Now in its fifth edition, the 2025 Sicilia Jazz Festival (22 June – 6 July) offers 85 concerts and involves 385 musicians, among them Village People, Nina Zilli, Piero Pelù, Jazzmeia Horn, Victor Wooten, John Pizzarelli, Cécile McLorin Salvant and Eliane Elias.
Curious as it may seem for a jazz festival, Village People open the event. Famous for their hit dance single Y.M.C.A., they’ll perform for the first time with a big band, in this case the Orchestra Jazz Siciliana, managed by Luca Luzzu and counting among its arrangers and conductors Domenico Riina, Paolo Lepore, Vito Giordano, Antonino Pedone and Piero Romano. In fact, the festival claims to be the only jazz festival entirely dedicated to orchestral productions.
Other major names playing with the Sicilian Jazz Orchestra (or, to give it its full name, Orchestra Jazz Siciliana – The Brass Group) are John Pizzarelli (24 June), Victor Wooten (26 June), Nina Zilli (28 June), Cécile McLorin Salvant (30 June), Jazzmeia 2 July, Piero Pelù (4 July) and Eliane Elias (6 July). Aside from the big international names the festival will feature a succession of performances from Sicilian musicians – both masters and young talents from the conservatories of Sicily. The jazz departments of the conservatories Alessandro Scarlatti of Palermo, Arturo Toscanini of Ribera, Arcangelo Corelli of Messina, Antonio Scontrino of Trapani, and Vincenzo Bellini of Catania will be present again this year with various performances.
Concerts will be staged at a number of sites in Palermo’s historic centre, such as Palazzo Chiaramonte Steri, the Santa Maria dello Spasimo Monumental Complex, the Real Teatro Santa Cecilia and the Villa Castelnuovo Teatro di Verdura. This year the Botanical Garden will also be added.
The Fondazione Orchestra Jazz Siciliana – The Brass Group says it sees itself as “an instrument for conveying the production of Sicilian jazz music as a tourist, cultural and artistic driving force of our land” and the festival as enhancing the “dissemination of Sicilian culture abroad, in the name of artistic excellence, creative contamination and Mediterranean identity”.
The organisers also stress the power of the festival and jazz in general to foster international cooperation. Through the World Jazz Network, founded by Alexander Beets, it also welcomes delegations from the Netherlands (Licks and Brains Big Band), Poland (Sylwester Ostrowski One Voice), Canary Islands-Spain (La Local Jazz Band), and Bulgaria (Antonio Forcione & Cenk Erdogan).
More information at:
https://siciliajazzfestival.com
https://www.brassgroup.it
Tickets are at:
https://brassgroup.organizzatori.18tickets.it
https://www.tickettando.it
