The covered venue in the town's central square will feature ten concerts of what organisers have labelled the "jazz of tomorrow".

The 21st edition of Jazz Cerkno, also popular among foreign guests, will be opened by the Grencso Open Collective, which plays the compositions of Hungarian jazz giant Gyeorgy Szabados.

Next in line will be the latest jazz-classical-noise-experiment project by Maja Osojnik, a Slovenian singer and composer living in Vienna, while the first evening will be wrapped up by the Rempis Percussion Quartet, featuring some of the finest of the Chicago jazz scene.

A new trio led by young Slovenian pianist Marko Črnčec, who presently lives in New York, will warm up the crowd on Friday.

Also scheduled to play in the evening are the French trio Pourtant les cimes, described by the organisers as "the hidden gem of European improvised music", and the Graewe/Sanders piano-drums duo, which has announced a performance with "continuity".

The final day will begin in the afternoon with a chamber concert in the local music school featuring the French-US brass duet Daunik Lazro and Joe McPhee.

The evening segment will start with the Transitory Museum of Minds, an eclectic international trio that includes up-and-coming New York-based Slovenian drummer Dre Hočevar.

The American-Norwegian Universal Indians trio featuring McPhee will follow with some free jazz, while the final act of the festival will be delivered by the highly praised Norwegian freebop quartet Cortex.

The festival traditionally provides a diverse side programme, which will include this year a "Music of clay" workshop, a wild food workshop, a photo exhibition and street performances by two Slovenian-Italian ensembles.