Laura Marti and Nataliya Lebedeva in Concert - with Duo “ConBrio”
Laura Marti & Nataliya Lebedeva
Artists-in-Residence in The Green Room:
Renowned Ukrainian musicians Laura Marti and Nataliya Lebedeva have collaborated for years and created many wonderful projects together.
Because of the war in Ukraine, Laura and Nataliya were forced to come to Europe and now have a mission to play concerts in support of their country. They have already played dozens of concerts in Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Austria and continue their mission: to collect money and send it for the needs of their homeland; to tell the truth about a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine; to heal the hearts of refugees; and to introduce the musical treasures of Ukraine to European listeners.
Laura Marti is a jazz, ethno, rock and pop singer, as well as a composer and songwriter. She is a proud Ukrainian with Armenian roots and Brazilian heart, one of the most versatile singers in Ukraine. She was awarded the "Singer of the Year" title by ELLE Style Awards, nominated for the "Project Of The Year” and participated in “The Voice Of The Country — 11”. As a jazz singer, she has collaborated with quite a few renowned international jazz musicians.
From 2002 till 2006 she studied in the Kharkiv Professional Music College as a jazz pianist and also studied composition. In 2010 Laura Marti graduated from R.Glier Kiev Municipal Academy Of Music as a jazz singer. She became interested in Brazilian music and created «LeLa Brazil Project».
Then, together with her sister, she created an Armenian Ethno-Jazz Project. She composed music, made arrangements for sextet and created Armenian lyrics for this project. Subsequently, the first 2 ethno-jazz albums were recorded - «Krunk» and «Chanapar».
Laura Marti has released 5 studio albums, appeared as featured artist on two more albums and produced a substantial number of singles. Alongside her jazz and pop projects, Laura collaborated with the Nataliya Lebedeva Trio in the project: «Waves». She is a participant of "Jazz in Kiev Band" led by Alexey Kogan.
Laura performed at the well known international jazz festivals: Leopolis Jazz Fest (Alfa Jazz Fest), Jazz nad Odrą, Lotos Jazz Fest, Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa, Jazz Bez, Bouquet Kyiv Stage, Atlas Weekend and others.
Among her international collaborators are: Bobby McFerrin, Lars Danielsson, Magnus Öström, Michiel Borstlap, Hans Peter Salentin, Misha Tsiganov, Vadim Neselovskyi, Tamara Lukasheva.
It is especially exciting to follow Laura’s career path because she is a musician with unique charisma. Laura is a constantly evolving musician who experiments in different genres. Her live performances are always a concentrated mixture of emotions, powerful energy, inspiration, love, with a delicate Ukrainian touch.
Nataliya Lebedeva is a well known Ukrainian jazz pianist, composer, arranger and the band leader.
In 2013 she completed her Master’s degree at the R.Glier Kiev Municipal Academy Of Music.
Nataliya has always been interested in the trends of European jazz and she tried not to lock herself in certain stylistic frameworks in her compositions.
Nataliya has a variety of original jazz projects in which prominent Ukrainian musicians took part. Besides she created non-standard programs which are based on the works of J. S. Bach, Fr. Chopin, Ukrainian folk songs, etc. These projects were performed in collaboration with foreign musicians - Wolfram Derschmidt, Balazs Balogh, Flavio Romero, Oscar Giunta, Hans Peter Salentin and others.
Nataliya has been teaching at the R.Glier Kiev Municipal Academy Of Music for many years. She is also an accompanist at the Jazz Music Department.
Nataliya’s has played throughout the world, with performance in Poland, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Great Britain, USA, Argentina, Paraguay, etc. Festival appearances include the Roze Jazz Festival (Zielona, Poland), the EU Jazz Express (Budapest), the "Jazz in Kiev" Festival, the Asu Jazz Fest (Asunción, Paraguay), and the Leopolis Jazz Fest (Lviv, Ukraine), among others.
Opening for Laura and Nataliya are the young dynamic Duo “ConBrio” (Margarita Cherenkova. & Taras Makhno).