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Marína Ósk

Born and raised in Keflavík, Iceland, Marína Ósk started playing music at an early age when her mother handed her a recorder at the age of 2 and a half. After years of studying classical flute, Marína found her passion for jazz and started focusing on singing. She was accepted into the Jazz vocal department at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and graduated from there in 2017 with a BA in Jazz Vocals. In 2021 she graduated from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with a Master's degree in Jazz performance.

Her musical idols include Chet Baker, Paul Desmond, Billie Holiday, Blossom Dearie and Lester Young and her favorite musical flavours include melodic vocal jazz from the 50's and the 60's, West Coast Jazz and lyrical improvisers from that era. 

Marína has released two solo album, but her debut. "Athvarf", a singer/songwriter sounding album with a jazzy heart, landed her two nominations for the Icelandic Music Awards in 2020; song of the year and album of the year in the "Open-genre category". Her second album, "One Evening in July" dropped on August 17th 2022 on TengTones and was celebrated with a release concert at the Reykjavík Jazz Festival.

Marína has performed numerous times at the Reykjavík Jazz Festival, as well as the Oslo Jazz Festival, concerts in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Greece and more. Based in Reykjavík, she is a performing artist, a songwriter, a lyricist and a vocal teacher.

Awards

  • Winner of the Icelandic Music Awards in 2023 - Jazz composition of the year.
  • Nominated for the Icelandic. Music Awards in 2023 - Jazz composition of the year, Jazz album of the year, Jazz vocalist of the year, Jazz performer of the year. 
  • Nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards for jazz event of the year 2022. (Tendra's Short concert series)
  • Nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards as jazz performer of the year 2022. (Tendra)
  • Nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards for "Open genre" album of the year 2020. (Athvarf, Marína Ósk)
  • Nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards for "Open genre" composition of the year 2020. (Athvarf, Marína Ósk)
  • Nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards for album of the year 2017 in the Jazz & Blues category. (Beint heim, Marína & Mikael)


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Album Review

Marína Ósk: One Evening in July

Read "One Evening in July" reviewed by Jane Kozhevnikova


Who knew back in the early days of jazz that the songs written back then would later become standards and inspire people in the “far far away" 2022? Marína Ósk, a promising emerging musician from Reykjavík, Iceland, has found her composer's voice in writing lyrical jazz pieces which sound like some songs of the “Great American Songbook." One can sense that Ósk's album One Evening in July (TengTones, 2022) was deeply influenced by recordings of Ella ...

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“One Evening in July” is an accomplished and breathtaking jazz album.
Marína Ósk is a pearl on the Icelandic jazz scene.”

— STACJAISLANDIA.PL 2022

 

“This album kinda caught me off guard last fall. I didn’t know the singer at all but all of a sudden here was a fully-grown album, tastefully completed audio-wise and visually and it flows quite nicely.”

— ARNAR EGGERT, RÁS 2 2020

 

“Her angelic, strong and interpretive voice dances over the folkish compositions and you can’t help but listen intently.”

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Blossom Dearie
piano and vocals
Chet Baker
trumpet and vocals
Paul Desmond
saxophone, alto
Lester Young
saxophone

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Athvarf

Marína Ósk 2019
2019

buy

Beint heim

Smekkleysa
2017

buy

Videos

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