Is it possible to attend one of the great festivals of the Costa Brava without going through the box office?

GironaThe Platja d'Aro Jazz Nights were born in 1998 as a bold venture, when the major summer music festivals on the Costa Brava had not yet emerged and when jazz in Catalonia was a minority musical genre. Almost thirty years later, this jazz event in Platja d'Aro has consolidated and is among the great summer festivals on the Costa Brava, all characterized by a high-level program performed in unique settings (by the sea, in a historic castle, in charming village squares) and with ticket prices often not affordable for all. The Platja d'Aro Jazz Nights, however, maintain a feature that differentiates it from the rest: all concerts have been and always are free.

20,000 spectators loyal to the event

"From its beginnings, the festival has been a popular, open and accessible bet", affirms the mayor of Platja d'Aro, Maurici Jiménez, who adds that this jazz festival has acted as a "launchpad" for many musicians of this genre who, at the start of the event, were emerging talents and who today are among the big names on the Catalan jazz scene. The Nits de Jazz are held every Friday in July and August on Platja Gran, in the Cavall Bernat area, where a thousand chairs are set up, an attendance that is always full and which is expanded with the sandy area of the beach, from where, sitting on a towel, more and more people prefer to enjoy the jazz concerts. Around 20,000 spectators attend this musical event every summer.

The space and free access, a gift

"The space is already a gift, as is the ability to listen to good jazz for free," adds the councilor for Cultural Action, Maria Blanco.

The festival kicks off this Friday, July 3, with the performance of Namina & The Barbaries, with an original proposal in which jazz, funk, soul, and blues dialogue with cinematographic and literary universes ranging from Víctor Català to Joan Fuster or Kafka. Among the rest of the concerts that make up the program are those of Xavi Torres, who unites his voice with the music of the great saxophonist Miguel Zenón; that of La Vella Dixieland Big Reunion, that of The Gramophone AllStars Big Band, or that of Júlia Plans Sextet. To close the festival, on August 28, Broadway Jazz Classics has been programmed, a concert where five solo voices, accompanied by a chamber orchestra, will offer a musical journey through the jazzistic New York of the early 20th century.

Kike Colmenar, artistic director of the festival, highlights the high level of this edition's performances, which were selected from more than 150 applications received in a public call. "The program stands out not only for its high quality but also for its diversity and generational and territorial balance".

Les Nits de Jazz was born as a proposal from the Platja d'Aro City Council, which two years ago handed over management to the company Simolat to "facilitate its growth". The company enthusiastically looks forward to the festival's 30th anniversary celebration next year.