BORNA ŠERCAR

Borna Šercar is one of Croatia’s most versatile musicians, composers, percussionists and multidisciplinary artists. A graduate of the Academy of Music in Zagreb, he has built a distinguished career spanning jazz, classical music, theatre, film, visual arts and literature. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with leading Croatian orchestras and ensembles, including the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra and Big Band, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Croatian Baroque Ensemble and Zagreb Jazz Portrait. For more than two decades, he has been a permanent member of Josipa Lisac’s band and has also performed extensively with Arsen Dedić, Gabi Novak, Matija Dedić, Michel Legrand, Boško Petrović, Miljenko Prohaska, Oliver Dragojević and many other renowned artists. As a composer, he has written music for numerous theatre productions and animated films. In 2009, he founded Borna Šercar’s Jazziana Croatica, an ensemble dedicated to original compositions inspired by Croatia’s classical, folk and cultural heritage. The project has received widespread critical acclaim, earning multiple Porin Awards, including the 2026 Porin for Best Ethno Album for Tales of Tradition, recorded in collaboration with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and LADO. In 2024, Jazziana Croatica performed at the legendary Blue Note Beijing.

Since July 2025, Šercar has served as the Artistic Director of JazzHR, one of the longest-running and most influential jazz initiatives in the region. Beyond music, Šercar is an accomplished painter with twelve solo exhibitions and a published poet. He is a recipient of multiple Status Awards, five Porin Awards, the Franjo Dugan Award and the Miroslav Sedak Benčić Award, and is a member of both the Croatian Composers’ Society and the Croatian Association of Fine Artists.