Made in New York Jazz Festival

The Made in New York Jazz Festival brings musicians from the New York jazz scene to Montenegro each summer. The 2026 edition — the festival's eleventh — was held from 26 to 28 June, opening at Porto Montenegro in Tivat before moving to the Cetinje Summer Stage on 27 June.

The festival was founded by a circle of New York jazz musicians, and its concept has held steady across eleven editions: world-class players from the city's scene brought to perform in Montenegro's most evocative summer settings. The idea has always been about transplanting a scene rather than just booking names — the players carry the sound of New York's clubs to the Adriatic.

The 2026 route paired two very different stages. The opening night on 26 June played by the marina of Porto Montenegro, where waterfront terraces and moored yachts give the music a glamorous frame; the following evening moved inland to the Summer Stage in Cetinje, the old royal capital, where the atmosphere is closer to a classic open-air concert in a historic town.

That contrast is part of the festival's appeal: the same calibre of musicianship heard against the polished backdrop of Tivat's marina one night and in the quieter, more intimate setting of Cetinje the next. Listeners who followed the festival across both evenings effectively got two festivals in one.

For jazz listeners in Montenegro, the festival is the most direct line to the New York scene the summer calendar offers, and each edition renews it. Eleven years in, it has become a fixture that regional audiences plan around — a rare chance to hear this level of playing without leaving the Adriatic.

The eleventh edition ran from 26 to 28 June 2026, opening at Porto Montenegro in Tivat on 26 June, playing the Cetinje Summer Stage on 27 June and closing on 28 June.