Outstanding young bands brought fresh energy to the world’s largest and oldest traditional jazz festival
The 51st INTERNATIONALES DIXIELAND FESTIVAL concludes today, Sunday. Tens of thousands more visitors are expected before the early-evening Neumarkt finale. At 16:00, the traditional final-Sunday Dixieland-Parade starts at Terrassenufer through the historic centre, with ten bands and other tableaux. Sweden’s Spicy Advice Ragtime Band then plays the finale at the spring market stage beside Frauenkirche.
This morning, 2,500 attended Open-Air-Gala at Junge Garde in the Großer Garten. Last Sunday’s zoo family opening attracted around 8,500, followed by many sold-out concerts and well-attended free events. Today’s programme brings total attendance to around 340,000. More than 50 events offered 261 hours, 132 free, excluding countless spontaneous performances throughout the centre. The 38 international and German bands and soloists conveyed tremendous joie de vivre.
“Following 2022’s anniversary, Germany’s first major festival after coronavirus restrictions ended, and more difficult conditions, we expected significantly fewer visitors in 2023. Matching or surpassing last year’s overwhelming result seemed unrealistic. Nevertheless, audiences exceeded expectations and we are very satisfied,” says SFV chairman and production director Steffen Kiefer.
The 51st edition focused on swing dancing, embracing its remarkable revival in America and Europe. New formats and young international and German bands included Swing’it (Norway), The Fried Seven (Netherlands), The Sassy Swingers (France) and Streetview Dixieclub (Austria). They captivated audiences from day one with outstanding jazz and compelling entertainment. “Our plan to refresh the festival through excellent young bands and more dancing to live music succeeded. Audiences embraced new formats, and we will continue this approach,” says Kiefer.
Despite success, the future is uncertain. Continuing to offer almost half the music free is questionable, especially 2024’s Dixieland-Parade and Dresdner Jazzmeile with up to eight historic-centre stages. New audience safety requirements, electricity/water connection charges and sharply increased services and staffing costs were partly offset by remaining pandemic funding. Whether and how next year’s free programme can be funded remains entirely unclear.
“For decades, this eight-day festival’s extensive accessible programme for all ages, genuine inclusion and traditional jazz in every facet have enhanced Dresden’s image for German and international fans. Several hundred thousand guests make it a stable tourism and economic factor. Cuts would deeply hurt organisers and above all audiences, but may be unavoidable,” concludes Kiefer.
The 52nd INTERNATIONALES DIXIELAND FESTIVAL runs from 12 to 19 May 2024, including Whit Sunday. Dresden boogie veteran Thomas Stelzer returns after over ten years, previewing his milestone birthday celebrations under Stelzer feiert Säsch (Saxon dialect for “Stelzer celebrates 60”).
The 51st INTERNATIONALES DIXIELAND FESTIVAL in figures
Bands and soloists:
international: 12, other German acts: 15, Dresden: 11
Music:
15,686 minutes (= 261 hours), including 7,921 free (= 132 hours)
Events: 50
Stages/performance sites: 50
Press photographs:
