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.

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. 

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 are a captivating six-piece who blend traditional Brazilian rhythms, including samba and bossa nova, with bluesly guitars, electronics and pyschedelic rock.

(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 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 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.

Italian born singer Luisa Annibali presents her latest album Liberi live at this year’s festival.

She describes the work as a reflection of her journey, through love, identity, and the search for connection. “The places I’ve been, the questions I carry, and the freedom I’m still learning to claim. As a woman, as an artist, and as a human being, trying to find my voice in a mind and a world that often tells us who we should be.”

Liberi is dedicated to her dad, and, in his unique way, gives her the opportunity to be Libera – which means ‘Free’ in Italian! “I hope these songs will speak to you, and that in them, you might hear something of your own journey too.”

Libera blends the soul of jazz, Italian lyricism, Latin and Brazilian rhythm.. Some songs move with deep groove, while others unfold in pure vocal improvisation, inspired by the wild, instinctive spirit of free ja“ — just voice, emotion, and breath, raw and spontaneous, born in the moment.

Among them, one piece reaches beyond the personal: an anthem to peace, equality and human dignity. As she says: “It reminds me — and maybe all of us — that even small, conscious acts can spark change. I’m still learning this myself, from a place of awareness and privilege — asking what it truly means to act, to care, to use our own voices, to keep the heart open.”

Libera is about liberation — from fear, from silence, from all those invisible chains that hold us back from being fully ourselves.

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 1^st 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.  

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.

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.

Pianist and band leader Roberto Fonseca is one of the defining creative voices of the post- Buena Vista Social Club generation of Cuban jazz.

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.

Leo Richardson is widely recognised to be one of London’s leading Jazz Tenor Saxophonists. He is best known for his honest, straight-ahead, contemporary hard-bop style and regularly hosts the Late Late Show at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club with his own quartet. His most significant influences include John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Dexter Gordon, Horace Silver and Art Blakey.

Irelands finest Blues and Jazz singer and guitarist

Nigel Mooney - guitar/vocals

Johnny Taylor - piano

Barry Donoghue - bass