Mirka Novak & Kristina Barta, Futur Swing, Gerald Clark (South Africa)

Mirka Novak & Kristina Barta

Singer Mirka Novak and pianist Kristina Barta share a passion for jazz improvisation. At the Jazz Bez Hranic festival, they shared the stage with American singer and Grammy Award winner Nicole Zuraitis.

Kristina Barta performs throughout the Czech Republic, Germany, and other European countries. She released her debut album EMA29 and current album Love and Passion in Austria. She won the Jazz Fruit 2012 competition, received the JazzPrix 2015 award, performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2018, and is a recipient of the OSA Prize for Best Jazz Composition of 2016. She considers her greatest international success to be her performance at the Jazzahead showcase festival in Bremen.

Mirka Novak is a singer and vocal experimenter, frontwoman of bands dedicated to jazz, soul, and funk. In 2022, she released her solo debut album Malbum on the Slovak label Hevhetia, featuring Zdeněk Bína, Endru, and Ridina Ahmedová. With the ensemble Hlaskontrabas Oktet, she received a nomination for the Anděl Award for Best Jazz Album of 2024 for the album Kaleidoscapes (Animal Music Label). For 11 years, she has regularly traveled to the USA, where she records original songs and collaborates with musicians in Austin, Washington D.C., Boston, and New York. She performs solo with a loop station or in jazz ensembles with musicians such as Federico G. Peña (Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller), Tarus Mateen (Betty Carter), Dave Manely (Jill Scott), and David Haynes (Chaka Khan).

Futur Swing

Futur Swing's repertoire is based primarily on the music of Django Reinhardt (1910–1953). Their approach to the gypsy-jazz idiom is built on improvisational freedom, playfulness, and humor while preserving the spirit of the original era. The ensemble consists of five acoustic instruments—guitar, six-string banjo, violin, double bass, and saxophone—which the band works with through arrangements, instrumentation, and improvisation.

Gerald Clark (South Africa)

Singer, guitarist, and composer Gerald James Clark is from South Africa and has recorded five albums in collaboration with leading South African musicians.