25 Years of Athens Jazz: A Unique Greek Day Celebrating the Festival’s History
To mark the festival’s 25th anniversary, Athens Jazz’s Greek Day brings a big surprise to the Technopolis stage, featuring two exceptional acts that bridge generations and sounds.
Athens Jazz is celebrating 25 years on the city’s music scene with a grand celebration. From May 25 to 31, 2026, Technopolis City of Athens will be filled with music, rhythm, and energy -the very elements that have defined the city’s pulse for the past 25 years- with free admission, as always. For one week, artists and bands from Greece and abroad will take over Technopolis’ stage to showcase the freshest sounds contemporary jazz has to offer, while a series of parallel events will round out the festival experience.
For its 25th anniversary, Athens Jazz has prepared a big surprise, dedicating the Greek Day to the festival’s own history. In this anniversary edition, Athens Jazz returns to its roots to highlight what has shaped it: the people, the collaborators, and the moments that have made it a benchmark for the domestic and international jazz scene for more than two decades. Thus, this year’s Greek Day is reimagined as a tribute night -a distillation of memory and creativity- designed exclusively to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Athens Jazz.
In this context, this year the festival has chosen to present a Greek Day, which honors the history of the event while also looking dynamically toward the future. Meanwhile, the established open call for selecting the three acts that traditionally opened the first day will return starting next year. Thus, on Monday, May 25, two Greek acts will get on the stage at Technopolis, captivating the audience with their music and setting the tone for this year’s anniversary edition in the most representative way possible.
Specifically, the Stavros Lantsias Quartet will open this special evening with the project “My Ennio Morricone”, which serves as a tribute to Giorgos Charonitis, a man who was a key collaborator of Athens Jazz as a member of its artistic committee since 2015 and who had a special connection to the work of the great Italian composer, whom he considered his “spiritual father.” Right up next, the Greek Cooking Band will take the stage -a unique ensemble created specifically for the 25th edition, bringing together a vibrant network of past winners and artists from Athens Jazz’s Greek Day and transforming the stage into a meeting place where history meets the present.
Both Greek bands carry strong symbolic significance, as they represent an anniversary “potpourri” of artists and collaborators associated with Athens Jazz, bridging generations and artistic directions. This is a carefully curated musical program that honors the creative evolution of Greek jazz and its ongoing dialogue with the international jazz scene. Thus, this year’s Greek Day takes on a dual character, serving as both a tribute and a creative fresh start, giving a special emotional and historical depth to the evening.
A few words about the Greek acts at the 25th Athens Jazz
Stavros Lantsias Quartet “My Ennio Morricone”: From the big screen to the Technopolis stage.
On Monday, May 25, the Stavros Lantsias Quartet will kick off the 25th Athens Jazz Festival with “My Ennio Morricone”. The distinguished pianist and composer Stavros Lantsias, together with his quartet, takes a creative approach to the work of the iconic Italian composer who left an indelible mark on the world of film music, bringing to the Technopolis stage the magic of some of the most iconic sounds in the history of cinema. Melodies that have defined the big screen are reimagined through contemporary jazz arrangements and improvisational passages, creating a soundscape that balances nostalgia with vibrant creativity. Joining him on stage are Andreas Polyzogopoulos, Michalis Kalkanis, and Michalis Kapilidis, in a performance that serves as a bridge between cinema, memory, and contemporary improvisation.
The Greek Cooking Band: A unique collaboration making its stage debut
The evening will culminate with the Greek Cooking Band, a group formed specifically for the grand celebration of the 25th Athens Jazz Festival. Drawing inspiration from the iconic 1967 album ‘’Greek Cooking’’, the project reinterprets the material from the collaboration between saxophonist Phil Woods and bouzouki player Iordanis Tsomidis through a contemporary jazz lens, highlighting the timelessness and transformative power of Greek musical identity. At the same time, the musicians that this band consists of, serves as a living “family tree” of the festival, featuring winners and artists from different eras of Athens Jazz: Giorgos Kontrafouris (keyboards), Alexandros Dandoulakis (guitar), Yannis Kasetas (tenor saxophone), Fausto Sierakowski (alto saxophone), Giorgos Konstantinou (bass), Panagiotis Kostopoulos (drums), and Nikos Tatasopoulos on bouzouki, along with the vocals of Nefeli Fasouli on two songs, create a dynamic ensemble that does not merely replicate the past but reinterprets it, opening up new paths through improvisation and collective expression. In this context, the Greek Cooking Band is not a typical revival project. It is a celebration of continuity, a living testament to how Greek jazz is evolving, engaging with its past while remaining open, bold, and contemporary. The show continues on stage…
The 25th Athens Jazz Festival honors the past, celebrates the present, and paves the way for the future. A week filled with music, memories, and new stories. Stay tuned for the full program and side events, which will be announced soon.
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