Skopje, 16 October 2025 (MIA) – This year's Skopje Jazz Festival will open Thursday evening with a concert by one of the best pianists in Poland, Andrzej Jagodziński, and his trio widely acclaimed for performing works by Frederic Chopin arranged in a jazz style.

In its 44th year, the Skopje Jazz Festival will offer a total of eight concerts over four evenings at the National Opera and Ballet as well as two jazz documentary screenings at MKC's Frosina cinema, organizers said.

Jagodziński's concert will be followed by a concert by the National Jazz Orchestra, conducted by Austrian conductor Sigi Feigl and featuring Luis Bonilla as soloist on trombone. 

American jazz musicians Marc Ribot and Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble will give concerts Friday.

Norway's After the Wildfire Quartet and Sweden's Goran Kajfeš Tropiques will give concerts Saturday.

The US duo of Wadada Leo Smith and Sylvie Courvoisier will perform Sunday, followed by a concert of James Brandon Lewis Quartet, which will close the festival.

Festival organizers will screen the documentaries "We Want the Funk!" and "Sun Ra: Do the Impossible" at Frosina and hold a "Jazz for Kids" workshop at Skopje's Europe House. mr/