News

The XV International Festival "Jazz May Penza" will take place on May 16-17 and will once again bring together leading jazz ensembles of Russia at the concert venues of "Penzaconcert." The event will be held in accordance with the goals and objectives of the national project "Tourism and Hospitality."
The festival concerts will be held in the "Penza" cinema and concert hall and at an open venue – Yubileynaya Square. Visitors will enjoy a rich cultural program.
"The festival gives residents and guests of our city a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of live music and become direct participants of a cultural event in a relaxed setting. This format creates a special inner dialogue between artists and the audience," noted Ildar Mavlyudov, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Penza Oblast.
On May 16, from 12:00 to 18:00, a six-hour jazz marathon will take place at the open venue. It will be opened by children's jazz, featuring students from children's music schools and art schools in Penza, Zarechny, and Saratov Oblast. Student ensembles from Penza and Saratov will take over. Then festival guests will enjoy performances by well-known musical groups from Penza and Zarechny, as well as guests from Samara. Taking the stage will be: the city municipal orchestra of the Center of Russian Choral and Vocal Culture of Penza (director Anton Prigarev), the instrumental ensemble "Dmitriev-band" (director Eduard Dmitriev), the pop-jazz ensemble "Express-band" of the Penzaconcert State Autonomous Cultural Institution of the Penza Oblast (director Yuri Belonogov), and the vocal-instrumental ensemble "Style" (director Aleksey Kochin from Samara).
At 14:00, a masterclass "How to Sound Jazz if I Only Have Academic, Folk, or Pop Vocals" will be held in the Organ Hall of the Philharmonic. Speaker: Olga Kozelkova, pop-jazz singer, teacher of vocal and choral disciplines of the highest category, leader of the "QuartOli-band."
At 18:00, the Dixieland "Volzhsky Breeze" and the Samara Concert Wind Orchestra will perform a joint concert in the "Penza" cinema and concert hall. The musicians will perform jazz standards, improvisations, compositions in the style of Soviet jazz, instrumental pieces, and songs by Soviet authors in original arrangements. Tickets for the concert are available through the "Pushkin Card" program.
On May 17, starting at 12:00, the jazz marathon will continue on the open stage, featuring children's and student ensembles from Penza, jazz ensembles from Penza, Samara, and Togliatti: the "Coffee-jazz" ensemble (Penza), the funk band of the Penza Jazz Jam Club, the "Freya" group (Penza), the "QuartOli-band" (Penza), the Udelov Funk Band (Penza), Argentum Jazz (Penza), "Juliet Loves Summer" (Samara), the "Resonance" ensemble (Togliatti), and the boogie band "KontrabuzzZ" (Samara).
At 12:30, a masterclass "Vocals and Instrumental: Different Views on Improvisation" will be held in the Organ Hall of the Philharmonic. Speakers: Irina Odulo (Penza) – singer-songwriter, pianist, poet, arranger, head of the "Argentum Jazz" project, and Yulia Zemlyanskaya (Samara) – jazz singer, songwriter, vocalist of the group "Juliet Loves Summer," teacher at the Samara Jazz Studio "Movement."
At 18:00, a concert by Dmitry Noskov (Moscow) – one of the brightest representatives of jazz pop music in Russia, nicknamed the "Russian Frank Sinatra" – will take place in the "Penza" cinema and concert hall. The artist will perform accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra of the Governor's Symphony Capella conducted by Vyacheslav Filipenkov. Tickets for the concert are available through the "Pushkin Card" program.
In addition to the rich musical program, interactive zones, themed photo zones and installations, food courts, and a sale-exhibition of products by Penza craftspeople will be open on Yubileynaya Square as part of the XV International Jazz Music Festival "Jazz May Penza – 2026."
Photo and information provided by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Penza Oblast.