Francesca Viaro trio – Singing jazz

Francesca Viaro: voice
Marco Ponchiroli: piano
Alvise Seggi: double bass

Born and raised in Venice-Mestre, Francesca Viaro soon encountered music as both an instrumental and vocal expression. Thanks to her intense and refined vocal tones, her versatility and desire to explore multiple genres, she sings in different musical situations in Italy and abroad: from 50s swing big bands to modern jazz, ranging from ethnic, popular and singer-songwriter music to pop and soul music. From 2004 to 2011 she studied at the Kaertner Landes Konservatorium in Klagenfurt (Austria). Since 2003 she has performed with prestigious groups in important jazz clubs including Porgy & Bess and Birdland in Vienna and in theaters in the Triveneto area.

In June 2007, her collaboration with Joe Zawinul (the charismatic mind behind Weather Report together with Wayne Shorter) was significant, following her as a backing vocalist on a mini tour with concerts in Slovenia, Austria and Croatia. Since 2007 she has been a soloist with the Abbey Town Jazz Orchestra, with which she annually participates in the Summer Jamboree in Senigallia (AN) as the official big band of the Festival, in the Sexto Vintage (Sesto Al Reghena) and in the Friuli Doc in Udine.

Together with this orchestra she has had the honor of sharing the stage with many national and international artists including: Maceo Parker, Tony Hadley, Ray Gelato, Renzo Arbore, Tre allegri ragazzi morti and Laura B. She has also received recognition in the singer-songwriter field: in 2014, she placed third in the National Competition “Musica Controcorrente” held in Terni at Mogol’s CET with the song “Va come deve andare”; and she was awarded by Mogol himself by winning the first prize for the interpretation of the song “Impressioni di settembre” with an arrangement by Romano Todesco. In the same year she won the “Biella Festival” with the song “Passi di tango”, a song that also won the “Guido Gozzano” Award for best lyrics.

In Italy she was noticed – still an amateur – by the Venetian composer Gastone Sandri with whom she participated, as an interpreter of her compositions, in three events of the Gondola D’oro at the Palazzo del Cinema del Lido di Venezia and with him, promoted by the Municipality of Venice, in 2008 she recorded the album “La mia Venezia in musica”.