Bitter jester music festival: SEASON 19
Discover your next favorite band at Bitter Jester.
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Click here to learn about the performers featured during the our last season, 2024. And click the records below to learn more about our very first DOUBLE LP on vinyl, “Live at Bitter Jester Music Festival, vol. 01” recorded at Billy Corgan’s (Smashing Pumpkins) Madame Zuzu’s Tea House!and. The second volume, produced last year, was recorded at various venues in Highland Park and at Navy Pier in Chicago! Get your copy of Volume One here and Volume Two can be purchased here! Or come by and pick it one up at any of our 2025 concerts! You can also pre-order volume three (link coming soon)!
Congratulations to our 2024 Music Fest Winners:
Ur Mom (Grand Champions), Scorched Waves (Runners-Up), and Lauren Blackford (Honorable Mention)!
Lauren Blackford, Tommy Hinds, Peyton Gaddis, and Kiméon "Pinko" Sulmer won Vocalist, Guitarist, Bassist, and Drummer of the Year Awards (respectively) with Quinn Romie winning the 2024 “Michael Brook Outstanding Instrumentalist Award” for Saxophonist of the Year!
Listen to a mashup of commentary from our past musicians!
Since 2020 our Grand Prize Money has been generously donated by First Bank of Highland Park, a Title Sponsor for our Grand Finale Concert!
Proud to be celebrating 19 summers of quality musical performances and educational feedback for up-and-coming bands and solo artists!
The Bitter Jester Music Festival (BJMF) is the Midwest's largest professional music competition for emerging musicians (bands and solo artists alike). BJMF supports and promotes young and up-and-coming talent from across the Midwest. The competition / concert series is built on a strong foundation of community and emboldening and empowering young performers at a critical time in their social and artistic development. BJMF gives participating young adults an opportunity to receive professional feedback from working musicians and, most importantly, meet and connect with dozens of other musicians their own age. Additionally, performers get to work hand-in-hand with Bitter Jester Studio’s nine-time Emmy award winning production team, providing them with a level of media exposure, professional mentorship, and networking that is unmatched by other similar competitions.
The event has four preliminary competitions on consecutive weekends in June at Port Clinton Square in downtown Highland Park, IL. A winner is selected by qualified judges each night to compete in the Grand Finale Concert. After all four preliminary competitions, Bitter Jester Producers decide on four "Wild Cards" - bands/solo artists who will also compete for the title at a big Grand Finale concert. Showcase bands are also selected to perform on the Bitter Jester Mobile Stage prior to the Grand Finale battle. -- An annual "Best Of" takes places each Labor Day at the Beer Garden on Navy Pier.
The Bitter Jester Music Festival is made possible, in part, by tremendous support from the City of Highland Park, IL, support from First Bank of Highland Park, and a grant from the Highland Park Community Foundation. Click here to read what Mayor Rotering has to say about the festival.
“It has become a summer tradition to attend Bitter Jester concerts...”
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2025 Bitter Jester Music Festival Competition Timeline:
JAN. 15, 2025: Applications Go Live!!
MAR. 1, 2025: Early Application Deadline
APRIL 15, 2025: Application Deadline
MAY 2-4, 2025: All Entrants Notified
MAY 9, 2025: Official Lineup Announced
JUNE 2, 2025: Satellite Concert #1 @ Chicago Botanic Gardens
JUNE 6, 2025: Opening Night Preliminary Concert
JUNE 7, 2025: Night Two Preliminary Concert
JUNE 9, 2025: Satellite Concert #2 @ Chicago Botanic Gardens
JUNE 13, 2025: Night Three Preliminary Concert
JUNE 14, 2025: Night Four Preliminary Concert
TBA, JUNE 2025: Wild Cards Announced!!
JUNE 28, 2025: Grand Finale Concert
TBA, SUMMER, 2025: A Bitter Jester Band Opens @ Ravinia Festival
SEPT. 1, 2025: “Best Of” Showcase @ Navy Pier
The Bitter Jester Music Festival is supported, in part, by financial contributions from the City of Highland Park, First Bank of Highland Park, Judy’s Pizza, the Highland Park Community Foundation, Elmore Pedals, and many individual donors just like you.
The Festival has exciting ongoing partnerships with Ravinia Festival, Navy Pier, and the Chicago Botanic Garden to showcase exceptional musicians each year. Past partnerships include The Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards and Harry Caray’s Restaurant Group.
Ravinia hosts one Finalist band as an opening act before a national headliner on their beautiful Carousel Stage. Navy Pier hosts a day-long “Best Of” showcase concert on Labor Day each year to close out their “Live on the Lake” summer series.
This Bitter Jester Foundation for the Arts and its Music Festival are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Some of our supporters (donating gift cards and other in-kind contributions) over the years have included:
