MariNa sobyanina
moscow / bern
Music is more closely tied to the morality of an individual’s actions than most people think
Музыка в большей связи с нравственными поступками человека, нежели обыкновенно думают
Vladimir Odoevsky (1806-1869)
Marina Sobyanina’s trajectory in modern jazz is bifurcated: one branch is Russian, the other Swiss. Similarly, she has divided her efforts between a solo career and her Moscow colleagues in the critically lauded quartet, Jazzator. Those band members (Sergey Balashov, Oleg Mariakhin, and Maximilian Grossenbacher) complicate the geography further with Viennese connections. The link to Switzerland is with Sobyanina’s current home, Bern.
Her professional foundation was carefully constructed across multiple genres: today’s classical music, experimental jazz, and commissions for theatre and film. She has collaborated with equally impressive breadth––from fledgling chamber ensembles to larger orchestras and more formally fluid, avant-garde projects. Her current biography foregrounds “delicate soundscapes, saturated polystylistic blocks, and complex rhythmical structures.”
A first encounter with Jazzator or its founding member will always leave a strong impression. The voice of Marina Sobyanina is not for the faint-hearted. Her vocal acrobatics have been increasingly celebrated in the Swiss, German, and Austrian press. Experiment and calculated risk are both on display. There’s an overriding air of expertise and dizzying potential from a woman who began her career espousing “an adventurous mission. A blending of chamber music and jazz, free improvisation, and wild post-breakbeat grooves.”