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Lea Maria Fries

vocalist

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Lea Maria Fries

vocalist

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ABOUT

Lea Maria Fries, a young Swiss vocalist stands out with her tempting timbre. She uses her energetic and profound approach and expressive articulation in various musical contexts. Jazz, pop, improvisation: her versatility and unique style are visible in various bands and projects. Lea Maria Fries is equipped with a strong instinct for rhythm and groove and knows how to phrase and navigate with very distinct timbres. Sensible for a coherent sound-aesthetic, she unfolds her crisp vocabulary and understands it, to knit groove, space and melody together to a tightly woven tension.

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BIO

Lea Maria Fries, born 1989 in Switzerland, played the piano for five years before she started to discover her vocal talent at age 14. After graduating from high school, she started studying Jazz Vocals at the Lucerne School of Music. She had the pleasure to learn from Susanne Abbuehl, Marianne Raccine, HP Pfammatter, Wolfgang Zwieauer, Rahel Hadron, Bettina Klöti and many more. In 2010, she participated as the youngest and only Swiss artist in the semi-finals of the international Jazz Vocal Competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival with Quincy Jones in the jury. 2014 she completed her Master in Music Performance with Lauren Newton and Hans Feigenwinter. The Master of Arts in Music Pedagogy followed in 2018, which she passed with distinction at ZHdK in Zurich. From early on, Lea Maria Fries became a sought-after sidewoman in various bands and projects, among others with Lauren Newton, Peter Schärli, Marc Méan, Dominik Burkhalter, Roberto Bossard, Gauthier Toux, Julien Herné and many more. She is influenced by jazz, pop, rock, electronic and black music and loves the freedom of improvisation. As a writer and leader she blends and distills all these influences in bands such as Vsitor, with the guitar player David Koch and Valentin Liechti on drums, with her jazz quartet 22° Halo or as a singer and perfomer in other projects. With her versatile voice and her keen sense of rhythm, groove and phrasing, she stands out in a variety of contexts.

Since ten years, Lea Maria Fries is an active vocal coach and has been working at several schools in Switzerland as well as private teacher in Switzerland and Berlin.

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BANDS

VSITOR

When starstruck words meet the sound of crackling self-made electronics and airy guitars you’re right in the middle of VSITOR’s universe.

22° Halo

A 22° Halo is an optical light effect in the form of a ring with a radius of approximately 22° around the sun or the moon. LMF’s correspondent band brings the soundtrack to this phenomenon on stage.

For A Word

Stay Tuned! This is the new quartet around the french piano player Gauthier Toux. Music, tourdates and more coming soon!

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LIVE

22/11/18 22° Halo Café Elbphilharmonie Hamburg (D)
23/11/18 22° Halo Salon am Moritzplatz Berlin (D)
24/11/18 22° Halo Blaue Fabrik Dresden (D)
25/11/18 22° Halo Neue Galerie Leipzig (D)
27/11/18 22° Halo Jazz ohne Stress Freiburg (D)
29/11/18 22° Halo Salon Hombis Zürich (CH)
30/11/18 22° Halo Esse Musicbar Winterthur (CH)
13/12/18 For A Word TBA (CH)
14/12/18 For A Word TBA Sion (CH)
21/12/18 For A Word Paris Jazz Club Paris (F)
22/12/18 For A Word Le Rustic Chartres (F)
14/01/19 22° Halo Jazz in Baden Isebähnli Baden (SDJ)
20/01/19 22° Halo Le Singe Biel (SDJ)
21/01/19 22° Halo Gambrinus Jazz Plus St. Gallen (SDJ)
25/01/19 22° Halo BeJazz Bern (SDJ)
01/02/19 22° Halo Ferme-Asile Sion (SDJ)
02/02/19 22° Halo Kulturscheune Liestal (SDJ)
14/02/19 22° Halo Moods Zürich (SDJ)
16/02/19 22° Halo Casa Cavalier Biasca (SDJ)

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PAST GIGS

22° Halo Jazzfestival Willisau (CH) / Vsitor KEX Reykjavik (ISL) / 22° Halo Cully Jazz Festival (CH) / Vsitor Spice Of Live London (UK) / 22° Halo Stanser Musiktage Stans (CH) / LMF & Marc Méan Match & Fuse Festival Zürich (CH) / Vsitor B-Sides Festival Luzern (CH) / Nuun Jazz Festival Auvernier (CH) / Vsitor Imagine Cafe Moskau (RUS) / Vsitor Kaffee Mokka Thun (CH) / Vsitor Taverna Timisoara (RO) / Vsitor A38 Budapest (HUN) / Neubad Luzern (CH) / Vsitor Jazzfestival Schaffhausen (CH) / K34 Belgorod (RUS) / Vsitor Kleintheater Luzern (CH) / Vsitor Grabenhalle St.Gallen (CH) / Vsitor Souterrain Prague (CZE) / Vsitor Südpol Luzern (CH)…

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WORK

„Vsitor, eine Band zum Entdecken. Das in Berlin lebende Schweizer Duo spielt und singt auf seiner ersten EP sterbensschöne Popsongs. Glockenhafte Melodien fliessen auf technoider Breitleinwand, fallen in tiefe Löcher und erstehen zum Summen einer mikroskopischen Homemade-Elektronik wieder auf.“

Christoph Fellmann
Tagesanzeiger Züri Tipp April 2015

„Fremde Nähe, klare Hitze. Minimalistische Leichtigkeit, sphärische Klänge und Soundexperimente, einfache, langsame Rhythmen und eine wunderbare weibliche Stimme im Zentrum, die in allen Lagen die Botschaft der Songs eindrücklich vermittelt: Vsitor“

Jazzfestival Schaffhausen
Festivalzeitung 2016

„Da ist die Stimme von Lea Maria Fries; einnehmend, glasklar und ungeheuer facettenreich. Vsitor spielen unaufdringliche, elektronische Popmusik auf der Höhe der Zeit. Das ist fragile Musik für Soundästheten, die aber äusserst leicht ins Gehört geht.“

Jonas Wydler
Zentral Plus Januar 2016

„Vocalist Lea Maria Fries and pianist Marc Méan opened the festival with a beautifully balanced collection of songs with luminous piano harmonies recalling a sadder Bill Evans, complementing the moving emotional range of Fries’s voice.“

London Jazz News
Online Review Match & Fuse Festival Zürich 2017

„Die in Berlin lebende Luzernerin hat mit Marc Méan (Piano), Lukas Traxel Kontrabass) und Valentin Liechti (Drums) drei ausgezeichnete Musiker in der Band, mit denen sie ihre verführerische Stimme in den schönsten, schrägsten und intimsten Jazzharmonien mäandern lassen kann.“

Pirmin Bossart
Neue Luzerner Zeitung Apero April 2018

„Mit 22° Halo wagt Lea Maria Fries den Sprung in die emotionalen Weiten und Tiefen des klassischen Jazzgesangs, wobei sie auch ihre ganz eigenen Zutaten, Eigenheiten und Modulationen einbringt.“

Programm Jazzfestival Willisau
2018

„Musikalisch bewegt sich die Band zwischen minimalistisch-reduzierten Klangbildern und heftigeren Momenten, wo die Musik wächst und ausfährt.“

Pirmin Bossart
Willisauerbote September 2018

„Lea Maria Fries is an exceptionally talented and remarkable singer. She is creative and authentic in her interpretations of compositions as well as in the writing and singing of her own originals. Her vocal improvisations, with or without lyrics, are captivating and imaginative, with a luscious voice this listener can gladly surrender to.“

Lauren Newton
Vocalist

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CONTACT

lea@leamariafries.com

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