SWH-Saalejazz Open Air

Jazz by the Water, Sunday, Saale

On the first Sunday in May, the Peißnitzinsel in Halle (Saale) becomes the city's largest jazz stage for an afternoon. SWH-Saalejazz is the name of the open-air festival, organized by the City of Halle and Stadtwerke Halle (SWH), and it traditionally marks the opening of the "Women in Jazz" festival week, which in the following days brings together the Halle jazz scene and international guests in concert halls, clubs, and venues across the city.

The idea is as simple as it is successful: The city offers free live jazz in the park for a Sunday afternoon, along with a family program and culinary stations along the Saale promenade — and Halle comes, in droves. Picnic blankets, folding chairs, children, students, seniors, tourists: Peißnitzinsel fills up on this day with an unusually mixed audience, united by one thing: the feeling of being in a particularly beautiful place at the right time.

Each year, the program features a mix of national jazz greats and local talents. In 2026, renowned acts include the celebrated Dresden Big Band with singer Lena Hauptmann, the vocal trio "Die drei Lenas" (Lena Zipp & Co.), the quartet with Lena Zipp, Ecki Gleim, and Holger "Scotti" Gottwald, singer Dean Marc, the band Stadtrundfahrt, and Trio Nuages. Hosted by actress Andrea Ummenberger. Two stages — one on Peißnitzinsel itself, and one on the historic Oberburg Giebichenstein above the Saale — ensure that multiple concerts run in parallel, allowing you to wander between them.

What makes the event so appealing: It's free. The city sees SWH-Saalejazz as a cultural gift to the community — an opening to summer, a kick-off to the jazz festival week, an invitation to everyone. Those who then attend the main concerts of Women in Jazz later in the week (featuring artists like Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Anke Helfrich, or local stars) will already be in the right spirit.

The City of Jazz

Halle has an unusually strong jazz tradition. The annual Women in Jazz festival has been held since 2005 and is considered Europe's most important women's jazz festival. A whole scene of clubs, festivals, and initiatives has developed around it. SWH-Saalejazz is essentially the Sunday event in this season: an open, accessible format that provides the city — Halle (Saale), an independent city in the state of Saxony-Anhalt — with its own jazz.