The event, which started as Izmir European Jazz Days in the period when Turkey's EU membership started to be talked about frequently, was expanded and renamed as Izmir European Jazz Festival in the accelerated process following our acceptance to the Customs Union.

 

The aim of the Festival, which will be held for the 32nd time on March 5-24, 2025, is to bring together jazz artists from Europe and Turkey who have made significant progress in their respective fields and to spread this culture to the masses. While jazz artists from France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy meet jazz lovers from Izmir, many young audiences have the opportunity to listen, understand, learn and love European Jazz.

 

The biggest difference of the Izmir European Jazz Festival is its focus on education. Artists who come to the festival to give concerts pass on their knowledge to young artists from Izmir through workshops and master classes. Two of the successful young people who participate in the workshops attend the Siena Summer Jazz Master Classes in Italy with a scholarship in cooperation with the Siena Jazz Foundation and İKSEV. To date, 21 young people have benefited from this opportunity. In addition, for the last 22 years, the official poster of the festival has been selected through the Jazz Poster Competition organized for young designers and attended by talents from all over Turkey.