Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) with the support of Garanti BBVA as main sponsor, the Istanbul Jazz Festival returns from 30 June to 13 July 2026 with a rich and wide-ranging programme celebrating the city’s dynamic musical landscape.
This year’s line-up features artists such as Robert Plant, Marcus Miller, Thee Sacred Souls, Arooj Aftab, Mari Froes, Joe Lovano, Antonio Faraò and Veronica Swift alongside leading Turkish jazz artists. With its inspiring venues, special festival projects and a strong presence of local talent, the festival once again promises an immersive celebration of music across Istanbul.
The Istanbul Jazz Festival returns to the city for its 33rd edition, once again celebrating the boundless and liberating spirit of jazz. Bringing together visionary artists who have reshaped the global music landscape through bold, innovative and experimental approaches, the festival will present local and international musicians — from world-renowned masters to emerging talents — across almost 30 concerts over 14 days. Spanning more than 10 venues throughout the city, the programme ranges from innovative voices of contemporary jazz to masters rooted in tradition, from projects expanding boundaries with electronic textures to the most intimate forms of acoustic expression.
Jazz Takes Over the City
The 33rd Istanbul Jazz Festival will host three major names in its first three days at Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Open Air Theatre. The festival will open on Tuesday, 30 June, with Marcus Miller. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of his mentor Miles Davis’s birth, Miller will perform with the WE WANT MILES! project, joined by Bill Evans, Mike Stern, Mino Cinelu and Russell Gunn. On Wednesday, 1 July, rising soul group Thee Sacred Souls—known for songs such as ‘Can I Call You Rose?’ and ‘Will I See You Again?’—will meet audiences at the festival for their first-ever concert in Türkiye. On Thursday, 2 July, Robert Plant, the legendary voice of Led Zeppelin, will appear with his widely acclaimed new band Saving Grace and Suzi Dian.
Following these three headline concerts, the festival will continue to present an eclectic and inspiring programme. Grammy Award-winning Arooj Aftab, with her music blending jazz, minimalism, South Asian musical traditions, and avant-pop will take the stage. Joe Lovano, regarded among today’s finest jazz saxophonists, will perform with Antonio Faraò in their latest project, ‘Joe Lovano & Antonio Faraò: Explorations’, enriched by bassist Ira Coleman and drummer Jonathan Blake.. The line-up also features Mari Froes, a young and rising star of modern Brazilian musical styles; Veronica Swift, one of the most accomplished and prolific jazz vocalists of our time; and world-renowned Turkish percussion master Ayhan Sicimoğlu with his band Harikalar Bandosu; and Selen Beytekin, a distinctive voice of Istanbul’s jazz scene, who will appear with her orchestra alongside trumpeter Hermon Mehari and pianist Tony Tixier.
The festival’s traditional events will once again bring the music beyond concert halls. Night Out with +1 in Kadıköy will invite audiences to follow good music through the district, with back-to-back performances at Moda Sahnesi and Komünite by, L’Eclair, TurkodiRoma, Lhodos Project, 3pillie and Jazzbois, promising a vibrant musical marathon.
Jazz Boat will unite the joyful spirit of jazz with one of Istanbul’s beloved Şehir Hatları ferries, welcoming Kamucan Yalçın and her group Kamucan Yalçın and Friends, alongside Brassist, the Istanbul-based brass quintet carrying the New Orleans brass band tradition into the present day.
Free Jazz in the Parks concerts, spreading music to every corner of the city and appealing to audiences of all ages, will once again transform Istanbul’s parks into open-air festival venues.
