A performance of Speaking in Tongues by pianist Rachel Eckroth and drummer John Hadfield in the Grand Hotel Garden marked the second day of the fourth edition of the Ponta Lopud Jazz Festival on Friday, 28 August. The day began with two masterclasses at the Rector’s Palace, where mentors worked with thirteen selected participants from eleven countries on the sustainability of a career in music and on rhythmic concepts, and ended with a jam session that continued past midnight.

The first masterclass, Mind, Body, & Spirit for the Freelance Musician, brought together saxophonist Donny McCaslin, pianist and vocalist Alejandra Sofia and the festival’s Artistic Director Thana Alexa. They spoke with the participants about issues rarely addressed in music education: the uncertainty of freelance work, preserving creative energy and the habits that help prevent burnout. Rather than offering career advice, the conversation turned to the question of how to endure for decades in a profession with no fixed working hours and no guaranteed income.

This was followed by a masterclass by the festival’s principal mentor Jamey Haddad, Demystifying and Exploring the Geometry of the Playing Field of Time. Haddad, Paul Simon’s longtime percussionist and a member of the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame, introduced the participants to the concepts of metric and non-metric time, drawing on South Indian rhythmic scales and their application in Western music. The masterclass opened up a different perspective on pulse, structure and temporal relationships in improvisation and composition.

The evening concert by the duo of Rachel Eckroth and John Hadfield, formed in 2023, is rooted in improvisation as its connective element, with compositions designed to leave as much space as possible for the unfiltered flow of musical thought in the moment of performance. Eckroth was nominated for a Grammy for her album The Garden (2021), and her keyboards can be heard on St. Vincent’s award-winning album All Born Screaming. Hadfield composed and recorded music for Ken Burns’s series The American Revolution and the documentary film After Spring, and can also be heard on the soundtracks for The Goldfinch, Gemini Man, Drive-Away Dolls and Joker. During the jam session that followed the concert, the festival participants performed Haddad’s concepts from Playing Field of Time, the same ones they had first encountered that morning at the Rector’s Palace.

Today, the final day of the festival, brings four masterclasses. In the morning, Camila Meza, Gabriel Chakarji and Elé Howell lead Roots & Branches, exploring how the creative process grows out of personal and musical roots. John Hadfield will then introduce participants to polyrhythm and polymetric loops, while Antonio Sánchez will focus on storytelling through music. In the afternoon, Jamey Haddad opens his Listening Room, a conversation on the musical traditions of Brazil, South India and Africa, guided by the recordings that shaped him.

The festival closes with a concert by saxophonist Donny McCaslin and his project Lullaby for the Lost, a bold jazz-rock release in which the saxophone often takes on the role of the lead vocal. McCaslin, known for his key role on Bowie’s Blackstar, performs on Lopud in a quartet with Jason Lindner on keyboards, Jonathan Maron on bass and Antonio Sánchez on drums. The concert will be followed by a final jam session and a festival party with DJs Jason Lindner and Tomo Ricov.

“I’m having a great time here so far and I’m looking forward to tonight’s performance at the Ponta Lopud Jazz Festival. We’ll be playing music from my latest album, Lullaby for the Lost, as well as some of my older compositions. We’ll most likely also play a song from Blackstar, the album Jason and I recorded with David Bowie. I hope to see you tonight,” said Donny McCaslin.

Tickets are available through Entrio, and boat transfer on the Argosy from Dubrovnik is organized for festival audiences. Departure is from Lapadska obala, in front of the Faculty of Economics, at 19:00, with return from the Hotel Lafodia pier at 00:15 and 02:00. Capacity on the transfer is limited, and a seat is secured exclusively by purchasing a ticket. All information about the program and accompanying events will be available at pontalopud.hr and on the social media channels of the Ponta Lopud Creative Platform.

In 2026, the Ponta Lopud Creative Platform presents three summer cultural programs, welcoming all lovers of the arts, especially film, music and literature. The Ponta Lopud Film Festival was the first of the three events; held from 25 to 28 June, it was dedicated to the art of film. The second event, the popular Ponta Lopud Jazz Festival, will bring music lovers to the island from 27 to 29 August, while Ponta Lopud Book Bridge will transform the island into a literary retreat from 17 to 19 September, rounding off the summer events.