Biography
So who can be labelled a truly versatile singer? Laura Stavinoha, that’s who. This Dutch/Czech soprano and singer-songwriter sings out of the box. On any given Saturday she’ll be performing her own music at the piano. On Sunday she might be singing opera while floating on a lake wearing an umbrella dress. And on Monday morning she’ll be creating and recording vocals for a progressive house track in pyjamas back in her home studio.
Laura debuted age 9 as a piano talent at the renowned Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and she started writing her first songs as a teenager. She entered the conservatoire at 17, but was sent away just a year later: ‘We don’t consider you a real singer,’ they said. She decided instead to go for an academic music degree at the University of Bristol (UK) and later in Amsterdam. This was followed by a career behind the musical scenes at Dutch national Radio 4, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and elsewhere. All the while her own musical activities continued, including periods studying classical voice with Lyda van Tol and Charles van Tassel – she is currently studying with Charlotte Riedijk. Laura decided she’d rather be onstage after all, so since 2008 Laura has been developing performances incorporating classical music. The most extraordinary of these is The Floating Diva, which sees Laura singing arias as she floats on water wearing a huge dress made of umbrellas, designed by Victorine Pasman. The Floating Diva has appeared at many festivals and events, including Lowlands, Oerol, Solar, Festival Classique, Gergiev Festival and the Festival of Flanders in Belgium.
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As well as singing arias on the water, Laura takes her operatic performances into dance clubs. In this prime-time surprise act, she breaks into the dance music to sing a piece by Mozart –she’s done these performances at prestigious Amsterdam clubs Sugar Factory and Paradiso and festivals such as Mysteryland and Free Your Mind. In 2007 and 2008 Laura organised her own club nights in Amsterdam with top deejay Isis. These special events were multisensory experiences combining eclectic music with food, theatre and design. Sometimes working live with a deejay leads to other projects, such as the time in 2010 when Laura performed in Istanbul’s club 360, where she met Turkish deejay Dreamer Tunez. In spring 2012 the two worked together on the song I Just Don’t Care. The track appeared on Dreamer Tunez’ EP Behind the Doors, which was released in July 2012 by Kingdom of Music Records. I Just Don’t Care is currently rocking the clubs in Stockholm, where Dreamer Tunez is now living lives.
After having neglected her own songwriting for some time, Laura realised that writing and performing her own music was the one thing her musical career still lacked. So in recent years she’s picked it up again. She brings together a wide range of influences in her own work: from indie pop to seventies soul by the likes of Minnie Riperton to UK electronica (4hero, Zero7) and classical music. All this makes for a distinctive sound with echoes of Peter Gabriel, Tori Amos and Kate Bush. Laura’s clear and flexible soprano voice is instantly recognisable, and her classical technique and expressive pop sensibility combines the best of both worlds. Laura wrote, arranged and produced six of her own songs for her debut EP Sweet Life. She recorded them with the rhythm section from reggae band The Upsessions and several classical musicians. The release party for the EP was in September 2012 at Wilhelmina Pakhuis in Amsterdam. And right before that, Laura had her debut performance at the world-renowned Carré, as part of its 125th anniversary celebrations. After several auditions, she was selected as a soloist for 1000 Voices in Carré. Composer Merlijn Twaalfhoven wrote a piece for 1000 singers especially for the occasion. Laura had a special role in this concert, together with 24 other extraordinary singers from Amsterdam.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.