Across the former Yugoslavian states, Vlatko Stefanovski is surely the best-known guitarist. From his beginnings in the mid-70s with the group Leb i sol, followed by a successful solo career, Stefanovski has proved to be not only an outstanding guitarist but also a very talented composer and arranger, whose hits have delighted generations. After his first appearance at the BIG festival as an acoustic soloist, this time we will have the opportunity to enjoy his performance on electric guitar with his trio.

Jovan Torbica studied and later taught at the Vienna Jazz Conservatory. He has lived and worked in Austria for four decades, where he is a permanent member of the iconic Austrian band Wiener Tschuschenkapelle.

He plays a six-string fretless bass supported by a looper and various effects, accompanied by vocalist Neza Okorn. The audience will have the opportunity to enjoy not only a fascinating bass guitar technique but also extraordinary arrangements for a very unusual combination of bass and voice.

Emanuele Grafitti studied classical music and jazz at the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory in Trieste. In 2018, he founded the 40 Fingers guitar quartet, which soon became one of the most successful contemporary guitar projects. In his first appearance before the audience of the BIG festival, he presented himself as an up-and-coming soloist; this time he returns to Baška as a renowned musician with his trio. They define their music as ‘crossover flamenco’, referring to its representation of diverse genres: from classical and Latin American music to flamenco and pop.

Zvonimir Radišić graduated from the jazz department of the Gustav Mahler Privatuniversität für Musik academy in Klagenfurt (Austria) in June 2020, where he also completed the two-year Masterstudium Musikalische Aufführungskunst – Jazz Guitar master’s programme in 2023.

In 2022, he released his debut album New Horizons. His trio is completed by eminent Croatian musicians Henry Radanović on double bass and Tonči Grabušić on drums.

Elvis Stanić is the most awarded Croatian jazz musician who has collaborated with the most eminent Croatian and international artists. A multi-instrumentalist with very broad musical horizons, this time he will perform as a guitarist with his Elvis Stanić Power Trio. Elvis Stanić’s new music project is related to research into the subcultural musical idioms of the 1960s and 1970s that have largely shaped today’s jazz, through the work of various blues and rock artists. The stylistic and musical patterns and compositions of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, as well as the entire subcultural music scene of the ‘Woodstock era’, strongly influenced the music of jazz legends such as Miles Davis and Joe Zawinul, and thus set new horizons for jazz-fusion and jazz-rock directions. The Elvis Stanić Power Trio is an exceptional combination of first-class artists. Jazz, rock and blues standards, as well as their original repertoire, in the trio’s creative and virtuoso performance, represent the crème de la crème of this music, and also confirm that jazz is music without borders.

Elvis Stanić – elec. guitar, vocals
Karlo Lovrić – Hammond organ
Marko Lazarić – drums

Nicolas Kurelic is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Rijeka, with thousands of hours of experience on stage and in the studio with renowned musicians such as Tedi Spalato, Šajeta, Alen Vitasović and the group E.N.I. A special place in his musical development is occupied by guitar virtuosos and composers such as Tommy Emmanuel and Joe Satriani, whom he greatly appreciates as musicians, and who have been a great artistic support for him on his long musical journey.
Lately, Nicolas Kurelić has been releasing music for the Dancing Bear Records label and performing all over Croatia, continuing his musical journey with his trio or as a solo guitarist and singer. In addition to original compositions, he also performs his own arrangements of well-known rock standards.