This year’s Christmas Jazz festival is headlined by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, widely regarded as one of the world’s finest big bands. Led by legendary trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and joined by vocalists Catherine Russell and Georgia Heers, the orchestra will open Christmas Jazz in festive style with Big Band Holidays at Alexela Concert Hall on 30 November. Read more and find tickets HERE.
“Wynton Marsalis is one of those musicians whose work has shaped an entire generation of jazz and whose presence on stage is always an event in itself,” says the festival’s Artistic Director, Anne Erm. “Estonian music lovers will now have their first-ever opportunity to see him perform with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and at a particularly special moment: the 2026 world tour will be Marsalis’s last as the orchestra’s Artistic Director. This makes it more than just an outstanding concert – at Christmas Jazz, audiences will have the chance to witness the closing of a chapter in jazz history.” Inspired by the Christmas repertoire, the concert by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is being brought to Estonian audiences with the support of Jazzkaar’s long-standing partner, Jazz Pesulad.
Performing in Estonia for the first time, Wynton Marsalis is a nine-time Grammy Award winner who has served as Artistic Director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 1991. One of the most influential jazz musicians of our time, trumpeter Marsalis has a body of work spanning more than 150 recordings, five symphonies, instrumental concertos, and hundreds of compositions for big band. He is the only musician to have won Grammy Awards in both jazz and classical music categories in the same year and was the first non-classical musician to receive the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Under Marsalis’s leadership, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has become one of the world’s most highly regarded jazz orchestras. Bringing together the classic big band tradition with works by contemporary composers, the ensemble is one of the leading voices in traditional American jazz.
At the Big Band Holidays concert at Christmas Jazz, vocalists Catherine Russell and Georgia Heers will bring their distinctive voices to the orchestra’s powerful big band sound. Russell has received three Grammy nominations and toured with numerous international stars, including David Bowie and Steely Dan. Georgia Heers is one of the outstanding jazz vocalists of her generation, earning acclaim for her nuanced vocals and deep understanding of the jazz tradition.
The 31st Christmas Jazz festival will take place from 30 November to 15 December. Tickets for the opening concert go on sale on Thursday, 27 August at 12 noon, with a limited number available at a 40% early-bird discount. The full festival programme will be announced in early October. Keep up with the latest Jazzkaar news on the Jazzkaar website, Facebook, and Instagram.
The main sponsors of Christmas Jazz are JURA, Jazz Pesulad, and Delfi Kultuur. The festival’s year-round sponsors are United Motors, Tallink, and Nordic Hotel Forum. The concert by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is supported by Jazz Pesulad. Concerts at Nobel Hall are supported by Noblessner. Christmas Jazz is also supported by Reval Café, Aktaprint, ERR, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, and Tallinn – UNESCO City of Music.