Home » Business of Interest » Jazz Fest 2026

Jazz Fest 2026

Syracuse, NY, has been recognized, nationally and even internationally, for a number of things.

Salt, a precious commodity for health and flavor. And salt potatoes, for summer!

The Carrier air conditioner.

The Franklin automobile.

The Brannock Shoe Device.

And how about an annual jazz festival that as of this year is 40 years old and going stronger than ever!

“Now that we’ve reached year 40,” said founder and driving force, Frank Malfitano, “we’re pleased to report that Syracuse has joined an illustrious and elite listing of the 25 longest-running jazz festivals in the world…a list that includes Newport, Monterey, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco and Los Angeles, along with Istanbul, Umbria (Italy), Montreux, Amsterdam, Bern (Switzerland), Berlin, Montreal, Ottawa and Havana.”

And while the festival is certainly celebrating 40 years of bringing our city some of the best regional, national, and international music, Malfitano adds, “While the festival is forty, to me, it’s brand new again. A new month, new weekend, new model and format, and new venues!”

The “new venues” announcement is exciting. This will be the first Jazz Festival that includes the lovely Beak & Skiff Apple Hill Campus as a location. Beak & Skiff was established over a century ago, and morphed from orchards to pick-your-own to a delightful venue for parties, picking, music, food, drinks, and more.

“It’s that perfect combination of keeping the best of the old and adding the best of the new,” said Malfitano. “Just like Jazz Fest.”

He went on to explain his idea of what makes a city “great,” and a destination. “It’s a combination of cuisine, Performance Art, Public Art, architecture and EVENTS. Events make the market a destination, they make people feel good about where they live, work and play. I saw a production of something the other day – an incredible production at the Civic Center, – orchestra and oratorio society, visiting conductor, 4 soloists, following the story about the conductor and arranger, Schacter, who was interred in a concentration camp. He taught 150 Jewish prisoners in 1944 Verdi’s Requiem so that they could sing what they couldn’t say to their Nazi captors. It was so powerful. I’m sitting there in a packed theater, the auditorium at Crouse Hinds, a very somber evening, interspersed with filmed testimonials from real holocaust survivors and their memories of this. At the end of the performance, they all exited in silence. Each member walked off one by one with only a violin playing, and a picture of the entry to the camp. It was so powerful.

“You can’t plan for a moment like that. What happens on stage relies on a whole lot of stuff. The artists, the audience, the communication between them. The bigger world. You try to set up a situation that will allow for something to happen, the magic. If it does, you know you’ve left somebody with a memory. That’s the ultimate.”

And that’s what Malfitano and Jazz Fest hope to accomplish. “Anyone in the performing world has a dream and goes after it, a moment like that, but there’s no guarantees, or magic formula, and certainly no “legacy” you can count on or plan on. At my age, after 40 festivals, and 45 years at the helm, it’s hoped that people remember what you did, or at least say, he did a good job.”

And that ushers in another “first” coming up for Jazz Fest: Malfitano has brought on board a powerhouse trio of women who will be assuring that the event continues each and every year, just as big and bright and entertaining each year as it was the year before, and will be the next year and many more to come. Legacies aren’t, as Malfitano noted, guaranteed. But the stage is set. And Syracuse is grateful!

July 9-12, 2026