, as part of the Jazzfest Community Week, he will meet the next generation of jazz musicians and offer 25 students from the Jazz Institut Berlin (JIB) insights into his artistic practice: The JIB Creative Music Orchestra, formed as a result of this workshop, will be one of the highlights of this year’s Jazzfest Community Week with a concert in Georg-Neumann-Saal at JIB.
The 2026 edition of the festival also brings together some of the most influential voices on the international creative music scene, including the CHICAGO UNDERGROUND Duo, the Tomeka Reid Quartet, the ensemble Twin Talk, the band Clone Row led by the versatile drummer Ches Smith, the all-star trio Graewe / Jones / Drake, and the acclaimed quartet led by the exceptional saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, all from the USA. Christian Lillingers’ world premiere Open Form For Society II, performed by an international ensemble, presents a radically condensed form of chamber music, in which five musicians explore the bandleader’s intricate compositions on keyboard instruments. And BONECRUSHER, an extraordinary orchestra conducted by Matthias Muche, brings together no fewer than 10 trombones at Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
The human voice also plays a central role in this year’s programme. Vocal artists such as Karoline Wallace, Alejandra Charry (¡ Ya voy !), Wendy Eisenberg and Amir ElSaffar move between song, improvisation and transcultural sound exploration. Jazzfest Berlin also welcomes two outstanding musicians from the UK, Alexander Hawkins and Laura Jurd, as well as key figures of the Scandinavian scene, including Elin Forkelid and the ensemble (Exit) Knarr, led by double bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten. Otomo Yoshihide arrives from Japan with his quintet, whilst the Iranian clarinettist Shabnam Parvaresh is presenting her Sheen Trio for the first time at Jazzfest Berlin.
With eight neighbourhood concerts, workshops for children and students, decolonial city tours, a seminar and several film screenings, Jazzfest Community Week invites audiences and residents to a diverse programme of events taking place across Moabit from 26 October onwards.
The festival will conclude with a Berlin legend: Alexander von Schlippenbach and his Globe Unity Orchestra. The ensemble made music history in the 1960s when it challenged the audience at the Philharmonie Berlin with its uncompromising free jazz. Sixty years after its debut at Jazzfest Berlin, the orchestra returns with Apokalyptische Nabelschau to bring the festival to a close – an edition that brings together more than 200 participants from Berlin and around the world, including artists, young people, children and adults aged between six and 88. Together, they embody the artistic diversity, cosmopolitanism and innovative spirit that have always characterised jazz: Dream Baby Dream!
Ticket sales start on 17 September at 14:00. Press accreditation for Jazzfest Berlin 2026 opens today, applications must be submitted by 12 October.