Press room

Today (19 March) the Barbican and Associate Producer Serious announce the first wave of performances for the EFG London Jazz Festival 2025. Now in its 33rd year, the annual festival returns to the Barbican from Friday 14 – Sunday 23 November 2025 as well as taking over 60+ venues across London to spotlight some of the best global and local jazz talent. For 10 days and nights musicians from all over the world will come together to perform boundary-pushing music that showcases jazz and its influence across genres and cultures.

Jazz transcends borders, blending various musical traditions around the world and bringing together diverse communities through the shared language of music. The EFG London Jazz Festival has always embraced collaborations between musicians from all over the globe with jazz and its surrounding genres’ openness to diversity, creativity and unity, while continuing to evolve and inspire musicians and audiences worldwide.

Future announcements will detail the rest of the programme including Barbican Hall, Milton Court Concert Hall and the longstanding free-to-attend FreeStage performances in the Barbican’s Level G foyers.

Artists announced today:

• Dee Dee Bridgewater, Saturday 15 November, Barbican Hall
• Hiromi’s Sonicwonder, Saturday 22 November, Barbican Hall

Full details for both performances follow below. As more performances and details are announced in later waves, all EFG London Jazz Festival events at the Barbican will be visible here.

The EFG London Jazz Festival 2025 is preceded by the Barbican and Serious’s Summer Jazz Series running through June and July 2025. For more information about the Summer Jazz Series 2025, click here.

~

We Exist! The Dee Dee Bridgewater Quartet

Saturday 15 November 2025, 7.30pm

Barbican Hall

Tickets from £35 plus booking fee

Grammy and Tony Award-winning Jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater brings her WE EXIST! show to the Barbican on Saturday 15 November. 

Bridgewater has had a glittering four-decade career reimagining jazz classics, ascending to the upper echelon of vocalists, uniquely spinning standards and taking intrepid leaps of faith. A three-time Grammy winner, her bold interpretations have earned critical acclaim, including her most recent win for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee. 

Bridgewater’s journey began with the legendary Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, leading to collaborations with jazz greats like Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, and Dizzy Gillespie. Beyond music, Bridgewater has dazzled in musical theatre, winning a Tony Award for The Wiz and earning an Olivier nomination for Lady Day.

Presented by Serious

Find out more

~

Hiromi’s Sonicwonder

Saturday 22 November 2025, 7.30pm

Barbican Hall

Tickets from £30 plus booking fee

Hiromi’s Sonicwonder returns to the Barbican. Over more than 20 years as a recording artist, the jazz piano phenomenon Hiromi has shifted seamlessly from one spellbinding project to the next. In the process, she’s earned a reputation as one of the most explosive live performers in jazz history and a global ambassador for the art form. She performs on Saturday 22 November, which follows her celebrated 2023 performance at the Barbican for the festival.

Renowned for her dazzling technique and boundless energy, Hiromi has captivated audiences worldwide for over two decades. A Grammy-winning pianist and composer, she has performed on global stages, from an NPR Tiny Desk Concert with millions of views to the Tokyo Olympics. Her project, Sonicwonder, showcases her signature fusion of jazz-rock, classical virtuosity, and pop-infused grooves. Featuring bassist Hadrien Feraud, drummer Gene Coye, and trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, Sonicwonder unleashes theirs and Hiromi’s electrifying sound.

Presented by Serious

Find out more