The brightest Ukrainian jazz festivals
Leopolis Jazz Fest (called Alfa Jazz Fest until 2017) is an international open-air jazz festival which was set up in 2011 and has since been held annually in June in Lviv, Ukraine. Its yearly line-up features over a hundred world-class musicians spread over three stages in the city, with over 100,000 spectators and around 200 accredited press reporters. The Guardian has included the festival in its list of Europe’s top ten jazz festivals.
All images belong to Leopolis Jazz Fest
Founded in 2001 in both Lviv and Przemyśl, the Jazz Bez International Jazz Festival is a week-long event with concerts which span across Ukraine and Poland. Over it’s history, more than 1500 musicians have played in the festival. The main goal of Jazz Bez is to show the actual jazz music of Europe in Ukraine. Jazz Bez embraces a variety of jazz music both traditional and experimental. The organisers of Jazz Bez are convinced that the development of the local jazz scene is only possible through collaboration and dialog of different cultures.
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Am I Jazz? is an annual festival of Black American and improvised music since 2016. It takes place at Closer, an art and events space located in an old ribbon factory in Kyiv. Its programme includes concerts, workshops, Q&As, film screenings, and Closer’s famous night parties. Am I Jazz? Focuses on vanguard jazz and improvised music and emphasises the contrasts and parallels between new acoustic and electronic music, inviting the audience to listen, discuss, and dance.
During last four years, it has hosted international artists such as Bilal (US), José James (US), Matthew Shipp Trio (US), Steve Coleman and Five Elements (US), Kassa Overall Trio (US), Burnt Friedman (DE), Laura Perrudin (FR), AMBIQ (DE), Håkon Kornstad (NO), among others.
Creator: Kirai gigs
Jazz Kolo is a festival created for highlighting Ukrainian jazz, helping connect Ukrainian musicians and develop Ukrainian improv music. Jazz Kolo invites the musical elite of Ukraine and Europe to its concert series. The festival was founded in 2007 by Ihor Zakus, the founder, organiser and active participant of the Jazz Kolo Concert Series, which has run successfully in Kyiv and beyond. All its concerts are recorded on audio and video.
Creator: Oleksandr Zubkov
Koktebel Jazz Festival is an annual multi-genre music and arts festival that has been held since 2003 in Koktebel, Crimea. The festival was founded as a fundraising event to help in the reconstruction of the museum of Ukrainian-Russian poet and painter Maximilian Voloshin in 2003 and bring his creative community atmosphere back to Koktebel village in Crimea.
The open-air festival is annually attended by about 20 thousand visitors. Since 2014 due to the Russian Federation's seizure of the Crimean peninsula, the festival has become a nomadic event and has been held in different locations in Ukraine on the shores of the Black and Azov seas. In different years festival was headlined by such international acts as Stanley Clarke, Billie Cobham, Archie Shepp, The Cinematic Orchestra, Parov Stelar, Nino Katamadze, Bonobo, Telepopmusik, Red Snapper, Patrick Wolf, Submotion Orchestra, De Phazz, Morcheeba, Koop Oscar Orchestra, and many others.
Creator: Stanislav Yurchenko
An international jazz festival, which has been held in Odesa every September since 2001 and is a platform for the representation and interaction of the best Ukrainian and international jazz projects. Odesa JazzFest gather around music performances, master classes, jam sessions and other event audiences of different age, social status and musical preferences, stimulate the development of local music projects, increases the cultural potential of the city, initiates an international cultural dialogue among musicians from different countries and promotes recognition of the Ukrainian festival scene and its representatives outside the country. The particular feature of Odessa Jazz Fest is the wide geography of the participating countries and the stylistic diversity of the presented music.
Creator: Mykola Vdovenko
The festival has been the hallmark of the city of Dnipro for more than 50 years. In 2016, keeping abreast of modern times, the festival got a new life, completely changing the format and entering the international level. Every year, in the middle of summer, world-class stars and aspiring musicians from different countries perform on the stage of “Jazz on the Dnieper”. Over the new history of “Jazz on the Dnieper”, many great names appeared here: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jacky Terrasson, Richard Bona, The Hot Sardines, The Messenger Legacy, Cyrus Chestnut, Eli Degibri, Benny Green, Dado Moroni, Deborah Brown, Patti Austin, Joey DeFrancesco, Randy Brecker and others.
Creator: Oleksandr Kozakov
“Art Jazz Cooperation” is an international jazz festival held in Lutsk and Rivne cities. In 2021 “Art Jazz” in Rivne for the first time hosted “Art Jazz School” residence with participation of 40 students and 7 professional teachers from Ukraine, Poland and Germany, top representatives of the jazz and folklore scene with relevant international teaching experience and performances.
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An annual multidisciplinary international festival which has been held since 2018 and contains music, visual art, cinema, theatre, literature. Jazz program is an integral part of the festival. Ukrainian and foreign jazz stars take part in it. Starting in 2020, there are always streams or recordings of festival events. Together with a brilliant program and a very nice venue (St. Sophia National Reserve) this festival became a real rejoicing for city dwellers and guests.
All images belong to Bouquet Kyiv Stage
The international festival "Vinnytsia Jazzfest" has been held annually in autumn in the city of Vinnytsia since 1996. Well-known jazz musicians from Ukraine, Poland, Switzerland, the United States of America and other countries took part in the event.