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Luciana Morelli

Switzerland Basel
Main specialization: Singer/Composer
Graduated
FHNW - Jazzcampus
Native language: Spanish Other languages: English, German

Luciana Morelli was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1990 and is a singer, composer, singing and arts teacher. She studied a technicature in Vocal Jazz in Buenos Aires and a Professorship in Combined Arts (University of Buenos Aires). Since 2019 she lives in Basel, Switzerland, where she studied a master's degree in Jazz Performance at the Jazzcampus of the Musik Akademie Basel.

  She is currently pursuing her second master's degree in composition with Guillermo Klein and Michel Roth, and free improvisation with Alfred Zimmerlin and Andrea Neumann, also at the Musik Akademie Basel.

  She studied singing and improvisation with Sandra Peralta, Luna Monti, Laura Hatton, Guadalupe Raventos, Marina Rama, Elisa Viladesau, Bárbara Togander and Lisette Spinnler; and composition with Edgardo Cardozo and Guillermo Klein. She has participated in several workshops and masterclasses given by Roxana Amed, Cristine Correa, Dominic Eade, Dena DeRose, Bobby McFerrin, Gino Sitson, Judy Niemack and Norma Winstone, among others.

  Since 2009 she has been giving individual and group singing lessons, and has worked as a singing teacher in art schools and music schools.

She has written about Argentine theater and cinema in specialized magazines and web pages, and has participated in theater productions, her latest work being the music for Suyay (Pilar Ruiz, Buenos Aires 2020-2021).

   Luciana Morelli quintet (2012-2015), was her first project as vocalist and composer with which she recorded her first album, "Mandala" (2014) of jazz standards and own compositions. The group won the "Música en Bares Notables de Buenos Aires 2015" contest and participated in the Buenos Aires International Jazz Festival in 2015.

  Later she created Jazz at the movies (2015-2020), an audiovisual show of jazz and cinema with Luciana Morelli (voice, idea, production and direction), Ernesto Amstein (piano and arrangements), Nacho Szulga (double bass) and Pedro Ahets Etcheverry (drums). Jazz at the Movies had a weekly performance since 2016 in one of the most prestigious jazz clubs in the city of Buenos Aires, Bebop Club. In 2017 they participated in "Jazzología", a famous weekly cycle with more than 30 years of trajectory at the Centro Cultural General San Martín (Buenos Aires). In 2018 JATM won the contest "Música en Bares Notables de la ciudad de Buenos Aires". In December 2018, JATM toured the province of Buenos Aires where they performed at cultural centers in the cities of Rauch, Tandil and at the Teatro Español in the city of Azul. In 2019 JATM participated in the "Marathon of Music Clubs" (Buenos Aires) at Bebop Club. The show has featured special guests such as Mariano Loiácono (trumpet), Martín Sánchez (vibraphone), Andrés Hayes (saxophone), Malena Pichot (voice) from Argentina, Lukas Kohler (trumpet), Philipp Hillebrand (clarinet) from Switzerland and Kate Ortega (vibraphone) from Colombia.

  In 2022, she was part of SOFIA 2022 (Support Of Female Improvising Artists), a biennial program, created by Nicole Johänntgen, that supports female musicians by offering workshops in the music business, and a concert tour. Together with her colleague Laura Sanchez, they directed the framing program of the renowned BScene Das Basler Musikfestival, where they also presented the interactive sound installation "Listen" (Morelli/Sanchez, 2022).

  Currently, she performs as Luciana Morelli, her project as singer and composer together with Philipp Hillebrand (clarinet and bass clarinet), Mauricio Silva Orendain (piano), Snejana Prodanova (double bass and backing vocals) and Paulo Almeida (drums). Her new album "Lo abismal, el agua" (ears&eyes 2021)contains colorful compositions in which she tells the story of her journey to Switzerland, not only with lyrics but also with her wordless singing and arrangements, building a bridge between her Argentine musical roots and jazz.

  The album received very good reviews in magazines and blogs such as Jazz N More, SKJazz, New York Daily, among others, and was chosen as "Album of the Week" by NQ Jazz (UK) and by the radio program "Jazz am Sunntig" (Radio RaBe, CH). It was also part of the October 2021 selection of El Club del Disco (Argentina) and aired on Radio Swiss Jazz and international radio shows such as "The Jazz Hole" (NY, USA, hosted by Grammy Award winner Linus Wyrsch), "Coco Jazz" (Canada), Jazzkultura (Poland), WDR (Germany), NDR (Hamburg, Germany) and Radio Nacional (Argentina). In February 2022, Luciana presented her album at the prestigious Club Thelonious in Buenos Aires, which was very well received by the local press and television.

  In autumn 2022, the band will start a small tour in Switzerland, France and Germany, where they will present the songs from the album and new compositions.

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