We have been invited again to participate in the 2012 edition of Winter Jazz Festival. The festival will take over five West Village venues, (le) Poisson Rouge, Sullivan Hall, Kenny’s Castaways, Zinc Bar, and Bitter End. This marks the eighth year of the annual NYC WINTER JAZZFEST, and the continued mission to showcase top quality jazz to industry professionals, avid jazz fans, and new audiences. Don’t miss our show at the ZINC BAR on Saturday January 7th, @11pm!!!!! Free with an APAP badge.

Don’t miss our performance on Wednesday January 4th at the Kennedy Center !!! Free concert with my quartet!! You can also watch it online at this LINK!

Video from our performance at Miami Dade College Live concert series!
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MDC LIVE! brings their performing arts series to Miami Dade College Students and the community of Miami. Featuring world class performing artist and workshops to the city’s best local theaters and Miami Dade College campuses. The Reporter interviews to learn more:

Wonderful article by Juan Carlos Pérez-Duthie for El Sentinel. Check it out!
Sofia Rei El Sentinel 110511

We had a wonderful time performing at La Casita, Lincoln Center out of Doors summer festival. Check out these two videos from that show. And thanks for coming!

TODO LO PERDIDO REAPARECE

LA GALLERA

The SEFIRA ensemble, created by three singers with sympathetic spirits and entirely different backgrounds, celebrates the human voice at its most naked and potentially influential- improvised, original music surrounded by only voices and percussion. It has recently received a grant from Chamber Music America.
The unique format draws upon the creative, improvisatory force of all participating musicians.
Each of the singers represent not simply traditions,… be they jazz, North African, or Latin American, but a current flowing to the present, molding their sounds and improvisations to one another, within the context of each piece. The two percussionists provide a foil for the singers’ timbre with rich texture and a strong rhythmic energy.

Sachal Vasandani-vocals
Malika Zarra-vocals
Sofia Rei-vocals
Brahim Fribgane-percussion
Mathias Kunzli-percussion

We have been invited to participate in Tom de Festa, a wonderful world music festival in Tondela, Portugal. So, come and join us there! The festival is four days long and it will feature artists from around the globe such as Viewx Farka Toure (Mali), Mo’ Kalamity (Cape Verde), Diabo Na cruz (Portugal) and many more!
We will also be performing in Lisbon, Vila Real, etc. Stay tuned for a full list of venues as we will be updating our tour dates very soon!

On April 9th, I had the opportunity to perform these two amazing song cycles presented at the Liederabend 21c Fest at The Kitchen. Both written by two phenomenal composers.

Paola Prestini’s YOANI is a multimedia song cycle scored for mezzo, electric guitar, cello and electronics about Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez. With lyrics by Royce Vavrek, starring Sofia Rei, James Moore and Clarice Jensen. Film by Carmen Kordas. Eventually, Yoani will be a thirty minute multimedia work for solo vocalist, film, and projection design.

Ljova Zhurbin’s NIÑA DANCE was inspired by the unsolved murders & disappearances of women and young girls in the city of Juárez, Mexico, The piece, with poetry by Marjorie Agosín and Saúl Yurkievichwhich was commissioned by the Carnegie Hall and was premiered there in 2009.

Building on a successful first run of 21c Liederabend in November 2009 (Time Out New York, Best of 2009), independent producing companiesBeth Morrison Projects (BMP), Opera on Tap (OOT) and VisionIntoArt (VIA) have expanded the critically-acclaimed festival exponentially to present works of 21 composers over the course of 3 nights, encompassing an explosive array of styles, presented within a visual palate of projection design, newly commissioned films and sculptural lighting design.

YES! Sube Azul won an INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARD in the World Beat Category!!! A panel of judges by the Music Resource Group (MRG) determined the winners of The 10th Annual Independent Music Awards (The IMAs), an influential award’s program for fans and bands.

Come and join us for a live performance at BAM Cafe! Featuring new songs and the whole band:

Eric Kurimski (guitar), Jean Christophe Maillard (guitar), Jorge Roeder (bass), Yayo Serka (drums) and Samuel Torres (percussion)

Don’t miss the next Masada marathon in New York, on MArch 30th!

Featuring: Marc Ribot, Uri Caine, Dave Douglas, John Medeski, Secret Chiefs 3, Greg Cohen, Joey Baron, Cyro Baptista, Kenny Wollesen, Jamie Saft, Erik Friedlander, Mark Feldman, Sylvie Courvoisier, Trevor Dunn, Mycale and many others.

The album got a nomination in the WORLD BEAT category. The results will be announced in mid March. Although the fans can choose its favorite also, by Vox Populi vote!

Starting on January 2011, I have joined Berklee College of Music’s Faculty in the Voice Department!
“Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music is through the study and practice of contemporary music. For more than half a century, the college has evolved to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With more than a dozen performance and nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing more than 70 countries, and a music industry “who’s who” of alumni, Berklee is the world’s premier learning lab for the music of today—and tomorrow.”

I will be joining Frank London’s musical “A Night in the Old Marketplace” for a weeklong residency at the spectacular Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
With music by Frank London and lyrics by acclaimed playwright Glen Berger. Created for Alexandra Aron’s theatrical adaptation of the legendary 1907 Yiddish play by I.L. Peretz, this extraordinary score mixes Jewish, jazz, classical, rock and world beats with a dose of Kurt Weill and Tom Waits.

Check out December dates in Argentina! Plus a special guest appeareance with La Bomba de Tiempo @ Konex Multicultural Center.

Mycale,  John Zorn’s vocal project with Basya Schechter, Ayelet Gottlieb, Malika Zarra and Sofia Rei,  will be touring Europe in November.  Concerts in Austria, Slovenia and Italy, including a big Zorn Masada marathon at Teatro Manzoni in Milan with John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Joey Baron, Greg Cohen, Erik Friedlander, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Marc Ribot, etc. See all dates and more info at MYCALE’s site!

Great interview on Cronicas da terra!

Check it out:

Don’t miss it. Sofia will be performing at Joe’s Pub, a wonderful Manhattan venue. The show is at 7pm. And with her amazing band featuring Dana Leong (cello/trombone), Eric Kurimski (guitar), Edward Perez (bass), Yayo Serka (drums) and Samuel Torres (percussion). Be ready for some South American folk, charango, loops and efx and a bunch of brand new songs.

 Sofia Rei and her band got invited to participate in the 3rd edition of the International Cajon Festival in Lima, Peru!

Sofia Rei was one of the vocalists featured in Hot & Cool NEC Jazz 40th Vocal Showcase at Joe’s Pub.

Yes! After releasing its brand new album on Tzadik records, Mycale is traveling to Israel for a series of concerts in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Binyamina. Mycale is the newest project of the John Zorn Masada series, an a cappella quartet featuring Ayelet Gottlieb, Malika Zarra, Basya Schechter and Sofia Rei. The new album is available on Itunes, Amazon and Tzadik’s website! More information on the Music section of this site.

Sofia and her latest album Sube Azul were featured in a great article by Andrew Gilbert on March 14th on the Boston Globe!
RESHAPING THE SOUNDS OF HER HOMELAND
Possessing a voluptuously full voice, comprehensive command of Latin American rhythms, and encyclopedic knowledge of folkloric forms from Argentina, Peru, Colombia, and Uruguay, she’s become an essential creative catalyst on a scene teeming with musicians eager to blend jazz with its South American siblings.
Andrew Gilbert- Boston Globe
Read full article here:
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2010/03/14/sofia_rei_koutsovitis_reshapes_the_sounds_of_her_homeland/

“On the East Coast, one dynamic New York City-based artist is staking out a dramatically different stylistic persona in her quest to become a household name. Sofía Rei Koutsovitis, an Argentine composer and singer, is known for mixing the folkloric idioms of her country and such lands as Colombia into the flow of contemporary jazz styles. Sofía is banking on her singular vocal style and intimate familiarity with a wide range of Latin American folk music idioms to propel her to the next level. On her sonically bracing new album, Sube Azul, Sofía blends the soulful spirit of South America’s Nueva Canción movement with vocal improvisational techniques related to modern jazz on tracks that capture a wide range of moods, from the festive feel of the Afro-Peruvian-inspired works to the moody balladry.”

Mark Holston-Latina Style Magazine
Read the entire article here:
http://www.latinastyle.com/currentissue/v16-1/jazz.php