A big stage full of big names will open Jazz à la Villette 2026 through the headlining collab between New York collective Snarky Puppy and the Metropole Orkest.

Ten years to the day since crowding the stage of the Grande Halle for a concert we’ll never forget, Snarky Puppy is back with a supersized version of the genre-fusing performances that have had such success for two whole decades. Jazz, funk, rhythm and blues, soul, rock, gospel, contemporary music – the collective deftly blends it all into an American melting pot, managing to pull out their own unique style and sound. Today, Snarky Puppy is meeting the many musicians of the Metropole Orkest, a Dutch institution similarly famous for its ability to build bridges between styles. Following Sylva in 2015 – an orchestral suite that won them a GRAMMY – the two groups released Somni in 2025, an album with the wild ambition of breaking down borders, which sounds best when it goes back to where it was recorded: on stage. Unmissable.

Opening act: Dolphin Hyperspace

As a new sensation from the LA scene that shakes and stirs jazz, funk, and electro, Dolphin Hyperspace is sure to bring a bright and bouncing set.

A bass, a saxophone, a good mood, a laptop and/or a drumkit – that’s all it takes for born performers Dolphin Hyperspace to work their magic on stage. Saxophonist Nicole McCabe and bassist Logan Kane let their energy run wild, pulling the audience into sets reminiscent of mythical drummer Louis Cole – with whom the duo are as close as a pair of drumsticks. Dolphins aren’t the only animals in the picture here, though – just look at their young yet already impressive discography of Mini Giraffe (2021) and What is My Porpoise? (2024), where jazz and funk dip their toes into the world of video games. And with its generous guest list, ECHOLOCATION (2026) rolls out its elastic melodies over a layer of flittering rhythms that have definitely been working out.