Jazz Cerkno
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FRIDAY, 22/05/2026
SATURDAY, 23/05/2026
SUNDAY, 24/05/2026
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31. Jazz Cerkno, May 22-24 2026
This year’s 31st edition of the Jazz Cerkno festival offers an insight into a broad spectrum of new jazz, presented by leading representatives of American, European and Slovenian jazz with entirely new projects. From solo performances to big bands, electronics and hip hop, nu-jazz and free jazz, fragments of traditional music and free improvisation – all this and much more will flow into the distinctive sonic visions of this year’s performers. We will host a remarkable number of guitarists – perhaps more than ever before – with the six-string instrument featured in as many as six bands. However, the guitar does not take center stage in them all, but rather it blends harmoniously with other instruments, whether in stunning spontaneous improvisations and experiments or in carefully composed jazz pieces that continue to expand and reshape this enduring genre. As always, the main program is complemented by a variety of accompanying events, including a music residency, a workshop for children, a live discussion with multidisciplinary artists, and the Jazz Hike – a guided walk culminating in a concert.
You are warmly invited to the 31st Jazz Cerkno for a fresh dose of a wide range of jazz – from big band sound to nu-jazz to free improvisation.
Organization and production:
Zavod Jazz Cerkno
Trg prekomorskih brigad 1
SI-5282 Cerkno, Slovenija
+386 (0)5 374 53 34
info@jazzcerkno.si
Artistic direction: Simon Kenda, Anja Figelj
Texts: Mario Batelić
Graphic design: Vladimir Mićković, Ljudje
Jazz Cerkno is a member of Europe Jazz Network.
The organizer holds the right to change the scheduled program.
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More about Jazz Cerkno festival
The main music event organised by Jazz Cerkno has been taking place annually in mid-May since 1996. The festival venue is the square “star plac” in the centre of Cerkno. Three evenings of programme present various musicians and artists from all over the world, established and unknown, all of them united in finding new ways in jazz music and thus widening their horizons. The festival as such is important not only for the musical challenges and pleasures it grants, but also for representing the current trends in jazz music in general. Jazz, heard in Cerkno is never unambiguous, because the programme emphasises the unconventional and creative music, the collision of cultures and music practices, confrontation of various approaches where jazz often comes across other music forms and assumes different elements from them.
Rock, electronic music, modern and old classical music, experimental music, various traditional types of music and much more: all of it can be found in various combinations with jazz as such in the motley programme of the Jazz Cerkno festival. It is never self-limited by genre purity or orthodoxy. Special attention is paid to Slovene musicians and many bands or musicians had their first project presentation in front of the public in Cerkno. The same is true for foreign musicians who expanded the sonority limits and tore down the boundaries among genre and other conventions. All Jazz Cerkno festival concerts are exclusive in Slovenia. The festival programme is enriched by various workshops, exhibitions and similar event. The festival is also well known for its lively after-party.