Pori Jazz begins today, Friday, July 10; the festival lasts nine days and ends on Saturday, July 18. The main concerts at Kirjurinluoto Concert Park will take place July 16–18.
As is tradition, the festival will feature not only jazz but also other types of rhythm-based music in approximately 100 concerts. Unlike many other major festivals, Pori offers a wealth of free concerts, events aimed at young people, family-friendly programming, and cultural and artistic events organized by partners.
Performers on the main stage at Kirjurinluoto, where admission is charged, include Seal, Tom Odell, and John Legend. Meanwhile, the Lokkilava stage—dedicated to jazz—will feature renowned jazz pianists such as Kenny Barron, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and Fred Hersch, as well as award-winning jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant. Finnish jazz, now celebrating its 100th anniversary, will be represented at the festival by, among others, the band Kaisa’s Machine, led by bassist Kaisa Mäensivu, recipient of the Pori Jazz Artist of the Year 2026 award.
60 Years Since the First Festival
Next week marks the 60th anniversary of the first Pori Jazz festival. The first concerts took place in Kirjurinluoto on July 16–17, 1966, and the event is now Finland’s oldest continuously running rhythm music festival. A little over a month before Pori Jazz began in 1966, the Helsinki Folk Festival was held in Sandvik, Espoo, but it took place only once. Pori Jazz is also Finland’s oldest and one of Europe’s oldest jazz festivals.
“Although it has now been 60 years since the first Pori Jazz festival, this is actually the 59th festival. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 interrupted the tradition of holding the festival every summer. We will celebrate the 60th Pori Jazz festival next summer,” says Sampsa Jolma, CEO of Pori Jazz.
