Events, Festivals and Exhibitions

During three days Bruges will become the Mecca of jazz when the biannual Jazz Brugge Festival 2018 sees both established names and emerging talent getting this medieval city swinging.

(This page will be updated when details of the 2020 Festival are announced on the official home page.)

First held in 2002 when Bruges was nominated as the Cultural Capital of Europe, the Jazz Brugge Festival has over the years turned into a major jazz event. Whereas until now the festival has been focusing exclusively – and daringly – on top quality jazz from Europe, this eighth edition of Jazz Brugge 2018 will break with this tradition and look beyond the horizon of European jazz. Expect musicians from Armenia and Albania to Senegal, Morocco and Iraq, as this year’s festival will embrace geographical and musical jazz influences from well beyond the old continent under the theme “Crossing Cultures”.

Jazz Brugge Festival 2018 programme

The opening night of the Jazz Brugge Festival 2018 will highlight W.E.R.F. Records – a unique Belgian jazz label – celebrating its 25^th anniversary. Apart from a wide range of varied artists who appeared on the label during the past quarter of a century, the opening night’s programme will also feature new creations, album releases and up-and-coming talent.

If you enjoy your visit to Bruges, then why not return for the Bruges Beer Festival held at the beginning of every year.

Musicians from beyond Europe will include the young, Chicago-based trumpeter Jaimie Branch; Reijseger, Fraanje and Sylla with a surprising and heart-warming mix of jazz, chamber music and African roots; the Omer Avital Quintet named after its bass player born in Israel from a mixed Moroccan-Yemenite family, blending jazz with Arab tunes and Jewish klezmer; American saxophonist Colin Stetson, a regular collaborator of Arcade Fire; American-Iraqi trumpeter Amir El Saffar exploring the boundaries between chamber and oriental music; Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan marrying lyrical jazz with Armenian tradition; American saxophonist James Brandon Lewis with his fiery mix of gospel tradition with hip hop and post-bop elements; Albanian multi-instrumentalist and singer Elina Duni bringing melancholic but passionate tunes of traditional folk; and local Belgian and European musicians.

Also on the programme will be jam sessions, informal live performances, workshops, installations and more.

Pricing and ticket information for the Jazz Brugge Festival 2018

Tickets are available per day (day pass) and for the entire three-day event (festival pass). A day pass costs 30 Euro in advance sale and 35 Euro at the box office. A festival pass is 75 Euro in advance sale and 85 euro at the box office. There’s a 10% discount for seniors over 65 (day passes only) and 50% discount for people below 26.

Tickets in advance sale can be bought till midnight the day before. If you read Dutch you can buy tickets online for a festival pass or separate day tickets for 16, 17 and 18 November. To buy tickets by telephone, call: +32 70 22 12 12 or +32 59 33 90 00. Tickets can also be bought at the box office on the day, starting 60 minutes before the concert.

The concerts will take place in the Concertgebouw Brugge, the city’s main cultural venue.

Accommodation for the Jazz Brugge Festival 2018

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More information on the Jazz Brugge Festival 2018

For more details, visit the official Jazz Brugge website.