Despite a fresh snowfall, festival season is just a few months away. This week, two of the city’s cornerstone summer celebrations have revealed some 2026 headliners.
The Rochester Lilac Festival will fill Highland Park with homegrown and touring acts beginning May 8 and running through May 17. Each night has free live music, with local acts supporting the top names.
One of them is regional favorite and Rochester native Mikaela Davis, who brings her harp back to the stage for an album release party on May 13. The singer-songwriter, who has fortified her career via high-profile collaborations with The Mountain Goats and members of the Grateful Dead, announced a new LP titled “Graceland Way” due out at the end of April.
Local mainstays Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad open that show.
Other performers on the Lilac Fest’s music stage include Scott Mayo and Prime Time Funk — on a night billed as a “Rochester Music Hall of Fame Takeover” — as well as rootsy guitarist JD McPherson, folk group The Lone Bellow, Cuban exploratory musician Cimafunk, genre-spanning artist Anees, soul singer Lee Fields, Taylor Swift tribute act Cruel Summer, viral strummer Joe P and psych-jammers Eggy.
As every fest goer knows, the music continues in June. Gladys Knight will headline one night of the Rochester International Jazz Festival, presented this year in partnership with Rochester Regional Health.
Dubbed the “Empress of Soul,” Knight and her group The Pips scored hits for storied label Motown, like “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” in 1967, and “Midnight Train to Georgia” released on Buddah Records in 1973. Her solo career also yielded a superstar team-up with Dionne Warwick, Elton John and Stevie Wonder in “That’s What Friends Are For,” which hit No. 1 in 1985.
Knight will take the stage at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre for a ticketed show on June 26. Previously announced headliner Chris Botti — a trumpeter who has collaborated with the likes of Sting, Barbra Streisand, John Mayer and James Taylor — will perform at the same venue on June 25.
More Jazz Fest performers will be announced soon.
Details on the Rochester Lilac Festival, including full schedule of performances, are here. Gladys Knight tickets and other Jazz Fest info available here.
