Winner of the Porin award and associate of renowned world guitarists, Damir Halilić Hal is one of the most versatile Croatian musicians: guitarist, composer, artistic director of several festivals, promoter and music pedagogue. As one of the most internationally active Croatian musicians, he has collaborated with numerous eminent musicians, including winners of the most prestigious world awards such as the Grammy, Brit Awards, etc.

The son of the legendary Dorado Schmitt is making rapid progress on the world guitar scene and, like his father, is on the best way to leave a deep mark in the guitar world. Every year, he regularly goes on an American tour with the Django All Stars Band, playing in the most prestigious halls and festivals such as Hollywood Bowl, Newport Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall, etc. He performs with superstars such as George Benson, and his performances are announced by Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio . At his concerts, famous names such as Lady Gaga or Bradley Cooper are often in the audience. Samson Schmitt will present himself to the Croatian audience for the first time at this year's BIG festival.

Once as the shooting star of gypsy swing, has by now taken his place among the world's leading guitarists. Gismo as a young and charismatic interpreter connects gypsy jazz with pop, bossa nova, swing and his own expressive compositions. Gismo's father and mentor Joschi Graf accompanies Gismo on the rhythm guitar and intrigues with his accurate timing. The band is complete with Simon Ort on the doublebass who is also a celebrated master musician. Since over twelve years of touring around the world, Gismo Graf and his trio is traded as a highlight on festivals like: Festival Django Reinhardt Samois Sur Seine / Fontainebleau (F), Djangofest Northwest (USA), Djangofest Mill Valley (USA), Gypsysphera Moscow, Djangofestivalen Oslo, Jazz Festival Ascona (CH) (the press traded the Gismo Graf Trio as the most surprising act of this years`edition 2017) ,Festival Khamoro Prague (CZ) ZMF Freiburg (D) Blue Balls Festival Lucerne ,(CH) Villa Celimontana Festival Rome (IT) IGGF (UK) and many more...

From an early age he was surrounded by the world's best guitarists such as Leo Witoszynskyj, Tommy Emmanuel and Edin Karamazov, and was taught by his father, a guitar teacher. In his performances, Zlatko emphasizes emotion, authenticity and expressiveness and continues the tradition of the old Spanish, Catalan school, which leads through professors Leo Witoszynski and Luisa Walker directly to the great guitarist Miguel Llobet, a student of Francisco Tarrega. While studying at the 'Vatroslav Lisinski' secondary music school in Zagreb, he regularly performed at the school's festive concerts, and in early 2017, he won the competition 'Dr. Jovan Jovičić' in Novi Sad - Distinction Award, while at the end of the same year he performed in collaboration with the famous restorer Gabriele Lodi at the Violin Museum in Cremona, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Antonio de Torres, at the opening of an exhibition of Torres guitars. After that, he recorded J. Malat's Serenata Española for Spanish Television, which is preparing a documentary about Antonio de Torres, in which the world's greatest guitarists play. In the spring of 2018, he shot a music video in Venice with Ennio Morricone's composition Cinema Paradiso. At the beginning of December, he held a successful concert in Barcelona on Torres' La Invencible (invincible) guitar, which Torres himself named as such and which is included in the national treasures of Spain as the only guitar. Then the Spaniards called him the Torres Whisperer. In 2019, Zlatko Josip Grgić held a concert in the crypt of the church of St. Petra in Vienna on Toress' guitar La Invencible and it was the first time the guitar left Spain. This concert connects the Spanish and Viennese schools of guitar, which were first connected by Miguel Llobet and Luisa Walker. In 1924, Miguel Llobet brought Luisa Walker a guitar made by Santos Hernandez from Madrid. Luisa Walker hands that guitar over to her student Leo Witoszynski, who gives it to Zlatko's father, and Zlatko's father plays that guitar today, and it represents the materialization of that historical tradition and the mutual influence of the two guitar schools. He plays on an Antonio de Torres guitar from 1890.

The release of Varady's debut album Questions and Varady's growing presence on YouTube brought him to the attention of Martin Taylor, Louis Stewart, Tommy Emmanuel, and later, Quincy Jones. In 2011, at 13 years old, he became the youngest headlining artist at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London. The same year, he featured in shows with Martin Taylor, Tommy Emmanuel and Louis Stewart, and appeared on the front cover of Guitar Player magazine. In the summer of 2012, he had the opportunity to play at the world famous International Montreux Jazz Festival, where he performed in front of festival founder Claude Nobs and record producer and music legend Quincy Jones. A few months after the festival, Quincy Jones signed Varady to his management company. After signing a record deal with Verve Music, Varady made his major label debut in January 2014. The self-titled album featured Gregory Porter, Roy Hargrove, Nathan East, Brian Bromberg, Harvey Mason, Steve Lukhater, Dave Weckl and many others. He promoted the album globally, through headline shows and guest appearances with Quincy Jones, appearing at the Blue Note in New York and Tokyo and at the O2 in London. Andreas also caught the interest of Bob Zievers, agent of George Benson’s, one of Varady’s first heroes. Zievers signed him for exclusive representation and introduced him to George Benson, who hired Varady as his support act for several tours in the US and Europe. To date, Andreas Varady has worked with a collection of world class musicians, including Gregory Porter, Roy Hargroove, Casey Benjamin, Terell Stafford, Dirty Loops, Lee Ritenour, Stochelo Rosemberg, Bireli Lagrene, Louis Stewart, Soweto Kinch and Mary J Blige.

Damir's Django Group is the successor to the group founded in 2005 by Damir Kukuruzović, jazz guitarist, winner of numerous musical awards and the most prominent Croatian representative of Django Reinhardt's music, who suddenly left us in December 2020, leaving behind a rich musical legacy. He was one of the guitar virtuosos who, with exceptional playing skills, managed to reach the highest aesthetic level. His Django Group has been an indispensable part of all relevant festivals in the country and abroad since its inception. They collaborated with today's greatest musical virtuosos: Stochel Rosenberg, Robin Nolan, Angel Debarre, Raphael Fays, Ludovic Beier, Paulus Schafer, Wawa Adler, Yorgui Loeffler, Josch Stephan, Gismo Graf, Sinan Alimanović, Adrian Burns and many others. It was Robin Nolan, Gismo Graf, Sinan Alimanović and Paulus Schäfer who guested on his last album ˝Smile˝, which saw the light of day in August 2021.

Mike Sponza is the most famous Italian blues musician with a long and rich international career. Fusion of rock & roll, blues and soul is the best description of his musical expression. The exceptionally rich discography includes numerous collaborations with famous musicians such as Dana Gillespie, Louisiana Red, Bob Margolin, Georgie Fame, Lucky Peterson, Boško Petrović and with Pete Brown, the author of the famous hits 'Sunshine of your love', 'I feel free' and the 'White Room'. He is the initiator of the projects called Kakan Blues, Kakan Blues 2.0 and Continental Shuffle, which brought together a large number of musicians in Central Europe. His musical journey seems like one continuous musical tour, and his performances are immediate, authentic and convincing.

Zagreb Klezmer Trio In 2018, the collaboration of three established musicians with a long-standing desire to play klezmer, a musical genre recognizable by its characteristic expressive melodies similar to the human voice, begins. Various musical styles influenced the creation of klezmer (Romanian tradition, Bulgarian tradition, jazz, ...) which became one of the most present styles in music. The trio, in addition to the original compositions of its members, also reaches for arrangements of the music of the tango tradition and the influence of folklore from the East, as well as Advent appropriate songs. Zagreb klezmer trio consists of Bruno Philipp on clarinet, Mario Igrec on guitar and Dinsko Stipaničev on double bass. Bruno Philipp is one of the most prominent representatives of Croatian clarinetists. Along with a diploma from the Academy of Music in Zagreb, he continued his three-year training at the conservatory in Paris. He performed as a soloist with numerous relevant Croatian ensembles and collaborated with distinguished conductors and composers. Mario Igrec graduated in philosophy from the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. He worked for many years as a guitar teacher and head of the Jazz department at the Vatroslav Lisinski School of Music in Zagreb. He is a permanent member of the ensembles: Cubismo, Zagreb Jazz Portrait, Swing Again, Mario Igrec Jazz Project (Latin Jazz Project), Tro+Continuo, and until 2001 he was also a member of Hot Club Zagreb. He also collaborated with eminent foreign musicians. In 2000, he received the HGU's 'Status' award for the most outstanding instrumentalist in 1999 in the category of jazz, Latin, fusion and ethno. With the group Cubismo in the past period, he won 20 Porin discography awards, including three personally - for arrangement and two for jazz composition. Dinko Stipaničev received his master's degree in classical double bass in 2018 at the Academy of Music in Skopje. Since 2019, he has been a permanent member of the Croatian Radio Television Symphony Orchestra.