Casa del Jazz, Rome's long summer brings big international stars to the stage

More than forty concerts in the park of Villa Osio for two months of live music with the great stars of the Italian and international scene, under the sign of Bill Frisell to Billy Cobham, Marcus Miller, Fred Hersch, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Paolo Fresu, Enrico Rava, Danilo Rea, Fabrizio Bosso, Enrico Pieranunzi, Enzo Pietropaoli, Rita Marcotulli. Summertime, the Fondazione Musica per Roma's summer programme at the Casa del Jazz, will be back in style from 13 June to 7 August. It will also have dates in the Cavea of the Auditorium Parco della Musica for big-name appointments such as Stefano Bollani and his All Stars (Rava, Fresu, Sepe, Salis, Tavolazzi and Gatto on 29 June, and in July Pat Metheny on 5, Diana Krall on 15, stage elf Jacob Collier on 18, bassist Marcus Miller and his All Star Band with We Want Miles on 20, Gregory Porter on 25. International artists include Grammy winners Nate Smith on 6 July and Gonzalo Rubalcaba on 14 July.

An important page is dedicated to the centenary of Miles Davis' birth with tributes by saxophonist Stefano di Battista & the New Generation in the world premiere of Miles (16 June), drummer Roberto Gatto who will also pay tribute to John Coltrane's 100th birthday (23 June); trumpeter Fabrizio Bosso and the newly formed Casa del Jazz Orchestra in the world premiere of Sketches Of Spain performed to original scores by Davis and Gil Evans. Opening on 13 June will be Paolo Fresu, Antonello Salis and Furio di Castri. A special tribute will be dedicated the following day to director Ettore Scola on the tenth anniversary of his death and the historic group Doctor 3 - Danilo Rea piano, Enzo Pietropaoli double bass and Fabrizio Sferra drums - in a journey through the soundtracks of his most famous films composed by Armando Trovajoli. Italians include the return of Enrico Rava and his Fearless Five (1/8), Enzo Avitabile (3/8) and guitar phenomenon Matteo Mancuso (6/8), Chiara Civello (25/6), Raphael Gualazzi and Francesca Tandoi (26/6). July will feature, among others, Cecil Mc Lorin Salvant (on 4), Fred Hersch in trio with Drew Gress and Peter Erskine (9), Dee Dee Bridgewater (13), Bill Frisell (16), MomoNeon (18), Billy Cobham (21). The thirty-sixth edition of Concerts in the Park celebrates ten years at the Casa del Jazz with new productions, from 'La misteriosa scomparsa di W' by Stefano Benni with Ambra Angiolini also director with music by Dardust (1/7), to the tribute to Cohen, Bowie, Prince and Michael with the Gabriele Cohen Quartet and Giancarlo De Cataldo (3/7), the memory of Alda Merini in 'Mentre rubavo la vita' with Monica Guerritore and Giovanni Nuti (12/7), Gli amori difficili by Italo Calvino with Isabella Ragonese and Rodrigo D' Erasmo (25/7); la ricerca della Felicità by and with Stefano Massini (5/7), and Jacopo Fo and the Compagnia teatrale Fo Rame in the story of Dario Fo's songs (31/7).

With Summertime 2026 "we have built a season that recounts the international strength of the Casa del Jazz through accurate artistic research and programming of the highest quality," commented the managing director of the Fondazione Musica per Roma, Raffaele Ranucci. Bringing artists such as Pat Metheny, Diana Krall, Marcus Miller, Jacob Collier, and Gregory Porter to Rome over the course of two months, together with the great protagonists of jazz in Italia, means consolidating the city's role in the international live music circuit. This year's programme brings together great legends, new global icons, original productions and unprecedented musical encounters, confirming the Casa del Jazz's ability to be not only a place of entertainment, but a cultural vision space open to the most authoritative and contemporary languages of the world scene". The president of the Lazio Region, Francesco Rocca, a great jazz enthusiast, praised "the great programme" and the "significant change of pace" represented by the agreement with the Fondazione Musica Per Roma, the mayor Roberto Gualtieri and the culture councillorship led by Massimiliano Smeriglio to bring shows and concerts to the city's suburbs as well. "When there is institutional collaboration," he said, "the results can be seen. For events with 10,000/15,000 people, important announcements will soon be made regarding the area of the old Fiera di Roma".