Pégazz Festival

Pégazz Festival: Contemporary Jazz Comes to Fontenay-sous-Bois

The Pégazz Festival was born in 2021 on the initiative of the collective Pégazz & l'Hélicon, a group of musicians and jazz enthusiasts based in Fontenay-sous-Bois (94). From its very first edition, the festival established its hallmarks: demanding contemporary jazz, open to all influences, and rooted in the cultural fabric of a dynamic Parisian suburb. In just a few seasons, it has become "a substantial jazz cultural event in the Fontenay season," in its own words.

An Audacious and Multidisciplinary Program

The strength of the Pégazz Festival lies in its refusal to be confined to traditional concerts. Each edition offers a multidisciplinary program that combines improvised music, visual arts, cinema, and music education. The festival takes over three key venues in Fontenay: La Fonderie (23 rue de Neuilly), the Espace culturel Gérard Philipe (26 rue Gérard Philipe), and the Théâtre Jean-François Voguet (18 allée Maxime Gorki).

The centerpiece of each edition remains the Pégazz Loto-jazz: a concert where musicians are drawn by lot to compose unprecedented formations on the spot, generating unlikely and electrifying musical encounters. This inventive format, which has become the festival's signature, perfectly illustrates the spirit of improvisation and freedom that drives the founding collective.

A Window onto the International Jazz Scene

Over the years, the Pégazz Festival has hosted a remarkable array of artists from the French and international contemporary jazz scene. The 5th edition in 2025 highlighted diverse projects such as the ethno-jazz duo of Kamilya Jubran & Sarah Murcia, the group Tricératops, guitarist Paul Jarret with his TILIA project, and the ambitious The Other Side Orchestra. The festival also opens its doors to young audiences with film-concerts accessible from an early age.

The masterclasses organized with students from the Fontenay-sous-Bois Conservatory are an essential educational component. The public performance of these workshops, led by renowned guest artists such as pianist Jozef Dumoulin, helps to forge a living link between professional creation and local music training.

Jazz in the City

The Pégazz Festival traditionally opens during the Journées du Patrimoine (Heritage Days) with a free concert at La Fonderie, a former industrial wasteland converted into a cultural space. This symbolic gesture affirms the festival's popular vocation: to make improvised music accessible to everyone, without price barriers or cultural intimidation. The paid concerts during the main week remain moderately priced, with discounts for students, those under 25, and conservatory students.

By leveraging the network of cultural facilities in Fontenay-sous-Bois and institutional support from the Val-de-Marne, the Pégazz Festival contributes to the rayonnement of the Parisian jazz scene and confirms the vitality of musical creation in the Parisian suburbs.