Sopot Jazz Festival is one of the oldest jazz festivals in Poland. The guiding principle of the festival is the high quality of the presented music, its authenticity and originality. When designing the event, we put special emphasis on an ambitious program, presenting interesting artists from around the world to the festival audience, both those with established popularity and those whose introduction to the stage of the Sopot festival is a breath of fresh air, positively influencing the contemporary image of jazz as a dynamically developing global music, facilitating contacts and mutual intercultural understanding.
In 2011-2015, the artistic director of the festival was Adam Pierończyk, a leading musician on the Polish jazz scene, a respected tenor and soprano saxophonist. "I want the main theme of the festival to be primarily the high quality of the presented music, its authenticity and originality. I want to show that jazz and improvisation are nowadays not only the United States, Poland and Europe, but almost all continents. and many intertwining cultures. Famous artists will appear at the festival, but I would like to put a strong emphasis on more independent artists and prove that it was worth discovering them for the audience of the Sopot festival. earlier in Poland ".
The 2016-2018 edition was curated by Greg Osby, the legendary American saxophonist. His main goal, as the Curator of Sopot Jazz, was to present both artists with well-established popularity and those whose music appeals to many listeners, as well as to introduce new talents full of life to the stage of the Sopot festival. "I would be delighted if we could act as a springboard for a career for a large group of enormously talented artists from all over the world," said Osby.
In 2019, Rainer Kern was the curator responsible for the festival's artistic program. As an independent cultural manager, curator and producer, Reiner Kern has led events in places such as Heidelberg, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Kuala Lumpur, Yunnan Province in China and New York. He is the originator and director of the largest German Jazz Festival "Enjoy Jazz - International Festival for Jazz and More" in Heidelberg. He is currently part of the Mannheim Agenda 2030 implementation and verification team and part of the group that represents Mannheim in UN projects such as HABITAT, the World Urban Forum and the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) at the UN headquarters in New York.
Sopot Jazz Festival 2020 was faster than usual, on August 28-30 at the Forest Opera. One of the most outstanding Polish jazz artists - Marcin Wasilewski worked on the program. “Being a curator of this oldest jazz festival in Poland is always a big challenge. This year it is special due to the coronavirus. I try to think of the epidemic as an opportunity to do something unique, ”declared Wasilewski.
"Our response is to present what is most interesting in Polish jazz", said Wasilewski, adding that the format of the festival enabled us to show all the nuances, relationships and connections - including generational ones.
Sopot Jazz Festival 2021
The last weekend in September. The program includes artists with an established position on the Polish jazz scene, rising stars, eternal experimenters and independent artists. Marcin Wasilewski as a curator and the debut of a new space in Sopot - the Grand Pavillion of the Radisson Blu Hotel. We invite you to this year's Sopot Jazz Festival, September 24-26, 2021
Realized with the financial resources of the City of Sopot.
Co-financed by the Minister of Culture, National Heritage and Sport from the Culture Promotion Fund - a state earmarked fund, as part of the Music program implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.
