Gallery Sponsored Content
OUDTSHOORN NEWS - New venues, final acts, and bold programming for 2026, including Shepherd’s live scores alongside Kentridge short films, performances in Noordeinde, and the Swartberg Pass.
Journey to Jazz, now in its fourth year, has announced its final acts for 2026, alongside the addition of two significant new venues that reflect both the festival’s artistic ambition and its deepening integration with community and place: PACT centre, Bottleblom Street, in Noordeinde and a site-specific performance in the Swartberg Mountain Pass.
The festival will take place from 30 April to 3 May in Prince Albert.
Tickets are R250 per person and on sale via Quicket.
A Landmark presentation
William Kentridge Films with Live Score by Kyle Shepherd. Among the most significant artistic highlights of the 2026 programme is a special presentation featuring four short films by William Kentridge, accompanied by a live score performed by pianist and composer Kyle Shepherd.
Two further important voices have also been added to the line-up. Jonathan Rubain, whose deeply expressive performances draw on jazz, soul and spiritual traditions and appears for the second time at Journey to Jazz, and Donvino Prins, known for his strong grounding in Cape jazz, spiritual jazz and improvisation.
Donvino Prins
Cross-border collaboration
¡Gracia! - Journey to Jazz 2026 also continues its collaboration with the Italian Institute of Culture, presenting ¡Gracia! - a contemporary Mediterranean trio featuring Anaïs Drago (award-winning jazz violinist), Fausto Beccalossi and Luca Falomi.
Rooted in Mediterranean folk traditions yet distinctly modern in expression, ¡Gracia! embodies the festival’s belief in what becomes possible when creative borders soften and cultural exchange is allowed to flow freely.
The project debuted in Italy in 2025 and will culminate in a new album in spring 2026.
DJ Bob
New venues
Noordeinde and the Swartberg Pass, The PACT centre in Noordeinde becomes a vital new performance space in 2026, extending the festival’s reach into another part of Prince Albert and reinforcing its commitment to access, inclusion and neighbourhood-based programming.
Audiences can expect street-level jazz activations and vinyl culture events, inviting festivalgoers to experience music woven into everyday community life.
Throughout the festival weekend along Church Street in Prince Albert, a series of pop-ups will also be held, where both sound stylists will create spaces for everyone to be ‘moved’ by the music, whether in reflection or to dance.
Paul Hanmer
Full line-up 2026
Amy Campbell, DJ Bob, Donvino Prins, ¡Gracia! (Drago - Falomi - Beccalossi), Karoo Jazz Project, Kyle Shepherd |William Kentridge Films, Linda Sikhakane and Paras Dlamini, Nomfundo Xaluva, Ntone Edjabe - DJ Set, Vusi Mahlasela, Paul Hanmer, Yonela Mnana and The Soultee Sisters, Zawadi Yamungu and Jonathan Rubain.
Presented by the Prince Albert Community Trust (PACT), Journey to Jazz remains first and foremost a music festival - one that must succeed to sustain its broader social impact.
Every ticket sold contributes directly to youth training, skills development and opportunity creation across Prince Albert and the surrounding region.
With its 2026 artist line-up now complete, Journey to Jazz continues to distinguish itself through intimacy, integrity and ambition - offering audiences not only exceptional music, but a deeper connection to place, people and purpose.
The Greet and Meet programme will be announced in March -watch for more festival activities in Prince Albert.
Social Media
Facebook: journeytojazzfestival
Instagram: @journeytojazzfestival
TikTok: journey.to.jazz
YouTube: @JOURNEYTOJAZZfestival
‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
