Musician Lisa Simone, daughter of jazz legend Nina Simone, will perform at this year's Jazz in the Park, scheduled for 5-7 June at the Romulus Vuia Ethnographic Park in Cluj-Napoca, organisers announced on Thursday.
"The first major name confirmed for the 2026 edition is Lisa Simone, daughter of one of the greatest musicians who ever lived, Nina Simone. Lisa is herself a musician, composer, film producer and equality activist, with an Oscar nomination for a documentary about her mother and multiple Grammy nominations for her own compositions. Musically, Lisa Simone evokes that familiar jazz sound everyone knows, driven by a powerful voice that makes you want to dance," the organisers said in a press release.
According to the cited source, the line-up for the festival's 14th edition is further rounded out by notable names such as Marcos Valle, one of the pioneers of bossa nova and a legendary musician; Venna, a Grammy-winning British saxophonist for his collaboration with Burna Boy, with over one million followers on Spotify; Yilian Canizares, a Cuban-born violinist and vocalist; a Scandinavian supertrio featuring Bugge Wesseltoft, Arild Andersen and Gard Nilssen, bringing together three generations of Nordic jazz; Kraak & Smaak, pioneers of the fusion between jazz and electronic music; Rabih Abou-Khalil Quartet, a reference name in Arabic jazz and world fusion; as well as emerging artists launched by the festival itself - JEMMA, winners of the Jazz in the Park 2025 competition, and MINDTHEGAP Trio, named best Romanian project at the same edition.
"We wanted a headliner who represents more than music - someone who stands for strong values and has a story to tell. Looking at the news in 2025, we saw a rise in cases where women were abused or worse. At the same time, we realise that society needs positive messages. We therefore wanted someone with a powerful voice and message to join us, and who better than Lisa Simone, heir to her mother's talent and spirit, one of the most important figures in American music," said Alin Vaida, founder of Jazz in the Park, as quoted in the release.
Following last year's experiment with JazzyBIT, Jazz in the Park continues its tradition of artistic residencies, this year welcoming Nik Bartsch, one of the most creative pianists in European jazz. Bartsch will be present throughout the festival and will perform three different concerts: a solo piano recital, a duo piano recital accompanied by Greek pianist Tania Giannouli, and a major concert with his band Ronin. He will also lead a masterclass for interested musicians and take part in the festival's "Intalniri pe prispa"/"Conversations on the Porch" conference.
Jazz in the Park is a manifesto-style festival that combines quality music with the promotion of positive values within the community. To date, it has hosted more than 550 jazz concerts featuring international artists and is now regarded as one of Europe's leading festivals of its kind. In 2019, Jazz in the Park won the "Best Small European Festival" trophy at the 11th edition of the prestigious European Festival Awards, becoming the first jazz festival in Europe - and in Romania - to receive an award at this event. The festival has also been a finalist eight times in the Top 10 European festivals in the same category, with the most recent nomination coming for last year's edition.
Jazz in the Park events are organised by Fapte/Deeds, an association dedicated to developing people and communities through cultural events.
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