34th Jazz Week Hannover

Jazz Tradition in Hannover

Hannover boasts a vibrant jazz scene with roots stretching back to the 1950s and 1960s. The Jazz Club Hannover, founded in the early post-war period, is one of Germany's oldest jazz associations and has been actively programming and promoting the genre in the city ever since. The Jazz Week is its central format: once a year, the festival concentrates international jazz activities into a single week.

34th Edition

In 2026, the Jazz Week celebrates its 34th edition – a testament to the format's stability and reach. Over the past decades, numerous influential figures of European and international jazz have performed in Hannover, from John Scofield to Esbjörn Svensson to Cécile McLorin Salvant.

Program Pillars

The Jazz Week rests on four program pillars:

• Concerts: Main program in concert halls and larger clubs in the city
• Sessions: Open jam sessions in the late hours, a meeting point for professionals, students of the jazz class, and ambitious amateurs
• Workshops: Masterclasses and thematic workshops with participating artists
• Cinema: Accompanying film program featuring jazz documentaries, concert films, and cinematic explorations of jazz personalities

Venues in the City

The festival is spread across various venues in Hannover: main concerts in larger halls like the Pavillon-Halle or the Theater am Aegi, intimate concerts in clubs in the city center and the Nordstadt district, sessions at the Jazz Club's regular venue, and the film program in Hannover's independent cinemas.

Students of the HMTM

The Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover (Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media) has a renowned jazz program. Students from the jazz program participate in several parts of the program – sometimes as opening acts, sometimes in the sessions, and sometimes in their own concerts. This way, the Jazz Week actively builds a bridge between professional performance and education.