Jazz, stars and small-town charm:

Why you should visit the Kongsberg Jazz Festival

Picture of the Opening Parade Kongsberg Jazz Festival

The year's finest festival experiences are coming to Kongsberg Jazz Festival!

Every year at the beginning of July, small Kongsberg transforms into a cultural metropolis during the Kongsberg Jazz Festival.

For more than 60 years, Kongsberg Jazz Festival has hosted world-renowned names in jazz and related genres, as well as a wide range of popular artists and bands. In short: You get one of the year's finest festival experiences - less than an hour's drive from Oslo. Kongsberg is easy to get to and easy to love, and definitely worth a long weekend in early July!

Here you will find magnificent concerts under the open sky, intimate club experiences, colorful Barnivalen and a festival street that is bustling with life – all within walking distance for visitors.

Here are some of the reasons why audiences return year after year – and why you should take the trip this year.

Grace Jones in a legendary pose from the late 1970s.

#1 Legendary Grace Jones – right in the heart of Kongsberg

Pop icon and fashion legend Grace Jones is giving an exclusive Norwegian concert in Kongsberg – and you can see her in scenic surroundings on the festival's new main stage, Kvarten, with the river Lågen flowing backstage. An experience you won't get anywhere else. This will take place on Saturday 5 July, and together with Grace Jones you can experience the Norwegian rising star Fay Wildhagen. On Friday 4 July, the American soul star Aloe Blacc and Norwegian rock's vocal beacon, Sivert Høyem, will perform.

#2 Jazz festival in fantastic surroundings

In all modesty, we must say that Kongsberg is one of the coziest cities in Eastern Norway. Few festivals use an entire city as a setting for the festival in the same way as Kongsberg Jazz Festival. We love using the historical surroundings and the special Kongsberg-unique venues as a setting for the festival experience. This year, we are introducing the festival's new, green main stage in the historic Kvarten area. Here, there is a natural amphitheater in a park down towards Lågen with space for up to 5000 listeners - perfect for those of you who like to experience big names in an intimate setting.

Photo by Henriette Eilertsen — John scofield

#3 Always top-shelf jazz names

A list of all the big jazz names who have played at Kongsberg Jazz Festival would be too long. Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker – you get the picture. Who hasn't played with us, really? This year we have both international and Norwegian top-class names, such as Maria Kannegaard, John Scofield, Dave Douglas, Karin Krog, the star team In The Country with Solveig Slettahjell and Knut Reiersrud, bassist Ellen Andrea Wang and commissioned works from last year's prize winners, flutist Henriette Eilertsen and violinist Tuva Halse, the latter in a constellation with Håkon Kornstad.

#4 Jazz festival with big and small, wide and narrow, all mixed together

The concerts during the Kongsberg Jazz Festival are played on a number of different stages and locations around the city, some indoors and some outdoors, ranging from intimate concert experiences to a folk festival on Kirketorteg. You can buy a festival pass that covers the entire festival, our new JAZZpass, a day pass that gives access to all concerts on the day in question, a 2-day pass to the Kvarten concerts or individual tickets to the concerts you want to see. We have created our own ticket guide - check it out here.

#5 A pocket-sized music festival

Kongsberg Jazz Festival is just the right size: All stages are within walking distance of each other, the city is cozy, the logistics are simple – and you avoid long queues and crowds. You get the feeling of “being where it’s happening” – all the time. It’s also walking distance from Kongsberg station, with frequent train and bus connections in all directions. Perfect logistical conditions for a great festival experience, in other words. You immediately get the festival feeling when you get off the train or bus, with bustling people in the city and free concerts in Festivalgata and Jazzboksen. There’s no better time to take a long weekend in Kongsberg.

#6 Barnivalen – the children's and family festival will be free this year

Barnivalen is a festival within a festival, this year with a new and colorful profile and cool t-shirts! This year we are making the entire Barnivalen free for everyone – with concerts, workshops and activities for the little ones, all conveniently located in the middle of the city. The festival kicks off with a special festival parade, in the familiar jazz festival style, and with an opening party for the whole family. There are many other great free offers too, in addition to the regular festival program.

#7 Unique and intimate concert experiences

The JAZZpass is new for 2025. In addition, we also have the JAZZpass Ung with a very nice discount for those under 25! The JAZZpass gives access to about 35 concerts at some of the festival's most intimate and atmospheric indoor stages: Energimølla, Smeltehytta, Kongsberg Church, Argus, Galleri Låven, Steinhuset, Privat Bar, Kongsberg Music Theatre and Sølvsalen. The former cult favorite "Særingpasset" is practically replaced by the new jazzpass. Read more about all our festival passes and tickets here.

Intimate folk festivals in the backyard at Gamle Norge.

#8 Good reasons to arrive early – and stay late

The festival opens with the star team Maria Kannegaard & Deathprod and closes with Grace Jones at Kvarten and Les Amazones d'Afrique at Energimølla. In between the beats, you can enjoy yourself in Festivalgata and hang out in Jazzboksen, catch poetry in Poesioasen, one of the art exhibitions and the concerts you may prefer, at large and small venues.

#9 Jazz festival that is much more than jazz

Kongsberg Jazz Festival offers a lot of jazz, but certainly a lot of other things too. Old Norway is the place to see big Norwegian names with broad and popular appeal, such as CC Cowboys, Emma Steinbakken, Di Derre and Staut. This year we also have a particularly strong program in the category we can describe as "Rocka, funky and soulful from the jazz neighborhood", with the Swedish fusion fireworks Dirty Loops, the American soul singer Aloe Blacc, the electronica/funk/pop duo KNOWER from Los Angeles and Norwegian jazz-and-region fireworks such as Hedvig Mollestad Trio and Møster!

Jan Garbarek, Jon Christensen, Karin Krog, Per Løberg and Terje Bjørklund, Kongsberg cinema, 1965. — Karin Krog and a young Jan Garbarek (left) during the very first Kongsberg Jazz Weekend in 1964.

#10 A historic jazz festival

Since 1964, the Kongsberg Jazz Festival has been held annually, with the exception of the corona year 2020. With its rich history, the Kongsberg Jazz Festival is an important cultural event in both Kongsberg and Norway, and a festival with a strong international reputation. Karin Krog represents tradition and continuity on this year's poster - she performed at the very first "Kongsberg Jazz-Weekend" in 1964!