Maddalena Ghezzi

Hailing from Milan, Italy, Maddalena Ghezzi is a London-based singer, composer and improviser. Passionate and curious about using her voice in creative ways, she has been working in the field of jazz, improvised and experimental music since moving to the UK in 2009. Her work draws inspiration from the natural world, literature, visual arts and the socio-political status of our world.  

As a leader she has released four EPs, Amethyst (Thodoris Ziarkas), Halite (Ed Blunt), Opal (Francesca Naibo) and Emerald (Maria Chiara Argirò, supported by Help Musicians) part of her series Minerals, and one album, Eŭropo:sen limoj (Europe With No Borders), with her band  FUWAH. 

Her work was played at BBC Radio 3 (Freeness), BBC Radio 6 (Tom Ravenscroft), NTS (Trevor Jackson), Radio Popolare (Prospettive Musicali), Rai Radio 3 (Battiti) Soho Radio (Tamar Osbourn), Pure Jazz Radio and Jazz Is NYC (Chris Hodgkins). Ghezzi was featured in Womxn Of Music Business online platform  and her work with her trio Stanza Da Tre has been covered by the The Islington Gazette.

As a collaborator, her most recent collaborations are Alpine Plateau with Ruth Goller, call and responses (Andrew Page), Parasang 8 (Pouya Ehsaei/Manana Records) and Animal Choir (Robbie Judkins). Among many experimental and jazz musicians Ghezzi has played with Matana Roberts, Liam Noble, Neville Malcom, Hammadi Valdes, Miryam Solomon, Simone Baron and Maurizio Ravalico.

With her project Maddalena has performed at Milan Jazz Festival, at the Southbank Centre, The Migration Museum London, Vortex Jazz Club and Hundred Years Gallery and others.

Maddalena studied jazz singing with Brigitte Beraha and deepen her knowledge of voice, Libero Canto, improv and composition with Sara Serpa. Ghezzi has been studying Kodály musicianship at the British Kodaly Academy. To broaden her understanding of the voice she has attended workshops in Mongolian throat singing (Michael Orminston and Candida Valentino), Yiddish and Russian songs (Polina Shepherd), Maquam music (Louai Alhenawi) and others.

Maddalena was called a “brilliant experimental vocalist” by Moment’s Notice curator George Nelson and her work was defined “this gorgeousness” by BBC presenter Tom Ravenscroft.

Maddalena is an advocate for gender equality in music and is part of This Is A Movement an initiative to create a more equitable music industry through an inter-sectional feminist provocation.

Tags