Plovdiv Jazz Fest Returns with Grammy Winners and International Stars

The eleventh edition of Plovdiv Jazz Fest is set to take place from November 7 to 9, 2025, promising an exciting lineup of international and Bulgarian jazz talent. Since September 2025, the festival has strengthened its European profile by becoming a member of the European Jazz Network, further cementing Plovdiv as a key destination for jazz enthusiasts.

This year’s main program features six concerts at the Boris Hristov House of Culture, presenting Grammy winners, world-renowned jazz artists, and leading Bulgarian musicians. Alongside the main performances, the festival will host concerts by young jazz talents, jam sessions, and literary readings at Bee Bop Cafe. Trombonist Vili Stoyanov returns as the host for the second consecutive year.

An important tradition of the festival, the Grand Prize for Overall Contribution to Jazz Music in Bulgaria, will be awarded to Stoyan Yankulov – Stundzhi. He has earned international recognition for his distinctive and unconventional approach to drums, tambourine, and percussion, which has helped promote Bulgarian music globally.

The festival opens on November 7 at 7:30 p.m. with Hristo Yotsov, Antoni Donchev, and the All-Star Big Band, performing compositions spanning Yotsov’s career from 1982 to 2020. The evening continues with Scandinavian jazz, featuring the Jakob Carlsson Trio and Swedish singer Victoria Tolstoy, whose 30-year collaboration has produced a technically brilliant and emotionally compelling body of work.

On November 8, Bulgarian-American pianist and composer Milen Kirov performs with a quintet of top European musicians, combining Bulgarian musical traditions with contemporary jazz and world music. Following Kirov, celebrated jazz and gospel singer Liz Wright will take the stage, presenting her socially and politically inspired repertoire from a career spanning two decades. Literary art remains part of the festival, with a poetry reading by Elin Rahnev at Bee Bop Cafe on the same evening.

The final day, November 9, highlights two emblematic groups. Zone C, founded in 1992 by Vasil Parmakov, Stundzhi, and Veselin Veselinov, performs in tribute to Parmakov, featuring compositions from their latest album Quantum Integrity. The festival closes with a concert by the legendary Yellowjackets, a Grammy-winning ensemble with a 48-year career, presenting both new material from their album Fasten Up and timeless classics.

Each evening, Bee Bop Cafe hosts jam sessions, featuring musicians such as Boris Petkov, Ali Kelov, and Maria Vandeva. The Academic Jazz Band, a new initiative to support young performers, debuts on November 7, while children and adolescents from Rumi Ivanova’s Art Voice Center perform on November 9, highlighting the festival’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of jazz talent.

Tickets for the main concerts are available through the EVENTIM network, with one ticket covering both concerts on a given evening. More information about the festival can be found on its official website: https://plovdivjazzfest.com/