EVENTS IN PERUGIA

Umbria Jazz Festival - luglio

Umbria boasts one of the most important jazz festivals in Europe featuring a programme rich with concerts that, in recent years, have included performances by stellar artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Michel Petrucciani, Caetano Veloso, Keith Jarrett, Wynton Marsalis and Charles Mingus.

This festival has made an important contribution to spreading knowledge and increasing awareness about jazz in the old world. And what makes the festival and its concerts so amazing are not only the great names in jazz that have appeared on the stages and in the streets in addition to the most acclaimed musicians of rock, blues and pop including Carlos Santana, Sting, Elton John, B. B. King, Eric Clapton, but the location. The theatres and clubs aren’t the only places where performances are held; concerts also take place in the squares, streets and Romanesque churches where music meets face to face with Umbria’s Romanesque character and starry skies. The festival began in the early 1970’s, almost on a whim, and its earliest editions reflect the political climate and social focus of those years with performances by Weather Report and the free concerts that literally made guests and jazz enthusiasts break the fragile equilibrium of an Umbria that, at the time, wasn’t accustomed to masses of visitors crowding its streets to attend the string of concerts.

In more recent years, this Umbrian festival has attempted to merge the libertarian spirit of the 1970’s with the refined taste of music enthusiasts, through a programme that includes free concerts in the city squares and distinguished exhibitions held against the fascinating backdrop of Perugia’s historic city centre.

More info: www.umbriajazz.com