ZDENKA KOVAČIČEK
 
www.to-be-zdenka.hr
 
Zdenka Kovačiček has been committed to the stage all her life. At the age of 5 she started acting, singing and dancing at the ZKM (Zagreb Children’s Theatre), beginning her singing career at the age of 12, in the Duo Hani, which earned her the status of a teen sensation. TV appearances, a film and huge popularity led the Duo Hani on a European tour, where they performed with great stars such as Peter Kraus, Lou Van Burg, Bill Haley, etc.
After the break-up of the Duo Hani, Zdenka maintained her presence on the European scene, performing with her band mostly in American clubs, where she recognised her talent for jazz, soul and blues.
1970 saw her receiving the first prize by the Jury of the OPTIJA 70 Festival for her remarkable interpretation of M. Prohaska’s composition “Zbog jedne melodije davne” (Because of an Old Tune), which marked her definite return to the Croatian music scene and the commencement of a solo career. This important turning point marked by M. Prohaska’s ballad proved that her European adventures were only a preparation for the challenges to come in the wide field of music. Zdenka’s musical instinct required much more space for proving her musical talents.
At the same time she was attracted to rock, so she started working with the trio NIRVANA. Notable appearances at the BOOM Festivals in Zagreb, Belgrade and Sarajevo followed, but the greatest success came before an audience of 7 000 people in Ljubljana in 1973 with Klik tema br.1 (Click Theme Nr. 1 - her own improvisation of one of the themes from Yma Sumac’ repertoire). This appearance lent her the charisma of the most exemplary female rock voice within the rock community of the former Yugoslavia – the image still closely linked to her public face.
She has been embraced with equal fervour by both rock and jazz fans; she has been regarded as a sure winner at every blues and soul festival; she has appeared on the musical theatre stages; she has collected awards and been given the title of the best female voice in the country.
Zdenka Kovačiček has had 25 concerts in the USSR.
She has worked with the finest composers: Goran Bregović, Kornelije Kovač, Vladimir Delač, Igor Savin, Miljenko Prohaska, while one of her favourite albums in English, Love Is a Game - was recorded in collaboration with Dalibor Paulik and David Stopper - which was promoted at the festivals in Los Angeles and Finland as well as at the Middem in Cannes.
In the late 1980s, an alter ego of a communicative jazz singer in her initiated the collaboration with Vanja Lisak which resulted in the release of two CDs, Happy Jazz 1 & 2, classical and adapted jazz songbook albums featuring guests Georgy Garanyan and Peppino Principe, which was followed by a series of performances in the most notable jazz clubs of Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.
Meeting young composer Marko Tomasović in 1999, she returned to wider audiences with new pop songs under the altered conditions of the discography market. Her return was proclaimed to be the greatest comeback of the year. The number Žena za sva vremena (A Woman for All Times) became her greatest hit and a new trademark, launching her back to the very top of popularity charts, followed by a huge success at the Zagreb Fest 2000 - Grand Prix, this time by audience, and the winning composition Vrati se u moje dane (Come Back to My Days) took the Croatian top charts. In 2001 Zdenka Kovačiček signed an exclusive for Cantus label, releasing 2 more albums by the same composer, with the lyrics written by Inge Priovora and Nevia Korpar and production signed by Duško Mandić, which resulted in several nominations for the Porin Award in jazz and pop categories.
In 2002 she received the Porin Award for Best Female Vocal in competition of much younger stars.
In this period her great concerts were recorded by HRT (jubilee at Tvornica, Do zvijezda zajedno in Gavella, her own one-hour TV show I to sam ja, appearance at the competition DORA 2001 and 2003 (4th place), HRF Vodice 2001, MHJ 2001, SPLIT 2001, Ethno Fest NEUM 2001, etc.)
Today, Zdenka is at her prime with a great 50-year career behind her, still at the top of the Croatian music scene, presenting a great influence to the younger generations, while great theatre and concert projects are ahead of her.
Zdenka Kovačiček remains the first lady of our jazz vocal interpretation thanks primarily to her talent for the genre interpretation, improvisational gift and a voice suitable for jazz.
She has gained a notable international renown.
Her affinity in regard to style, as well as her approach to jazz interpretation, is based on the traditions of American jazz vocals, swing and inclination towards jazz standards.
We will find the same kind of repertoire when she performs with the Big Band, such as the HRT, HRZ, RTV Ljubljana Big Bands (Italian Tour). Zdenka has also worked with the notable accordion player, Oscar winner Peppin Princip, while for the last ten years she has been a frequent guest on the stages and clubs of Austria with the Manfred Josel Trio, Wolfgang Silli Trio, Wolfgang Schreiner Trio and the Carinthian Swing Combo. She has performed with the traditional Old Stoargler Jazz Band in Graz, the Pfaff Combo and Dejan Pečenko and his trio.
Her jazz concerts in Austria’s most famous jazz club Royal Garden in Graz were announced as concerts of the highest quality. She is a frequent guest at jazz festivals all over Croatia.
The concert she gave with the HRT Big Band and Symphony on 28th December 2003 in celebration of the 30th anniversary of V. Lisinski Hall in Zagreb was repeated in Austria later that year.
With the Carinthien Swing Combo, Zdenka appeared at the notable jazz festival in Burghausen for several years in a row. In 1995, with the Vanja Lisak Trio, she performed in the war ridden Sarajevo before the full Chamber Theatre, and ten years later she had her first performance with the Sinan Alimanović Band becoming a permanent feature of Sarajevo’s jazz clubs.
In short, Zdenka Kovačiček is one of the leading vocal figures on the Croatian music scene; still on the top after a 50-year-long career, she is already a legend and an integral part of Croatian music history. (CANTUS)
RATKO DIVJAK
Born in 1947 in Vukovar, Croatia, Ratko Divjak has been active on the European and American jazz scenes for the last 25 years (California jazz festival, Los Angeles, Monterey, Sacramento, Montreux, Berlin, Bologna). He has performed with the most significant jazz artists like Boško Petrović, Dushko Goykovich, Steve Gut, Petar Ugrin, Art Farmer, Stan Getz, N.H.Oe. Pedersen, Albert Mengelsdorf, Tony Coy, Gary Burton, Sal Nistico, Ferdinand Powel, Gianni Basso, Richard Davis, Joe Pass, Dave Libman, etc. He has also played three times in the EBU Big Band, and has been a member of Big Band RTV Slovenia since 1975. Discography: more than 30 jazz CDs and LPs.
GORAN RUKAVINA
In 2000 Goran Rukavina went to Klagenfurt to study Jazz at the Conservatory and in 2001 he successfully passed the entry exam for Double Bass and Electric Bass at the University of Performing and Dramatic Arts in Graz in class of Professor Wayne Darling, graduating in 2007. From 2001 to 2008 he was a member of the HGM Jazz Orchestra under conductor Sigi Feigl, and performed all over the world (USA, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Indonesia, Italy, Slovakia). The Orchestra’s guests were some of the greatest stars of the jazz sky (Randy Brecker, John Riley, Michael Mossman, Peter Herbolzheimer, Dick Oatts, Don Menza, Fritz Pauer, Gustavo Bergali, Victor Villena, Jonas Knutsson, Lasse Lindgren, Dena DeRose, David Liebman, Bob Mintzer & Yellowjackets, Peter Erskine, Jim McNeely, Miljenko Prohaska, Man Sound, Kevin Mahogany, Deborah Brown). He has worked with a number of pop and jazz musicians and composers as a studio musician (Ante Gelo, Alan Bjelinski, Marko Tolja...), touring with the Elvis Stanić Group. Goran Rukavina has shared the stage with the likes of: Don Menza, John Thomas, Byron Montley, Nikola-Mimo Mitrović, Boško Petrović, Charlie Jurković, Steve Gut, Matija Dedić, Miro Kadoić, Saša Nestorović, Tamara Obrovac, Zdenko Ivanusić, RTV Big Band Slovenia, HGZ Big Band, Ratko Divjak, Primož Grašić, David Jarh, etc.
BLAŽ JURJEVČIČ
Blaž Jurjevčič was born in 1965 in Vrhnika near Ljubljana. Being an outstanding musical talent, arranger and pianist, it is no wonder why he is a standing member of the RTVS Big Band. He completed music high school in Ljubljana, Department C, Jazz. The most sought after and booked out pianist in Slovenia!
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