Monika Roscher & Big Band Krško

Friday, May 22, at 19:30
main stage

Monika Roscher (conductor, voice, el. guitar); David Jukič, Lovro Ravbar, Lenart Rožman, Klara Lavriša, Aleš Suša (saxophones); Rok Godec, Žan Cesar, Klemen Zupan, Jeromej Kostanjšek (trumpets); Janez Hrastovšek, Matija Mlakar, Aljaž Pirc, Andrej Zupančič (trombones); Urban Levičar (keyboards); Miha Koren (bass); Hrvoje Rupčić (percussion); Jakob Avsenak (drums)

Photo: Emanuel Klempa, Matej Grgić

The festival will open with a concert of unconventional big band music, featuring Slovenia’s Big Band Krško conducted by the German guitarist and singer Monika Roscher, who boldly intertwines modern jazz, progressive rock and even metal in her compositions. In addition to composing music for the Monika Roscher Bigband, the German musician – who studied jazz guitar and composition – also writes contemporary classical music and compositions for theater performances. One of her stage scores was described by Süddeutsche Zeitung as “archaic minimalism between Rammstein and Steve Reich”. As a guitarist, she has collaborated with artists such as Elliott Sharp, and as a vocalist, she has contributed to film music. In 2023, she received the German Music Critics’ Award for her third big band album, Witchy Activities And The Maple Death. Big Band Krško has been active for over 40 years. Like their German guest, the ensemble blends jazz with a range of other genres, from fusion and Latin to pop. The album Tribute to Depeche Mode (2011) was widely praised and was also presented at the renowned Montreux Jazz Festival. The premiere performance of this project in Cerkno will feature a selection of works from three of Roscher’s albums: in addition to the aforementioned Witchy…, also Failure in Wonderland (2012) and Of Monsters and Birds (2016).