Coachella, Lollapalooza, Glastonbury—there’s a chance that you’ve heard of these festivals. These are the festivals that some of the biggest artists in the world grace with their presence, offering fun and excitement to the thousands of people watching. It’s always a fun time to watch the various performances occurring at these events, especially if you’re a fan of such music.
However, if you have an itch for new music, then these festivals on the list may pique your interest enough to watch. These five are about classical and jazz music, which may not seem interesting at first glance, but they are surely worth spending time on. They’re as fun and exciting as regular pop music festivals, and who knows, you might even become a fan after attending them.
1. Prague Spring International Music Festival
If you want to explore the height of classical music, then this is definitely the place to be. As this is one of the most famous festivals of its type in the world, you won’t have a shortage of classical music from its various venues all over the city. By the end of the three weeks, starting from the ceremony honoring the Czech Republic’s greatest composer up to the finale by one of Antonin Dvorak’s works, you’ll be firmly acquainted with the world of classical music and will be begging for more after it.
2. Bayreuth’s Wagner Festival
If exploring the wide expanse of classical music may be too daunting a task for you, then maybe you’ll like this German festival that focuses on only one. But don’t be concerned—Richard Wagner’s operas have just as much depth and variety to witness, and you’ll experience them in an opera house designed to the late composer’s specifications. However, you better make your reservations as early as now; the site only seats 1,925 people, and there’s a good reason why it’s always sold out.
3. Monterey Jazz Festival
If you know nothing about jazz, then why not travel to one of the oldest jazz festivals in the world? Situated on the north California coast, the Monterey Fairgrounds is home to a jazz festival blessed with titans like Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday in its beginning, who allowed its superstar musicians to walk the grounds and collaborate with other musicians. There is a “Californian” energy to the entire event, with the infectious spirit of this “jazz heaven” being a great place to start learning about jazz.
4. St Lucia Jazz
As one of the top five jazz festivals in the world, this festival will definitely encourage you to visit the Caribbean around the first two weeks of May. You’ll be able to hear all types, varieties, and fusions of the genre on display here, while you experience the splendid natural beauty of the country. St. Lucia has never sounded better, infusing its own local twist on the borrowed art form and giving you even more reason to start loving jazz.
5. Montreux International Jazz Festival
Though the festival has since started to incorporate elements of world and Brazilian music, the jazz music and energy here remain quite alive and well. You would never expect that a city between a lake and the mountains of Switzerland would attract 200,000 people a year, and yet it does. The musicians here aren’t doing this for the money, yet you wouldn’t know it by the openness and respect that you can feel from the world’s greatest musicians as they ask you to jam out with them.
Classical and jazz music may not be among the most popular forms of music in the world anymore, but they remain solid and incredibly fun music styles that deserve to be listened to, and these five amazing events prove it.
