Melbourne International Jazz Festival announces shift to December with adjusted program, live events, and a line up that will celebrate the best of Melbourne’s world-renowned jazz scene.
With stay-at-home orders continuing across the original October dates, Melbourne International Jazz Festival has today announced that while it won’t be proceeding as scheduled, but there’s light on the horizon for Victorian jazz fans in 2021.
What you need to know
- The 2021 Melbourne International Jazz Festival will now run from Thursday 2 – Sunday 5 December
- The adjusted program will be announced on Thursday 21 October
- Pre-sales available Thursday 21 October with tickets on sale Friday 22 October
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As the city once again opens up this year’s festival will go ahead with a full program of live events across new dates from Thursday 2 – Sunday 5 December. Over a jam-packed four-day long weekend, the festival will reactivate the city with more than 70 performances and events, celebrating the best of Melbourne’s world-renowned jazz scene.
Melbourne International Jazz Festival Artistic Director Michael Tortoni said “The live experience is just so important to this artform and we want to give our audience the chance to see the artists they love – live and on stage. We toyed with the idea of an all-online festival for October, and there will of course be an online component during the new dates as the times demand, but we know how much audiences are itching to get out, back into venues and have those experiences that can only exist in a festival context. With the opportunity to do all of that just around the corner, it’s a move we’re excited to make.”
With international travel arrangements remaining complex and in the absence of a New Zealand bubble, the festival’s Big Sunday event headlined by Fat Freddy’s Drop will now take place as part of the 2022 Melbourne International Jazz Festival with the same line-up on October 15, which is a Saturday.
Still as big as ever – audiences just get a sleep in the next day. Big Sunday ticket-holders have automatically been shifted to this date and refunds are also available via Ticketek.
The updated 2021 Melbourne International Jazz Festival program will be announced on Thursday 21 October, with tickets back on sale from Friday 22 October.
