Jazz Showcase
30 January – 1 February 2026
The 19th Jazz Showcase will be all the more remarkable this time around. Central Europe’s most significant jazz talent showcase is opening its doors wider than ever as part of the Hungarian-Serbian cultural season. In all other respects, the format of the Jazz Showcase remains unchanged: six young ensembles selected by a preliminary jury will perform free concerts, held daily from 4.30 pm in the Festival Theatre.
After the concerts, host László Jazzkovács will provide introductions to the bands in both Hungarian and English. There can be little doubt they would all be thrilled to follow in the footsteps of the musicians invited to the Jazz Showcase’s evening program, such as Serbian-born Vladimir Kostadinović and his quartet, who will perform on Friday, the Jazz Showcase Big Band appearing on Saturday, and Okvsho, closing the event on Sunday.
The international jury will vote on-site, while the audience can cast their votes online for their favourites, who, thanks to Müpa Budapest and its partners, will receive awards in various categories, and the opportunity to perform in subsequent concerts.
Jury
Mihály Borbély – chairman of the panel
clarinettist and saxophonist, teacher at the Liszt Academy
Barbara Bércesi
Müpa artistic curator, music writer
Kornél Fekete-Kovács
composer, trumpet player, conductor, founder and artistic director of the Modern Art Orchestra
Dániel Szabó
pianist-composer, teacher and director of the jazz programme at the Arts Department of the University of Pécs
Bojan Djordjević
founder and artistic director of: Festival Ring Ring and Festival Todo Mundo; member of World Music Charts Europe and Balkan World Music Charts
Steve Rubie
musician, owner and manager of London’s 606 Club
Sébastien Doviane
journalist, curator and presenter at TSF Jazz radio in France, programme curator at the Duc des Lombards club in Paris
