About New Tide Festival
Where music moves
New Tide Festival celebrates both the rich tradition and the new energy of jazz. The line-up reflects this vision and approaches jazz as an open genre, deeply rooted in the African-American tradition and constantly evolving. From The Hague, a city by the sea and a city of encounters, we bring together new voices and established artists, with a special focus on female creators and innovative talents. As a festival, we want to grow into a lasting cultural force: locally rooted in the city, internationally in scope. A place where music moves, boundaries fade, and community is created—every edition anew.
Born out of a desire: jazz as an city's narrative
New Tide Festival is more than a concert weekend: it is an answer to what has been missing. The three curators, all active within The Hague’s music scene, are working with Amare to build on the city’s jazz legacy, from legendary performances by jazz greats to the vibrant jam sessions of today. Together they want to create something new: a festival where artists and audiences feel at home, with space for encounters, experimentation and the social character of jazz.
From the start, one principle for the festival was central: connection with the city. This was found in the collaboration with curators Toine Scholten and Tom van der Zaal, initiators of Jazz en Route. As musicians and jazz entrepreneurs, they know the city and its music scene like no other. This is why New Tide Festival, as an artist-driven festival, understands the potential and unmet demand from this scene. Such as creating opportunities for young jazz musicians from The Hague and the surrounding area. New Tide Festival offers them a stage of stature—more than just the pub circuit.
Roy Hargrove as inspiration: tradition and innovation in balance
The spirit of Roy Hargrove,trumpeter, innovator and bridge-builder across generations, forms the artistic compass of the festival. His musical legacy, in which bebop, hip hop, soul and Afro-Cuban rhythms converge, lives on in the curation of the programme. “Hargrove was rooted in tradition, yet always moved forward. That balance is exactly what we are aiming for with New Tide,” says festival curator Tom van der Zaal.
Chelsea Pachito, curator at Amare, underlines the importance of accessibility and renewal: “Jazz is freedom. It is time for a new audience, new energy. We want to create space for artists who might not automatically find their way onto a jazz stage, but who absolutely belong there.”
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