2025-2026 Solo Jazz Piano Festival
April 10, 2026 @ 7:30 pm - April 11, 2026 @ 10:00 pm
10th Annual Solo Jazz Piano Festival
For all music lovers, not just pianists, who are interested in both the practical and spiritual aspects of jazz and improvised music. We will hear six brilliant pianists (4 headliners and 2 emerging artists) perform and discuss their relationship to the instrument, to the jazz lineage, to structure and to artistic freedom.
In the Solo Jazz Piano Festival, you will experience the various ways that artists who have dedicated their lives to the study of jazz piano relate with the instrument. Since the festival started, in 2017, the VJC has hosted 60 pianists including NEA Jazz Masters Joanne Brackeen and Toshiko Akiyoshi. Other well-known musicians who have participated in the festival include Stanley Cowell, Helen Sung, Sullivan Fortner, Benny Green, Aaron Parks, Jacky Terrason, Sullivan Fortner and many others. 2025’s headliners included Carmen Staaf, Johnny O’Neal, Luther Allison, and Sean Mason. The emerging artists for that event were Estefanía Nunez Villamundos and Michael Carabello.
The structure of each year’s festival includes one-set performances and hour-long masterclasses by each headliner, half-hour sets by 2 emerging artists and a lively panel discussion with all the participants. All events take place at the Vermont Jazz Center and will be live-streamed.
The VJC Solo Piano Festival was inspired by the donation of a Steinway Concert Grand piano by the McKenzie Family Charitable Trust.
Confirmed artist at this date: Rachel Z and Mathis Picard, others TBA
SCHEDULE TO BE ANNOUNCED
