BERGAMO JAZZ 2026
Artistic Direction by Joe Lovano

The festival day by day
March 19 to 22, 2026

20 events, more than 80 musicians for four intense days in the name of a thousand sounds of jazz spread throughout the city: from Thursday, March 19 to Sunday, March 22, the 47th edition of Bergamo Jazz, a festival organized by Fondazione Teatro Donizetti with the support of the City of Bergamo, MIC-Ministry of Culture and private sponsors, will take place.

Setting The Pace – dictating the pace, showing a way – is the title that Joe Lovano, for the third year Artistic Director of the Festival, wanted to imprint on Bergamo Jazz 2026, symbolizing a choral tribute to those in jazz who have shown new paths and in particular to Miles Davis and Johnm Coltrane, whose birth centenary falls this year: “In life, the arts, the sciences, sports and business, there have been people and collective bodies who have dictated the pace, the rhythm, with passion and love, representing a model for generations,” specifies Joe Lovano himself “As musicians we are constantly studying and developing to find our voice. This path is fueled by the sounds and spirit of the masters. Those who gave and give us the confidence and inspiration to reach today’s high standards. The artists who will perform at Bergamo Jazz Festival 2026 are, in turn, showing new ways to celebrate the legacy of Miles and Trane.”

Keeping true to its nature, Bergamo Jazz 2026 will also be a Festival with an international scope, a widespread Festival: in addition to the concerts at the Donizetti Theater and the Teatro Sociale in Città Alta, significant events hosted in small theaters, museums, and venues transformed for the occasion into cozy jazz clubs are in fact planned. Nourished will be the representation of Italian musicians, including numerous new talents brought together in the “Scintille di Jazz” section, and considerable will be the space for jazz conjugated with women, with the presence of established female instrumentalists and singers.

 

Here is the day-by-day program.

Thursday, March 19

The first day of Bergamo Jazz 2026 will take place in Città Alta, moving the first step from a particularly prestigious venue: the Aula Picta of the Bishop’s Palace, recently restored and open to the public. In this unprecedented location for music and jazz, American pianist Wayne Horvitz, an icon of the downtown New York scene of the 1980s and 1990s, will perform at 6 p.m. Instead, at the Circolino (6:30 p.m.), the duo formed by pianist Simone Locarni and guitarist Gianluca Palazzo will be heard for the first of five appointments with the “Scintille di Jazz” festival. In the evening (8:30 p.m.), the Teatro Sociale will host on its stage the trio of pianist Franco D’Andrea, excellence of jazz made in Italy, who will have at his side two exceptional companions of adventure, such as double bassist Gabriele Evangelista, a regular partner also of Enrico Rava and Stefano Bollani, and drummer Roberto Gatto, a veteran of endless musical battles to the sound of cymbals and drums. Next up will be the quartet of Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana, whose brilliant technical background is well balanced by an increasingly personal stylistic signature. Joining her will be pianist Pablo Held, double bassist Pablo Menares and drummer Kush Abadey.

Friday, March 20

Friday 20 is the day of the first of three subscription evenings at the Donizetti Theater, beloved by both local audiences and those from all over Italy and beyond. At 8:30 p.m., the stage of the city’s main theater will welcome the duo formed by double bass ace Dave Holland, a leading personality in jazz since the late 1960s, and Lionel Loueke, one of the most innovative guitarists to appear in recent decades. Holland and Loueke will serve as “openers” for the concert by Steve Coleman and his Five Elements, featuring Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet, Rich Brown on electric bass, and Sean Rickman on drums. The Chicago saxophonist will return to Bergamo exactly 20 years after his previous performance to offer his overwhelming visionary funk, in which the most imaginative improvisation is interpenetrated with rigorous compositional structures. The day’s program will also include a concert at the Palazzolo Institute Auditorium (6 p.m.), another new Bergamo jazz venue, by The Jazz Passengers, a cult lineup of cross-genre music that has always drawn on even the most sophisticated pop and rock. Led by one of its founders, saxophonist Roy Nathanson, The Jazz Passengers will line up for the occasion Sam Bardfeld on violin, Bill Ware on vibraphone, John Menegon on double bass and E.J. Rodriguez on drums. Special guest of the group will be vocalist Teri Roiger. On the lineup for “Sparks of Jazz” are the group Nomads by drummer Danièl Gaspàr Reynoso (at Dieci10 Via Quarenghi, 6:30 p.m.) and the group Siphonoforo by Bergamo guitarist Marco Pasinetti (NXT Bergamo in Piazzale Alpini, 11 p.m.).

Saturday, March 21

The third day of Bergamo Jazz 2026 kicks off, as is a well-established tradition, at the Accademia Carrara, at 11 a.m.: among the paintings of the city’s largest museum, violinist Anaïs Drago will perform with her very interesting trio Relevé, completed by clarinetist Federico Calcagno and drummer Max Trabucco. Then at the Palazzolo Institute Auditorium (5 p.m.), the festival spotlight will be on Norwegian guitarist Hedwig Mollestad‘s power trio, which promises an explosive blend of rock sounds and improvisation. Now a regular venue for the special events of “Sparks of Jazz,” Daste will host (6:30 p.m.) Tino Tracanna‘s Panorchestra, a lineup that just won the Top Jazz 2025 referendum from the monthly magazine Musica Jazz for “best record of the year.” The evening at the Donizetti (8:30 p.m.) will then be opened by one of the groups of the moment, Bad Plus, in a special edition featuring 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. The second set will welcome the return of Lakecia Benjamin, who will again be a guest of Bergamo Jazz after her highly successful participation in the festival in 2023. The New York saxophonist will present a series of new pieces assisted by keyboardist Oscar Perez, double bassist Elias Bailey and drummer Quentin Baxter. Finally, “After Festival” (11 p.m.), at NXT Bergamo in Piazzale Alpini with saxophonist Giacomo Cazzaro‘s quartet.

Sunday, March 22

The last day of Bergamo Jazz 2026 also promises to have a particularly full program: at 11 a.m., in the Aula Picta of the Palazzo Vescovile, there will be a solo piano performance by Argentine Leo Genovese, rising star of the 88 keys, while at 3 p.m. the Festival will move to the Sala Piatti for a concert by the British voice-piano duo formed by Norma Winstone, a charismatic figure of jazz from across the Channel, and Kit Downes, among the most talented European pianists of the last generation. At 5 p.m., at the Teatro Sociale, Bergamo Jazz will open to the refined mix of songwriting and jazz by Simona Molinari and her show “La Donna è Mobile,” a musical and theatrical journey that recounts the female figure through music and its infinite nuances, inspired by Verdi’s iconic aria. On stage, alongside the Neapolitan-born singer, an all-female band featuring saxophonist and flutist Chiara Lucchini, pianist Sade Mangiaracina, bassist Victoria Kirilova and Bergamo drummer Francesca Remigi. The final evening of Bergamo Jazz 2026 at Teatro Donizetti 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. A real dream band specially selected by the famous American saxophonist, whose direction will give life to different instrumental combinations and collective moments, leveraging expressive affinities, long artistic acquaintances, great mutual esteem. On trumpet will be Israeli Avishai Cohen, now long one of the leading names in the ECM catalog, a highly refined soloist and poetically Miles’ son. On tenor sax, in addition to Lovano himself, another authority on the instrument, George Garzone, one of Coltrane’s deepest connoisseurs, will be on the field. Another saxophonist, but on the occasion at various flutes, will be in the game: the British Shabaka Hutchings, among the strongest personalities of the new jazz. On piano will sit Leo Genovese, while Danish Jakob Bro will take up the guitar, with his usual refined but incisive style. Finally, on double bass and drums Drew Gress and Joey Baron, one of the best rhythm sections imaginable today.

Water Itinerary

On the mornings of Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 (World Water Day), starting at 9 a.m. from Colle Aperto, there will be Itinerario dell’acqua, an initiative devised together with UniAcque, the company that provides water service in Bergamo and its province, which cuts its 20th year this year. Under the banner of discovering or rediscovering some of the most beautiful corners of the Upper City, visitors will be able to walk along streets and alleys for about 3 kilometers, among cisterns, fountains, the historic washhouse on Via Mario Lupo and other notable sites. Some of the stops will be accompanied this year by musical moments, which will be performed by saxophonist Massimiliano Milesi and violinist and violist Daniele Richiedei, in solo or duo.

An exhibition to remember Gianni Bergamelli

A few months after his death, Bergamo Jazz 2026 remembers painter and musician Gianni Bergamelli, an important figure in Bergamo’s jazz life and often the author of the festival’s posters. The exhibition features a selection of recent works in which Gianni Bergamelli’s art is unfailingly permeated by the sounds and scents of jazz: the title Leftovers of Balera is the one the Nembro artist himself had envisioned for his next exhibition. Exhibition opening: Wednesday, March 18, 2026, 6 p.m. Open to the public: Wednesday, March 18 to Sunday, March 22, 2026, 6:30-8:30 pm. Free admission.