North Sea Jazz Festival

The NN North Sea Jazz Festival is a three-day music festival built around the halls of Rotterdam Ahoy, and the organisers have announced the next edition for 9, 10 and 11 July 2027. At the moment that announcement is a date and little else. No line-up, ticket price or on-sale date for 2027 had been published by the festival when this page was written.

The most recent edition ran from 10 to 12 July 2026 and marked the festival’s fiftieth anniversary. Everything below that mentions a price, a time or a house rule comes from what the organisers published for 2026. Treat it as a guide to how the festival normally operates rather than as confirmed detail for next year.

What happens at North Sea Jazz

The festival takes over the Rotterdam Ahoy complex and uses more than one hall. Madeira is one of them; that is where the 2026 Paul Acket Award winner played. No 2027 programme or hall allocation had been published at the time of writing.

The billing is not only about headline acts. The festival runs a Composition Project, with Ben van Gelder attached to it in 2026, and it appoints an Artist in Residence. In 2026 that role went to the singer Cécile McLorin Salvant.

The Paul Acket Award

Every edition the festival presents the Paul Acket Award, named after the founder of North Sea Jazz. The organisers describe it as going to artists who deserve wider recognition for their extraordinary musicianship: musicians the jazz scene already rates, but a wider audience has not caught up with yet. The prize is a trophy and a cheque for 10,000 euro.

The award was called the Bird Award until 2006, and the roll of winners works as a decent map of where jazz attention has landed. Recent recipients are the Brazilian pianist Amaro Freitas in 2026, Sun-Mi Hong in 2025, Kit Downes in 2024, Eve Risser in 2023 and Kris Davis in 2022. Cécile McLorin Salvant took it in 2016, ten years before returning as Artist in Residence. For 2026 an international jury of five nominated 22 musicians, and a large group of national and international jazz professionals cast the deciding vote.

Tickets and official information

Tickets are sold through the festival’s own ticket page, which links out to Ticketmaster; CJP tickets run through cjp.nl. For the 2026 edition a standard single-day ticket was 145 euro and a reduced CJP day ticket was 125 euro. The three-day weekend ticket was 390 euro and sold out. Junior tickets for children were 44.80 euro and could only be added to a full ticket, not bought alone. Hospitality sat above that, including a Ticket de Luxe at 350 euro and Birdland VIP arrangements at 540 euro a day.

Tickets bought through Ticketmaster can be passed to someone else from a personal Ticketmaster account, and the platform runs an official resale route for people who cannot use theirs. None of these categories or prices have been confirmed for 2027.

Getting to Rotterdam Ahoy

The organisers publish Jacob Kleiboerweg 80, 3084 BA Rotterdam as the navigation address. Their own advice is to come by public transport: travel to Rotterdam Centraal, change to the metro towards Ahoy and get out at Zuidplein, which is served by metro lines D and E. From the station it is about a five-minute walk to the entrance. RET runs larger metros on a longer schedule during the festival, so travel back to Rotterdam Centraal is possible until late in the evening.

Access and house rules

The festival states that the entire site is accessible for disabled visitors and that every hall can be reached by wheelchair, citing wide hallways, escalators and lifts.

A handful of rules shaped the 2026 edition and are worth knowing before you plan a day:

• Doors opened at 14:30 on each of the three days.
• There is no in and out service. Once you leave the building, your day is over.
• Food and drink are cashless. Bring a debit card, a credit card or a phone.
• There is no minimum age, but children need a Junior ticket and must be accompanied by someone holding a regular ticket.
• Your own food and drink cannot be brought in. Small cameras are fine; professional cameras and tablets are not.

Common questions

When is the next North Sea Jazz Festival?

The organisers have announced 9, 10 and 11 July 2027 in Rotterdam. Nothing beyond the dates had been published at the time of writing.

Is the festival indoors?

It is built around the halls of the Rotterdam Ahoy complex, and the organisers’ own practical information is written around those halls.

Can I go for a single day?

Yes. Day tickets are sold alongside the three-day weekend ticket. For 2026 the weekend ticket was marked sold out while day tickets were not.

Can I leave and come back the same day?

No. The festival states that there is no in and out service.

Is there a minimum age?

No. The festival says it has no minimum age. Children up to 15 need a Junior ticket, which is sold only as an add-on to a full ticket, and they must be accompanied by a regular ticket holder.

Is there a North Sea Jazz outside the Netherlands?

Yes. The festival’s own site also announces Curaçao North Sea Jazz, with the 2026 Caribbean edition on 3, 4 and 5 September.