Reno Jazz Festival at UNR Apr 23-25
- Three-day Reno Jazz Festival featuring world-class clinicians, student performances, and evening concerts. - April 23–25 at the University of Nevada, Reno campus with workshops, performances, and concerts each day. - Full schedule and ticket info at ask-reno.com.
The Reno Jazz Festival opens Thursday, April 23, at the University of Nevada, Reno, with three days of student sets, clinics, jam sessions and ticketed evening concerts. (unr.edu) The 2026 festival runs through Saturday, April 25, on the Reno campus, with Kris Davis and the Manzanita Quintet headlining Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Ben Wendel with University of Nevada, Reno Jazz Lab 1 headlining Friday at 7:30 p.m., both in Nightingale Concert Hall. (unr.edu) Saturday’s closing concert starts at 4 p.m. in Nightingale Concert Hall and includes festival awards, artist-educator highlights and selected student performers from across the weekend. (unr.edu) The event is built as an education festival as much as a concert series. University organizers say participating ensembles receive 50-minute performance reviews with on-the-spot coaching, while daytime clinics and concerts run Friday and Saturday. (unr.edu; unr.edu) The Reno Jazz Festival has been running for more than 60 years after launching in 1962, and the university says it now brings together thousands of students, educators and jazz fans each spring. (unr.edu; unr.edu) This year’s format keeps the student side central: organizers describe competitive and non-competitive tracks, daytime performances, artist-led clinics and evening jam sessions designed for students to play with peers and professional musicians. (unr.edu; unr.edu) Public access is split between paid concerts and free sessions. The university says both the Thursday student jam and Friday pro jam are free to the public, while daytime passes and evening concert tickets are sold separately. (unr.edu; unr.edu) Festival logistics stretch across several campus buildings, including Church Fine Arts, the University Foundation Arts Building, the Joe Crowley Student Union and the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. Parking is free after 5 p.m. Thursday, free after 5 p.m. Friday in designated levels of the Brian Whalen Parking Complex, and free Saturday in designated festival parking areas. (unr.edu; unr.edu) The box office opens Thursday from 6:30 to 8 p.m., then reopens Friday and Saturday 30 minutes before the first performance and stays open until 15 minutes after the last one. By Wednesday, April 22, the university had closed group registration and was directing visitors to daytime passes and single-event tickets. (unr.edu; unr.edu) By Thursday night, the festival shifts from planning to performance, with a Grammy-winning pianist opening the concert series and student musicians filling the rest of the campus through Saturday afternoon. (unr.edu; unr.edu)
