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Held in a Turkish fortress that has stood in Serbia’s third-largest city since 1723, the Nišville International Jazz Festival takes this impressive stronghold back to its post-Byzantine days by installing a choice selection of emperors and empresses each August. This time however, the sultans of swing are the most influential in the world of jazz.
Attracting some 100,000 visitors each year, the festival has managed to secure everyone from the saxophonist Grace Kelly to legendary soul star Solomon Burke in the past, as it fills two full programmes of music inside the fort on the Earth and Sky stages.
That’s not all though. Its third arena, the River stage, takes things beyond the walls with musicians playing in an intimate amphitheatre down by the Niš wharf.
For those who like to get their hands dirty, there are always a number of workshops on offer too. But whether you’re tinkling on a piano, strumming a guitar or whetting a reed instrument, the teachers aren’t your run of the mill tutors. Instead, the coaches come straight from the festival’s line-up.
Immerse yourself in the colours of Jazz at Nisville!