Tommy Halferty Quartet - Bray Jazz Festival 2026
Tommy Halferty has been instrumental in shaping the sound of Irish jazz, a guitarist who has been at the forefront of a vibrant jazz scene on this island for over half a century.
Mike Nielsen’s Sound Recipes (Irl) - Bray Jazz Festival 2026
Opening presentation in double bill with Fred Hersch Trio
Guitarist, composer and author, Mike Nielsen is a leading teacher of jazz guitar in Ireland. His unique style is influenced by jazz, classical, flamenco, Irish and world music genres.
Fred Hersch Trio (USA) - Bray Jazz Festival 2026
A towering figure of contemporary jazz whose influence spans generations, Fred Hersch has shaped the language of the modern piano trio throughout a career marked by continuous reinvention.
Harold López-Nussa (Cuba) - Bray Jazz Festival 2026
Havana-born pianist Harold López-Nussa’s music pulses with the richness of Cuban music, with its distinct combination of classical, folk and popular music elements, as well as its embrace of jazz improvisation.
Jazz at Johnstown Presents: Leo Richardson
Without a doubt, Leo Richardson a regular at London’s famous Ronnie Scott’s club - is widely recognised as one of the UK's leading jazz tenor saxophonists, known for his honest, straight-ahead, contemporary hard-bop style.
His album The Chase was selected by The Times as one of the Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2017 and one of the Top 100 Albums of all music genres. The Chase was also the first debut album to receive five stars from The Observer.
ÓNINAÓ - Bray Jazz Festival 2026
ÓNinaÓ are a captivating six-piece who blend traditional Brazilian rhythms, including samba and bossa nova, with bluesly guitars, electronics and pyschedelic rock.
Zaska - Bray Jazz Festival 2026
(If you’re buying tickets to main evening shows at Mermaid, Bray Town Hall or Whale Theatre in Greystones, admissions to these concerts is at a reduced price).
Alina Bzhezhinska Hip Harp Collective (Ukraine/UK) - Bray Jazz Festival 2026
Alina Bzhezhinska made history when she became the first harpist to receive the Best Jazz Ensemble of the Year award when her band Hip Harp Collective took the prize at the UK’s prestigious Parliamentary Jazz Awards in 2024.
Faster Shorter Louder - Bray Jazz Festival 2026
Faster Shorter Louder is a Dublin-based trio featuring Matthias Winkler (guitar), Derek Whyte (double bass) and Hugh Denman (drums). The group takes familiar songs and reshapes them through improvisation, uncovering new rhythmic and harmonic possibilities while keeping the directness of the original material intact.
Leïla Martial with Valentin Ceddaldi (France) - Bray Jazz Festival 2026
Leïla Martial is amongst the most daring and imaginative vocalists in modern European jazz.
Born to a family of classical musicians, she’s the first female singer to win the 1st soloist prize at the prestigigious Concours National de Jazz de La Défense, and over the past decade she has established herself as a fresh, boundary-breaking presence on stages across France.
Organ Freeman - Bray Jazz Festival 2026
As Organ Freeman, guitarist/vocalist Charlie Moon, organist Darragh Hennessy and drummer Dominic Mullan have been a hugely popular fixture with a long-running residency at Dublin’s music bar, The Big Romance, on Parnell Street.
That’s Him: The Music of Kurt Weill - Bray Jazz Festival 2026
London-based alto saxophonist Sam Braysher teams up with Jazz Singer of the Year Sara Dowling to present a captivating jazz re-imagining of the work of the influential German-born American composer Kurt Weill.
Roberto Fonseca La Gran Diversión (Cuba) - Bray Jazz Festival 2026
Pianist and band leader Roberto Fonseca is one of the defining creative voices of the post- Buena Vista Social Club generation of Cuban jazz.
Berri (Irl) - Bray Jazz Festival 2026
Opening presentation in double bill with Roberto Fonseca’s La Gran Diversión
They’ve been described as ‘captivating, atmospheric and sublime’, Berri are a trio of Dublin-based jazz musicians led by vocalist Jenna Harris.