Surprises await Koktebel Jazz Party festival goers, Rossiya Segodnya Director General Dmitry Kiselev said. The festival will be held from August 23 to 25 in the artistic village of Koktebel.
"It is such a tremendous event, objectively. The festival is listed on concert schedules in the world's leading music magazines. As always, Americans will be there, including a Grammy Award winner, which is the highest music award in the USA. We will have some brilliant Russian performers too… and jazz surprises. So, we are going to have ourselves a tremendous festival," Kiselev said speaking live on Radio Sputnik in Crimea.
Yulia Chicherina will appear at the festival, performing jazz interpretations of some of her hits, he added.
The Koktebel Jazz Party was founded in 2003 as a private initiative by Koktebel jazz pioneer, journalist Dmitry Kiselev. The small Crimean town lent its name to the event which is now on the list of highly acclaimed world jazz festivals. The organizers traditionally keep the celebrity performers' names secret. Over the years, the festival program has included performances by iconic jazz drummer Jimmy Cobb (the US), Grammy Award winner for Best Latin Jazz Album Gonzalo Rubalcaba (Cuba), Nu Jazz stars Club Des Belugas (Germany) and the extraordinary saxophonist Robert Anchipolovsky (Israel). Russian President Vladimir Putin was among the festival guests in 2017.
The festival, organized by the Red Square media group, has been held since 2014 with the support of the Russian Ministry of Culture. The information partners of the event are the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency and VGTRK holding company. Radio Jazz is the musical partner of the festival. The regional partner is the Sobaka Krym Publishing House.