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Jazztopad Festival New York 2026
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10th Edition | June 17–21, 2026 | Manhattan

 

Presented by the National Forum of Music in Wrocław in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York and Adam Mickiewicz Institute

 

Lineup includes:

Tomasz Dąbrowski NYC Quartet feat. Marta Sanchez, Luke Stewart and Kweku Sumbry (world premiere)

SUTARInova with special guest Shahzad Ismaily (premiere)

DoYeon Kim with John Hébert, Satoshi Takeishi, and special guest Matylda Gerber (world premiere)

house concert at Maqam Studio

closing night at Close Up

 

Concerts to take place at Dizzy's at Jazz at Lincoln Center, David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, Maqam Studio, Rizzoli Bookstore and Close Up (Lower East Side)

 

New York, NY — Poland's paradigm-shifting Jazztopad Festival returns to New York City for its tenth edition, June 17–21, 2026, marking a milestone for one of Europe's most forward-thinking jazz festivals and its longest-running international satellite. From its founding home at the National Forum of Music in Wrocław, Jazztopad has spent a decade building a New York presence defined by adventurous programming, world premieres, and an ethos of genuine cross-cultural exchange. The 2026 edition upholds that standard with a five-day run spanning three Manhattan venues and for the first time, the emergent downtown jazz club Close Up on the Lower East Side, a breeding ground for New York’s young visionaries.

 

Presented by the National Forum of Music in Wrocław in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York and Adam Mickiewicz Institute, this year's edition is organized by NFM Director Olga Humeńczuk and Artistic Director Piotr Turkiewicz, who has shaped each New York edition around the idea that the best improvised music happens when artists from different traditions meet without a predetermined common language — and find one anyway. 

 

The 2026 program brings together Polish and American musicians alongside an internationally assembled ensemble for a world premiere commission, while continuing the festival's tradition of intimate house concerts alongside its higher-profile Lincoln Center engagements. The closing night at Close Up, a Lower East Side venue that opened in 2024 and has quickly become a gathering point for New York's emerging jazz community, signals a deliberate expansion of the festival's footprint into the city's newer performance ecosystem.

 

2026 JAZZTOPAD NYC PROGRAM

 

Wednesday, June 17, 2026 | 7:00 PM & 9:00 PM

Dizzy's Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center 10 Columbus Circle, New York, NY

Tomasz Dąbrowski NYC Quartet feat. Marta Sanchez, Luke Stewart and Kweku Sumbry

Performance lineup:

Tomasz Dąbrowski – trumpet

Marta Sanchez – piano

Luke Stewart - double bass

Kweku Sumbry – drums

 

Thursday, June 18, 2026 | 7:30 PM

David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center 1887 Broadway, New York, NY 10023

SUTARInova with special guest Shahzad Ismaily

Performance lineup:

Basia Songin – vocals, electro-bass, Polish drum

Kasia Kapela – vocals, violin, Polish drum

Filip Zakrzewski – dub, fx, electronic instruments

Shahzad Ismaily – special guest, double bass, guitar

 

Friday, June 19, 2026 | 6:00 PM

Maqam Studio New York, NY

House Concert with Festival Artists

A Jazztopad tradition: an intimate house concert setting offering festival artists and audiences an informal point of encounter outside the main-stage framework.

 

Saturday, June 20, 2026 | 7:30 PM

David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center 1887 Broadway, New York, NY 10023 

 DoYeon Kim, John Hébert, Satoshi Takeishi; Special guest: Matylda Gerber

Performance lineup:

DoYeon Kim – gayageum

John Hébert – double bass

Satoshi Takeishi – drums & percussion

Matylda Gerber – saxophone (special guest)

 

Sunday, June 21, 2026 | 5:00 PM

Rizzoli Bookstore 1133 Broadway, New York, NY 10010

Hamid Drake & River Sisters

Hamid Drake –drums

River Sisters- strings

 

Sunday, June 21, 2026 | 

Close Up 154 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002

Festival Closing Night

 

7.30 PM:

Tomasz Dąbrowski - Henry Fraser - Jon Starks - Elias Stemeseder- Special Guests 

Performers: 

Tomasz Dąbrowski - Trumpet
Henry Fraser - Bass
Jon Starks - Drums/Electronics
Elias Stemeseder - Piano/Synth

Mat Ylda - Sax

 

9.00 PM:

Tomasz Dąbrowski - Henry Fraser - Jon Starks - Elias Stemeseder- Special Guests 

Performers:

Tomasz Dąbrowski - Trumpet
Henry Fraser - Bass
Jon Starks - Drums/Electronics
Elias Stemeseder - Piano/Synth

Mat Ylda - Sax

 

10.30 PM:

Yvonne Rogers - Solomon Gottfried - Special Guests 

Performers:

Yvonne Rogers - Piano
Solomon Gottfried – Bass

Special Guests

 

The tenth edition of Jazztopad NYC closes at Close Up, the artist-driven jazz club at 154 Orchard Street in the Lower East Side that opened in 2024 and has rapidly emerged as a focal point for New York's new generation of jazz performers and listeners. Founded with an explicit commitment to showcasing both the musician and the listener, Close Up represents a natural extension of Jazztopad's own values — intimate, community-rooted, aesthetically open. The partnership marks the festival's first appearance at the venue, extending its downtown presence and connecting its Polish-American programming mission with a room built around the same ethos of risk and discovery.

 

More info: 

https://www.nfm.wroclaw.pl/en/festivals/jazztopad-festival