Cape Town is about to sound a little different in March 2027. For 26 years, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival has brought music lovers together for unforgettable performances. Now, the festival is expanding beyond the traditional festival weekend to turn the entire Mother City into a celebration of jazz, culture and community.
Presented by espAfrika, the festival’s new chapter, Month of the Mother City, will run from 4 to 26 March 2027, bringing music into some of Cape Town’s most recognisable cultural landmarks, community spaces and public venues. Think live performances against the backdrop of Table Mountain, intimate musical encounters, art exhibitions and opportunities to discover the city through its creative heartbeat.
In other words, you might want to make room in your March calendar.
Rather than keeping the action within one venue, the 2027 edition will spread across the city, with events taking place at St George’s Cathedral, Greenmarket Square, the Company’s Garden, Artscape Theatre Centre, the Homecoming Centre, Texas Nightclub, Youngblood-Africa Gallery and Guga S’thebe in Langa. The result? A festival experience that invites audiences to explore different corners of Cape Town while discovering the sounds and stories that make its cultural scene so distinctive.
“For over two decades, the CTIJF has been the heartbeat of Cape Town's cultural calendar,” says Georgia Jones, Co-Director of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. “By expanding into the Month of the Mother City and decentralising our model, we are bringing the excitement and hope of jazz directly into the neighbourhoods, community and cultural spaces that make Cape Town so vibrant.”
The programme will build towards two major weekends. First up is the Homecoming weekend on 12 and 13 March, with events at the Homecoming Centre, associated with the District Six Museum, and Texas Nightclub. Then, from 19 to 21 March, the main festival weekend will bring the celebrations to the Company’s Garden, Greenmarket Square and St George’s Cathedral.
Across these flagship weekends, audiences can look forward to performances by 22 South African artists and 16 international acts, alongside special collaborations featuring the CTIJF Jazz Orchestra and the CTIJF All-Star Youth Band. The celebrations will wrap up on Sunday, 21 March, with a family day that makes space for music lovers of all ages.
But the beauty of this expanded format is that the experience won't be limited to those headline dates. Throughout March, the city will host a programme of cultural events, including 10 intimate performances, 10 masterclasses, panel discussions, a conversation series, an art gallery exhibition and a fashion show. There will also be free community concerts at Guga S’thebe on 14 March and Greenmarket Square on 17 March, creating more opportunities for audiences to experience the festival.
For Carolyn Sierra, Co-Director of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, this shift is about building a closer relationship between the festival and the city that has shaped it.
“In 2027, Cape Town doesn’t simply host the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. The city becomes the festival,” she says. “By taking the CTIJF into the cultural, community and public spaces of the Mother City, we are creating a richer connection between the music, our audiences and the place we call home.”
Sierra adds that the expanded format will also create new opportunities for partners, local businesses and artists to connect with audiences, while allowing the festival to evolve without losing the spirit that has defined it for more than two decades.
With ticket options ranging from free entry to tiered pricing, the Month of the Mother City aims to make the celebrations accessible to a wider audience. Whether you're a dedicated jazz enthusiast, a live-music regular or simply looking for a reason to experience Cape Town differently, there will be plenty to add to your calendar.
And if you're already planning your March outings, here's the important part: Early Bird tickets for the Cape Town International Jazz Festival go on sale via Quicket on 30 October 2026, with all ticket types and pricing tiers available from 16 November. Tickets for the wider Month of the Mother City programme will go on sale via FIXR on 30 November.
The line-ups for the Homecoming weekend and the main festival weekend, along with the full Month of the Mother City calendar, will be announced in the coming months.
Twenty-six years in, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival is making more room for music, bringing the experience into the streets, neighbourhoods and cultural spaces of the city. If March in Cape Town is usually about jazz, 2027 is shaping up to be about discovering just how far that music can take you.
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