jazzopen stuttgart

Twelve days of headline acts on the main stage in the Ehrenhof, the courtyard of the Neues Schloss (New Palace), plus the Altes Schloss, the BIX Jazzclub and free Open Stages around downtown. From Diana Krall and Herbie Hancock to Sting, Lenny Kravitz and Katy Perry.

Jazz & Beyond: not a pure jazz festival

Take the name literally and you will be misled. The jazzopen run under the motto "Be Jazz, be Open" and describe themselves as "Jazz & Beyond": alongside jazz, the program carries blues, soul, pop and rock.

The 2026 lineup showed the range plainly. Katy Perry, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Lenny Kravitz, Jamiroquai and Moby shared the bill with Diana Krall, Jamie Cullum, Joshua Redman, Stanley Clarke and the SWR Big Band.

History: running since 1994

The jazzopen have been held since 1994. They took over from the Stuttgarter Jazzgipfel, which the Theaterhaus Stuttgart had staged together with the Süddeutscher Rundfunk broadcaster from 1988 to 1992.

The decisive push came in 2008, when Jürgen Schlensog and OPUS Festival-, Veranstaltungs- und Management GmbH took the festival over with the stated goal of building a city festival with international standing. Four days in 2006 became eight in 2007, then eleven in 2018. Today it is twelve days with more than 50 acts and around 60,000 visitors.

In 2026 the festival crossed a border for the first time: jazzopen Modena took place in Italy from July 13 to 18.

The stages

The main stage has been the Ehrenhof, the courtyard of the Neues Schloss on Schlossplatz, since 2011, with roughly 7,500 seats. The second large stage is the arcaded courtyard of the Altes Schloss, the Old Palace across the square.

Beyond that come the club stages: the SpardaWelt Eventcenter and the BIX Jazzclub in the Gustav-Siegle-Haus, plus the Fruchtkasten. If you have no ticket you are still not shut out. The Open Stages at the StadtPalais, at the bandstand on Schlossplatz, in the Domkirche St. Eberhard and at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart are free.

Who has played here

The roll call since 1994 is long. Pat Metheny, Ornette Coleman and John Scofield played the very first edition. Later came Santana, B.B. King, Al Jarreau, Earth, Wind & Fire, Diana Krall, Herbie Hancock, Bob Dylan, Sting and, most recently, Kylie Minogue and RAYE.

The 2026 edition was built around the Miles Davis centennial. The German Jazz Trophy went to Stanley Clarke, the Wolfgang Dauner Prize to Marco Mezquida.

Dates and tickets

The 2026 edition ran from July 1 to 12 and is over. Dates for 2027 have not been published yet; going by past years, the festival falls in early July.

Tickets are sold through the official shop at tickets.jazzopen-stuttgart.com. For the big names in the Ehrenhof, booking early is worth it.