Belgrade Jazz Festival Finale: Hill and Esteves da Silva
The final night of the 42nd Belgrade Jazz Festival in the Big Hall of Dom Omladine features the Joao Paulo Esteves da Silva quartet at 7 pm and Marquis Hill's Blacktet Revisited at 9 pm.
Two hours separate the start of the first concert from the start of the second on the final night of the 42nd Belgrade Jazz Festival, and the program is built so that those two hours hold two very different ideas of what jazz can take in today. The festival runs from October 21 to 24, 2026, and the last night, October 24, takes place in the Big Hall of Dom Omladine Belgrade.
What is playing in the Big Hall on October 24?
At 7 pm, the quartet of Portuguese pianist Joao Paulo Esteves da Silva takes the stage. He is joined by Julian Argüelles on tenor and soprano saxophone, Rodrigo Correia on double bass and Jose Salgueiro on drums. The quartet presents its new album “País Distante,” on which composed music meets improvised music.
At 9 pm, Chicago trumpeter Marquis Hill performs with his project Blacktet Revisited. In it, Hill blends jazz with hip-hop, rhythm and blues, Chicago house and neo-soul. He is joined by guitarist Emmanuel Michael, bassist Junius Paul and drummer Jonathan Pinson.
The contrast is visible on paper. The first group leans on piano and saxophone, the second on trumpet and guitar. The first arrives with an album that weighs the written against the improvised, while the second pulls together genres that are rarely heard side by side in a jazz hall. Whether the Big Hall hears a dialogue or two separate worlds will only be settled on the night.
What else is on the closing night and in the rest of the program?
In the Amerikana hall, according to the schedule on the festival’s website, the Djordje Kujundzic Quartet plays at 10:30 pm the same evening, followed by a jam session at 11:45 pm. The site does not print a date next to that block, so tying it to October 24 is inferred from the order of the schedule.
The other three nights in the Big Hall follow the same rhythm, with concerts at 7 and 9 pm:
- Vladimir Nikolov Nonet and Ana Popovic
- Tino Tracanna Panorchestra and Chicago Underground Duo
- Ivan Radivojevic Quartet with Rastko Obradovic, and The Messthetics with James Brandon Lewis
The festival is organized by Dom Omladine Belgrade, with the support of the City of Belgrade and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia.
How do you get tickets for the Belgrade Jazz Festival?
Tickets are sold at sales points and online, through the eFinity system. Prices are not listed in the published program. A limited number of festival passes is sold at the box office of Dom Omladine Belgrade, and a pass covers eight concerts of the main program in the 7 pm slots.
