Celebrate Jazz Day in Abu Dhabi, UNESCO Capital 2025. A month of jazz music in the UAE capital.
On April 30, Abu Dhabi, UNESCO Capital 2025, celebrates International Jazz Day. To mark this significant international recognition, Abu Dhabi is organizing Jazz Month, running from April to May, featuring various jazz concerts across the capital.
The Italian Cultural Institute of Abu Dhabi is delighted to collaborate with Abu Dhabi Culture, presenting two major events within this extraordinary musical setting, placing Abu Dhabi at the heart of the global jazz scene.
Our events for Abu Dhabi Jazz Month featuring Italian artists:
Enzo Favata “Starship” – Ethnic Jazz Concert: From the Sardinian “Trunfa” to Electronic Music
April 4, 2025 | 6:30PM
Italian Cultural Institute Abu Dhabi
RSVP: https://enzofavatastarship.splashthat.com
Enzo Favata is a versatile musician with a passion for exploring sound in all its dimensions. His unique artistic journey blends jazz with various musical languages, merging ancient and modern cultures.
During the concert, Favata will play the soprano saxophone, clarinet, ethnic wind instruments, the Sardinian “trunfa” (Jew’s harp), and live electronics. One of the most active and internationally recognized Italian musicians today, Favata has released 45 albums as a bandleader and appears in five international artist compilations. He has performed in over 2,000 concerts across major festivals worldwide, including Europe, Japan, China, Iran, Egypt, Brazil, Argentina, Patagonia, the Svalbard Islands, Croatia, Slovenia, Albania, and Kuwait.
Listen to his music. What his video Starship.
April 5, 2025 | 10AM-12PM Masterclass for music students
Italian Cultural Institute Abu Dhabi
Enzo Favata will offer a special saxophone and clarinet masterclass for music students interested in discovering his unique ethnic instruments. For information and reservations please email: abudhabiiic.segre@esteri.it
April 18, 2025 | 7PM “The Portait of the Italian Jazz” by Motel Kaiju Quintet
Auditorium, Manarat Al Saadiyat
RSVP: https://portraitoftheitalianjazz.splashthat.com/
Italian jazz: between tradition and innovation. A tribute to the greats of Italian jazz history. In collaboration with Abu Dhabi Culture and Manarat Al Saadiyat, the Italian Cultural Institute of Abu Dhabi presents contemporary Italian Jazz on Friday, April 18, as part of Abu Dhabi’s UNESCO Jazz Day 2025 celebrations. The Italian jazz quintet “Motel Kaiju” will perform in Manarat Al Saadiyat’s Auditorium, paying tribute to the history of Italian jazz and honoring the legendary Quincy Jones, the father of Jazz Day.
The program includes special compositions inspired by Miles Davis’ visit to Milan, as well as tributes to the great pioneers of Italian jazz, Giorgio Gaslini and Massimo Urbani, with his unique Italian Bebop music, alongside original compositions.
“On the occasion of UNESCO Jazz Day, with Abu Dhabi as the capital, this special project will present a concert with diverse musical forms, exploring acoustic sounds and innovative approaches to the music we love,” says bandleader Niccolò Faraci.
A musical program highlighting Italy’s great jazz composers, in a concert full of emotion, bridging tradition and innovation.
Watch some videos
Video 1
Video 2
April 29, 2025 | 6:30PM. Pino Daniele – “Nero a Metà” (screening)
Italian Cultural Institute Abu Dhabi
RSVP: https://pinodaniele.splashthat.com
Neapolitan Jazz: A Documentary on the Life and Music of PINO DANIELE. Tenth Anniversary of His Passing.
The Italian edition of April Jazz Month in Abu Dhabi could only conclude with the screening of the docufilm “Nero a metà,” which, ten years after his passing, retraces the key moments of the life and career of the great Pino Daniele, a unique artist of Neapolitan jazz-blues.
The documentary, through his music and testimonies, reconstructs the genesis of his third album, “Nero a metà,” released in 1980, which marked his rise to national and international fame. The event is part of the Neapolis 2500 celebrations, which commemorate the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the city of Naples.
Let’s celebrate UNESCO Jazz Day together with these unmissable events!