Lorena Fontana

A natural singer and musician 25 years on the road with a deep interest in jazz, blues, gospel, latin, mpb, tango, celtic and world music. In 1986 she moved to London where she remained until 1988. Back in Italy she received her classical training as a lyric soprano. She was the vocalist in the jazz-fusion band led by altoist Geoff Warren and continued to share the band-stand with him until recent years. In 1989 she won the competition RADIO RAI3 "Orion: new music frontiers" with her own composition called "Hit-Hot". She was a member of the Italian ethnic band "I Viulàn" and appeared at Festivals such as Folk-Est, Re Appennino Celtic Festival, I Suoni delle Dolomiti, and the Edinburgh Festival. She worked with free-jazz musician Cristina Mazza with whom she published the Cd "Lanxsatura". Her first CD "Radici Iberiche e Musica Vagabonda", with Paolo Fresu on trumpet/flugelhorn and Geoff Warren on flute, released by Panastudio Productions, is a selection of songs from classical composers such as Heitor Villalobos/Bizet and ethnic religious music rooted in the Cuban Orixà. As a backing singer she worked with the Italian Rock band "Nomadi" and Italian Pop Star Rita Pavone. She collaborated with IK Multimedia Production (www.ikmultimedia.com) as the soprano voice for the virtual sound module "SampleTank2". The Italian Superior Institute of Health in Rome commissioned her the jingle for a national campaign promoting breast-feeding which you can see in the video section. In April 2004 she issues her second CD "Guccini in Jazz" on Music Center label, a tribute to one of her favorite lyricists, the Italian songwriter Francesco Guccini, featuring her own arrangements performed by a band of wonderful musicians: Marco Detto, Marco Ricci, Massimo Manzi, Ivan Valentini and Alberto Borsari.Per Andrea Centazzo ha cantato nella colonna sonora del film Obiettivo Indiscreto, in A Bosnian Requiem e nella Cripta sommersa al Festival dei Due Mondi di Spoleto. Ha inoltre collaborato con Geoff Warren, Kenny Wheeler, George Russell, Cristina Mazza, Paolo Fresu e il gruppo di musica di tradizione orale I Viulàn. Come vocalist ha lavorato con i Nomadi e con Rita Pavone. Per i Nomadi ha scritto il brano "L'angelo Caduto". Nel 2003 le viene commissionata la musica per la campagna nazionale dell’Istituto Superiore di Sanità e collabora con IK MULTIMEDIA come voce di soprano per la realizzazione del Modulo di suoni virtuali SAMPLE TANK 2. Il suo primo cd, Radici iberiche e musica vagabonda, esce nel 1998 per Panastudio; nell’aprile 2004 il suo ultimo lavoro, Guccini in jazz, per l’etichetta Music Center.