“As the Argentine singer Sofía Rei Koutsovitis led her multinational band,(…) the passion and clarity with which she assayed a tricky mix of South American rhythms and jazz-inflected harmonies made clear why she has been embraced by New York City audiences from Carnegie Hall to the hippest downtown haunts.”
-Phil Lutz, New York Times
“Sofia has a lovely sound that is human and earthy all at once. She creates such a broad spectrum of colors and sounds. Sofia is so creative…”
- Maria Schneider
“one of the most versatile and in-demand singers on the New York music scene”,
- Simon Calle, All About Jazz
“… a wonderfully unique young singer”
-Luciana Souza
“One of the most memorable performers I have ever encountered…
a superb and original songwriter.”
- Curtis Fuller
“Koutsovitis sings a varied, engaging set, with plenty to dance to, plenty to get down with, and plenty to think about. She’s going for an ambitious goal: original, creative, and technically challenging music that’s as exciting to a Bacchanalian crowd as to the ivory tower listener. “
-The Live Music Report, Canada
Sofia Rei Koutsovitis mixes and elegantly fuses South American rhythms with a jazz aesthetic in a unique, very attractive and extremely seductive way. Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sofia now resides in New York City. An active vocalist, composer and arranger, her own project is grounded in traditional South American rhythms such as chacarera, zamba and vidala from Argentina, Afro-peruvian festejo and lando, Afro-Uruguayan candombe, Colombian cumbia and bullerengue and other Brazilian genres that merge involving jazz harmonies and rich improvisations. Singing in Spanish, Portuguese or English, Sofia's voice is so graceful as sophisticated and develops the passion for her original compositions or her own innovative arrangements of pieces by other Latin American composers . In Danilo Perez words: "She knows how to combine the best of her Argentine roots with the skills and passion necessary to make many contributions to our music community". Her ensemble produces a range of textures as diverse as the cultural roots of its members, an international cast that includes some of the most exiting young talent from North and South America.
Sofia is a restless artist, one of the most versatile and in-demand singers on the New York music scene who in a short period of time has recorded, performed and collaborated with renowned musicians and groups such as Folklore Urbano, Geoffrey Keezer’s Aurea, John Scofield, Lionel Loueke, Alcatraz, Russ Ferrante, Bob Moses, Aquiles Baez, Hector Martignon, Samuel Torres Group, and Pablo Aslan’s Avantango. She toured Europe with the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra and premiered with the group Cerulean Skies, a piece commissioned by the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna. She was recently featured with vocal giant Bobby McFerrin in May of 2008 at Carnegie Hall in Instant Opera.
Sofia grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She started her musical studies at the age of 4 and began singing professionally in the prestigious Children's Choir of Buenos Aires Opera House Teatro Colón when she was 9 years old. She studied classical vocal performance at the National Conservatory and gained experience within the circles of classical and avant-garde music, performing in the most distinguished halls of Buenos Aires. She was part of the internationally acclaimed National Youth Choir with which she toured extensively for about four years.
In 2001, incited by her desire to learn vocal improvisation techniques and composition, she moved to Boston to pursue a Master's Degree at the New England Conservatory, where she studied with jazz masters Danilo Perez, Dominique Eade, Charlie Banacos, Jerry Bergonzi, Bob Moses and Steve Lacy.
Sofia has toured Europe, Asia, North and South America singing at renowned international festivals and venues such as the Carnegie Hall (NYC), Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Lincoln Center (NYC), the Blue Note (NYC), the Chicago World Music Festival (Chicago, IL), Aspen/Snowmass Jazz Festival (Aspen, CO), the International Jazz en Lima Festival (Peru), the Festival Iberoamericano de las Artes (Puerto Rico), Cite de la Musique (Paris, France), the Festival de Jazz de Barcelona (Spain), the IAJE Conference 2008 (Toronto, Canada) and the Lapataia Jazz and World Music festival (Uruguay). Her debut album Ojala has received great critical acclaim and has been chosen a top 10 album of 2006 by the Jazz Journalists Association.
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