Oslo Jazz Festival is ready to celebrate its 40th anniversary, with the festival kicking off on Sunday, August 9. The festival offers a packed program featuring more than 100 events over seven days. Festival director Line Juul reports strong advance ticket sales, with several concerts already sold out and considerable interest surrounding the anniversary celebrations.

“We are very excited to present this year’s extensive program, which showcases the full breadth of the jazz genre, ranging from traditional jazz to free jazz. Oslo Jazz Festival brings everyone with a passion for jazz together for one shared week of celebration. We are proud to have been an important part of the city’s cultural life for 40 years. In fact, we are Oslo’s longest-running music festival,” says festival director Line Juul.

The Source: of Oslo to Open the Festival with a Grand Concert

To mark the anniversary, the festival is inviting audiences to an opening concert with The Source: of Oslo at the Oslo Opera House on Sunday, August 9. The concert will be a unique musical tribute to the city of Oslo, performed by the legendary The Source.

The band has selected some of their favorite Oslo songs and arranged them in their unmistakable The Source style. They have also invited a number of star guests to join them on stage, including Tuva Syvertsen, Mathias Eick, Tora Augestad, Raed AbdElghany, Symre Taugbøl Bang, Batagraf, and Frode Haltli. In addition, Indian ensemble Shankara and Egyptian musician Sharkiat Fathy Salama will perform.

Brian Blade Is This Year’s Festival Artist

There has also been strong interest in the concerts featuring American drummer Brian Blade, who is this year’s festival artist. Over the course of the week, the festival will present three exclusive concerts featuring Blade alongside leading stars of the Scandinavian jazz scene.

Blade will perform with Bugge Wesseltoft and Mari Boine at Cosmopolite on Monday, August 10; with Hanna Paulsberg at MUNCH on Wednesday, August 12; and with Johan Lindström at Nasjonal jazzscene on Friday, August 14.

More 40th Anniversary Celebrations

There will be a free concert featuring city carillonneur Laura-Marie Rueslåtten and trumpeter Kristina Fransson at Oslo City Hall on Monday, August 10. At the National Library of Norway on Wednesday, August 12, journalist Audun Vinger will give a talk on the festival’s history and significance, followed by interviews with four key figures from the festival’s history: Tone Bay, who helped establish the festival in 1986; former festival directors Edvard Askeland and Øyvind Larsen; and current festival director Line Juul.

There will also be anniversary concerts by Hot Club de Norvége and Ophelia Orchestra, both of whom performed at the very first festival in 1986.

And, last but not least, the festival’s producer has even created a knitting pattern for the official Oslo Jazz Festival mittens!

A Packed Free Program

The festival also places a strong emphasis on children and young talents, offering a large number of free concerts.

This year, the Oslojazz Ung outdoor stage initiative is being expanded to six days and will take place on two different stages, located at Spikersuppa and by Deichman Bjørvika.

In addition, there will be a jazz parade through the city from Monday to Wednesday, featuring young musicians. This year’s selected Oslojazz Talent bands will perform at Becco, Blå, Herr Nilsen, and Juret, and there will be jam sessions every evening throughout the festival.

Welcome to Oslo Jazz Festival 2026!