BERGAMO JAZZ 2026
Artistic Direction by Joe Lovano

Beginning Wednesday, Jan. 14 the sale of new subscriptions to the three evenings at the Donizetti Theater
and tickets for the two concerts at the Teatro Sociale

Tuesday, Jan. 20 presentation of all other events

It’s countdown time for the 47th edition of Bergamo Jazz, the third under the Artistic Direction of renowned American saxophonist Joe Lovano. And it’s time for the season ticket campaign: in fact, from Wednesday, January 14, new season tickets can be purchased for the three evenings scheduled at the Donizetti Theater from March 20 to 22 and tickets for the two concerts hosted at the Teatro Sociale on the evening of Thursday 19 and in the afternoon of the 22nd. From Wednesday, January 28, tickets will then go on sale for the individual evenings in the city’s main theater and for the other events that will spread the thousand sounds of jazz throughout the city for four days. Subscriptions and tickets can be purchased at the Donizetti Theater Box Office and online, on the Vivaticket circuit.

Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 3 p.m. in the Music Room “Tremaglia” is scheduled to present to the press and the public the full program of the Festival, which will again this year enter prestigious museums and other theaters, also devoting attention to young people, with meetings curated by the Educational Center Music Production and the review “Sparks of Jazz.”

Unfailingly faithful to the Festival’s natural international vision, the 2026 edition of Bergamo Jazz will be in the wake of an extraordinary anniversary: the centenary of the birth of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, pillars of African-American musical and cultural expressiveness, masters of an artistic thought that is more alive today than ever before.

Jazz at Donizetti

On Friday, March 20, the first of three subscription evenings at Teatro Donizetti, beginning at 8:30 p.m., beloved by both Bergamasks and those from all over Italy and beyond, will be opened by the duo formed by double bass ace Dave Holland and Lionel Loueke, one of the most innovative guitarists to appear on the jazz scene in recent decades. Holland and Loueke will serve as “openers” to the concert by Steve Coleman and his Five Elements: the Chicago saxophonist will return to the Donizetti stage exactly 20 years after his previous performance to offer his well-rehearsed blend of visionary funk in which the most imaginative improvisation is interpenetrated with rigorous compositional structures.
The next evening, Bergamo Jazz will offer for listening one of the groups of the moment, Bad Plus, in a special edition that will feature its two founding members, double bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King, joined by saxophonist Chris Potter and pianist Craig Taborn, or two other giants of contemporary jazz in their respective instrumental specificities. Central to the quartet’s music will be compositions written by Keith Jarrett for his glorious American Quartet, the one in which the Allentown pianist dialogued with Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian.
Next, we will greet the return of Lakecia Benjamin after her highly successful participation in the Festival in 2023: the New York saxophonist will present her new album, on the strength of her five Grammy nominations in a short time.
The third and final subscription evening of Bergamo Jazz 2026 will hinge entirely on the special project conceived by Joe Lovano himself to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. On the Donizetti stage will take to the stage, giving life to different instrumental and musical combinations, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, a highly refined soloist akin to Miles Davis’ poetics; saxophonist George Garzone, one of Coltrane’s deepest connoisseurs; Briton Shabaka Hutchings, among the strongest personalities of the new jazz and on the occasion in the guise of flutist; and Danish Jakob Bro, who will harness the guitar with his usual refined but incisive style. At the piano will sit Argentine Leo Genovese, rising star of the 88 keys, while the roles of double bassist and drummer will be filled respectively by Drew Gress and Joey Baron, one of the best rhythm sections working today.

Jazz at the Social

Also in 2026, there will be two appointments at the Teatro Sociale in Città Alta, the first of which, on the evening of Thursday, March 19 (8:30 p.m.,) will first offer the new trio of pianist Franco D’Andrea, excellence of jazz made in Italy who will have at his side two exceptional companions in adventure such as double bassist Gabriele Evangelista and drummer Roberto Gatto. The same evening will feature the quartet of Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana, whose brilliant technical background is well balanced by an increasingly personal stylistic figure.
On Sunday 22 (at 5 p.m.) Bergamo Jazz 2026 will open up to the sophisticated mix of pop and jazz of Simona Molinari and her show “La Donna è Mobile,” a musical and theatrical journey that tells the story of the female figure through music and its infinite nuances, inspired by Verdi’s iconic aria. On stage, alongside the singer, an all-female band composed of musicians with vast experience in various musical fields: saxophonist and flutist Chiara Lucchini, pianist Sade Mangiaracina, bassist Elisabetta Pasquale and drummer Francesca Remigi.

As previously mentioned, the Bergamo Jazz 2026 program will be completed by events hosted, even in the morning and late into the evening, in other theaters, museums, and venues, bringing jazz music into contact with the city’s fabric, infecting it with its spirit of adventure, with its universal message of peace and dialogue between different peoples. A message that is current and necessary, especially in complex times like those we are living in.

Bergamo Jazz now has a new dedicated website, linked to the usual website of the Donizetti Theater Foundation, to give even more communicative prominence to the Festival itself: the site contains, in a clear and immediately accessible way, all useful information for the public.