ЈELENA TOMAŠEVIĆ &
NOVI SAD BIG BAND
Conductor Fedor Vrtačnik
In case of rain: Kolarac Foundation Hall

The concert of Jelena Tomašević and Novi Sad Big Band is based on Jelena Tomašević’s hit songs, specially arranged for jazz orchestra – “Okeani”, “Košava”, “Oro”, “Ime tvoje”, “Panta rei”, “Jutro”, as well as big domestic and international pop “classics” such as “I will always love you”, “What a feeling”, “Proud Mary”, “Bitanga i princeza”, “Zlatni dan”… A couple of traditional songs will be performed at the concert as well, “dressed” in new, modern arrangements: “Đelem, đelem”, “Zajdi, zajdi”...
Between segments of the concert, the Novi Sad Big Band will also perform instrumental music from their own repertoire: “Gonna fly now”, “Pick up the pieces”...

Jelena Tomašević has been on the music scene since she was seven. She used to be a member of the “Abrašević” Folklore Ensemble in her hometown of Kragujevac. Later on she started performing traditional Serbian music as a soloist at numerous concerts and contests. At that time she began her collaboration with a fife virtuoso Bora Dugić, who was among the first to recognize her talent. Many of Jelena’s performances are kept as permanent recordings in the Sound archive of Radio Belgrade.  
She sang traditional music as well as pop music winning awards at children’s festivals. When she was eighteen, she won the television contest for young talents 3K dur, a national television project, after which she began collaboration with a number of prominent musicians. She achieved tremendous results at the most prestigious festivals in Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Belarus, Bulgaria etc.).
In 2005 Jelena moved to Belgrade. After winning at the Beovizija song contest with the song “Jutro”, she began her collaboration with Željko Joksimovic and became a member of Minacord Production Company. Soon after, she released the album Panta rei which became the biggest selling album in the region. She represented Serbia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade with the song “Oro” written by Joksimović and came sixth.
In 2015 she released her second studio album Ime moje, which repeated the success of her previous album and was well received by audiences, critics and colleagues. She won many awards for it. She appeared in the film Ivkova slava, directed by Zdravko Šotra, where she sang a couple of songs. She has also done voice over work for feature length cartoons. She participates in children’s contests as a jury member and she keeps on representing Serbian culture on the international music scene in the best possible light with every performance she gives.
She gave many concerts with the Novosadski Big Band all over Serbia and in the region. Their successful collaboration has continued to this day.
Jelena Tomašević is a recipient of the Belgrade “Golden Badge” (Zlatna značka) award for the contribution to the Serbian culture.   

Novi Sad Big Band was formed in 2003 by professional and distinguished jazz and pop musicians from Novi Sad, with the aim of filling the vacuum that occurred after the Dance Orchestra of RTV Novi Sad ceased to exist, and continuing the tradition of orchestral music in the field of jazz, pop, film and theatre music. Over the last thirteen years, the Novi Sad Big Band performed in 325 concerts, among which the most prominent were the traditional concerts on the occasion of the International Music Day, at Novi Sad Jazz Festival, Nišville Jazz Festival, Petrovac Jazz Festival, Subotica Jazz Festival, The Days of Mokranjac, Nušićijada, Maribor – the European capital of culture 2012, theme concerts Film Music of the Twentieth Century…
In recent seasons the orchestra has established a fruitful collaboration with a number of respectable artists in the region, including Jelena Tomašević, Željko Joksimović, Bojana Stamenov, Dušan Svilar, Masimo Savić, Tanja Banjanin, Kornelije Kovač, Sergej Trifunović, Aleksandra Radović…
Owing to their creative and high quality concert performances as well as to the program politics which is in line with the contemporary music trends in the world, Novi Sad Big Band has become a necessary factor in the cultural life of Novi Sad, Vojvodina and Serbia. A part of their programme is presented on foreign tours. In 2010 Novosadski Big Band finished the recording of their first studio CD called Samo muzika (Just music). In 2016 the recording of the new CD called Između istoka i zapada (Between the East and the West) started, based on the band’s own music.
Novi Sad Big Band has performed their usual repertoire in various line-ups so far. Their main line-up is now made of the finest jazz musicians from Novi Sad. The conductor, arranger and artistic manager of the orchestra is Fedor Vrtačnik.