On 16 September, the official press conference to present the programme for the 58th Barcelona Jazz Festival took place at the Palau de la Música Catalana. As part of the collaboration between the Liceu Conservatory Foundation and the Festival, the programme includes part of the Liceu Jazz series, which is sponsored by the Ferrer Music Foundation.
The Liceu Jazz Masterclasses & Concerts series is celebrating its 15th anniversary this academic year. Under the slogan ‘Jazz lives here’, this edition celebrates the journey so far and reaffirms an idea that has defined the series since its inception: jazz is not just something to be listened to, but also something to be learnt, shared and experienced at first hand. Over the course of these fifteen years, the Liceu Jazz series has established itself as a leading platform for the training, creation and promotion of jazz within the Liceu Conservatory Foundation.
The Liceu Jazz programme kicks off another season in partnership with the Barcelona Jazz Festival and with the patronage of the Ferrer Music Foundation. At the press conference, the president of The Project, Tito Ramoneda, offered a few words of thanks, highlighting the strength of this partnership over the last 15 years. This well-established collaboration takes the form of a series of masterclasses and concerts featuring leading figures in jazz, who are also part of the Festival’s programme and were announced at the press conference.
Specifically, this year’s masterclasses will be led by Kurt Rosenwinkel (5 November), Vijay Iyer (6 November), Miguel Zenón and Luis Perdomo (11 November), Mark Giuliana (12 November), Niño Josele (14 November), Haydée Milanés and Javier Colina (16 November), Chris Potter (17 November), Mary Holvorson (19 November) and Antonio Serrano and Kaele Jiménez (1 December). All of them will also be performing in concert at the Liceu Conservatory Auditorium.
Also highlights of the Liceu Jazz series programme, which forms part of the Barcelona Jazz Festival, include concerts by Ethan Iverson with the Liceu Big Band (2 December) and by Omar Sosa, Marcelo Woloski and the Focus Quartet (30 November) – two special commissions by the Festival to mark its 60th anniversary. In addition to concerts by ensembles from the Liceu Conservatory and jam sessions. Furthermore, the Festival also features a concert by former student Xavi Maldonado, winner of the Extraordinary Prize in Jazz and Modern Music Performance for the 2025–2026 academic year (7 November), who will be accompanied in his quintet by three other former students: Enric Fuster, Ot Granados and Camil Alcarazo, who, together with Maldonado himself, had also been scholarship holders of the Ferrer Music Foundation.
This year also sees the return of the ‘Previs del Jazz’, mini-concerts featuring students from the Conservatory, which will take place before the concerts by the Festival’s guest artists and which provide a platform to showcase the students’ talent as part of the series.
Finally, before the start of the November programme of masterclasses, students will have the opportunity to take part in two exclusive sessions with world-class artists. On 15 October, the Michel Camilo Trio will give a dress rehearsal for the students, and on 20 October it will be the turn of Andrea Motis and Yamandu Costa, in two sessions designed to introduce future professionals to the creative and interpretative processes of leading musicians.
It is also worth noting that the Jazz Festival’s concert programme features other former students of the Liceu Conservatoire, such as the singer Belén Bandera and the guitarist Carla Motis, who will perform together on 4 December, and the singer Sara Lilu (also professor at L’Aula) and the guitarist Alexander Peña, a duo who will perform on 5 December.
Further information:
Programme for the Liceu Jove Masterclasses & Concerts series
Barcelona Jazz Festival
Ferrer Music Foundation