Baladoor Jazz Festival
Background
The festival is organized by the KUD Baladoor (Arts and culture association Baladoor), which was founded in 2001 with the aim of bringing quality and non-commercial music to the Coast (as the coastal area of Slovenia is sometimes called). In autumn the same year they started with a number of concerts in the Izola Cultural Centre and have since then been very active in organizing them at different venues on the Coast.
The festival itself was held in Izola for only the first two years and was later, after a two year pause, relocated to the Taverna - an open, multi-purpose venue in Koper. In 2010, in search of a more appropriate place for musical contemplation, the festival once again moved and has now found it's place at the square in front of Gravisi-Barbabianca Palace.
Musical programme
Lacking a strong financial support, the festival is not based on stars. Instead, a consistent focus on a strong Slovene line-up makes this festival play an important part in developing the Slovene jazz scene. Hosting the younger generation of jazz players as well as the veterans, Jure Pukl, Gašper Bertoncelj, Igor Bezget, Robert Jukič, Igor Lumpert, Vasko Atanasovski, Aleš Rendla, Zlatko Kaučič and Primož Grašič are but a few of the local musicians that presented their projects here. Of the numerous notable foreign musicians, we will mention just a few: Damir Imamović Trio (Bosnia), Tamara Obrovac Transhistria Ensemble (Croatia), Renato Borghetti Quartet (Brasilia), Roy Roberts Blues Band (USA), Renato Chicco Encounters Quartet (Italy) etc.