CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival announced it’s plans to postpone it’s 19th annual festival till 2021. The festival came to this conclusion in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic; it was not safe to be held this year. The jazz fest will take place on June 18 – 26, 2021.
The festival was originally rescheduled from June 19 – June 27 of 2020 to October 2 – 10, 2020 in hopes the pandemic would subside. Marc Iacona and John Nugent are producers of the festival ended up making the decision like many festivals to ultimately postpone until 2021. “This is the decision we didn’t want to make,” said Iacona and Nugent. They explained their decision to cancel saying, “We held out hope for as long as possible even as most major festivals and concert events around the world were postponing. But as we have now arrived at a critical junction, needing to finalize artists and logistic arrangements, reality has prevailed.”
With more than 208,000 people attending the nine-day festival annually, coming from more than half of the United States and 20 countries around the world to see 325-plus shows, and 1750-plus artists performing there was no way to make the festival a safe environment in the light of the pandemic. They wouldn’t be able to adhere to the distancing guidelines set. The guidelines would severely reduce venue capacities, likely capped at 25%, if venues were even available. Access would be severely limited, making it impossible to accommodate all patrons.The festival also includes lots of free shows, comprising almost a third of the festival’s shows. These shows in particular would be extremely difficult if not impossible to manage for screening, distancing, and oversight.
The Good news is that the festival has been able to reschedule the headliner shows, originally scheduled for this year. Both Puss N Boots and Spyro Gyra from their postponed 19th Edition will be featured in the 2021 edition. Puss N Boots will perform on Friday, June 18, 2021. Spyro Gyra will play Tuesday, June 22, 2021. For those who hold tickets for those shows, tickets and selected seats are saved and are automatically valid for these rescheduled shows. Ticket holders do not need to do anything further. For those who wish to purchase tickets for those two shows, they are on sale now on their website.
For more information please visit CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival’s website.
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