Luciana Morelli is a singer and composer from Argentina based in Basel, Switzerland. Her music draws on a rich palette of influences from Argentinian music, jazz, sound poetry and free improvisation to paint songs that cross borders and create connections beyond language. 

 

Luciana Morelli was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1990, where she studied a technicature in Vocal Jazz and a Professorship in Combined Arts (University of Buenos Aires). In 2019 she moved to 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 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. It was chosen as "Album of the Week" by NQ Jazz (UK) and broadcasted on international radio shows in Switzerland, USA, Canada, Poland, Germany and Argentina.

  In 2022 the band went on tour to Argentina, Switzerland, Germany and France (Festival Jazz à la cité, Paris) presenting the album and introducing new compositions.