An Intimate Evening at Vintage Garden: Nikolovska and Lipić
Long-time musical collaborators bring blues, soul, and jazz standards to the Akustika program on Friday, August 21, 2026, with free admission.
Long-time musical collaborators bring blues, soul, and jazz standards to the Akustika program on Friday, August 21, 2026, with free admission.
In the summer garden of Vintage Industrial Bar, on Friday August 21, 2026, vocalist Valerija Nikolovska and pianist, keyboardist, composer, arranger, and producer Viktor Lipić will perform. As part of the Akustika program, they will deliver an evening dedicated to blues, soul, and jazz standards, as reported by ZG Portal.
Their joint performance in the Vintage Garden will be stripped down to voice and piano, putting interpretation, melody, and direct contact with the audience at the forefront. The repertoire will feature a personal selection of songs from a rich musical heritage, including works by artists such as Stevie Wonder, Freddie King, Bill Withers, Nina Simone, George Gershwin, and Cole Porter, as well as other creators whose compositions have marked decades of popular and jazz music.
Valerija Nikolovska has been a presence on the domestic scene for over 35 years, during which she has built a distinctive vocal style at the crossroads of soul, blues, funk, and jazz. She has collaborated with numerous bands and performers, including Mayales, Songkillers, Elvis Stanić Group, and Igor Geržina Band. She is also widely known as a former vocal coach on the show The Voice Croatia.
For Nikolovska, 2026 has been a particularly successful year. Her latest EP, "Green Heart", released in late 2025, won the Porin for Best Alternative Music Album. She was also nominated for Best Female Vocal Performance and as a lyricist for Best Jazz Composition. On that release, she once again collaborated with Lipić, who composed the music and arrangements for three of the four tracks. The recording was done live in the studio to preserve the energy of their joint musicianship.
Viktor Lipić has been professionally active since the late 1990s and is one of Croatia's most respected pianists, keyboardists, composers, arrangers, and producers. He built his career through Mayales, his own jazz-rock band Baobab, and Majke, alongside a range of jazz, blues, and original projects. He has collaborated with artists such as Josipa Lisac, Radojka Šverko, Natali Dizdar, and Igor Geržina. He is a recipient of the Porin and the Status Award from the Croatian Music Union for Best Jazz Keyboardist in 2021 and 2025.
The musical partnership between Nikolovska and Lipić spans more than two decades, dating back to 2000 and the album "The Bright Side of the Blues". Since then, they have developed original projects and jazz programs together, with Lipić contributing as producer, arranger, composer, and musician on her albums. A fruit of this long-standing relationship is the album "Well Paid Girl", recorded with the HRT Jazz Orchestra.
It is this years-long connection that will be the focus of their performance in Vintage Garden-without elaborate production or a full concert lineup, just voice and piano. Through jazz freedom, soul sensibility, and bluesy directness, Nikolovska and Lipić will put their own interpretive stamp on familiar songs, creating a program perfect for a summer evening outdoors. Admission to the concert is free.
