Josefiina Vannesluoma & Mortal Lease
Biography Josefiina Vannesluoma & Mortal Lease
Josefiina Vannesluoma
is a jazz and contemporary vocalist and flutist living in Helsinki, Finland. Her debut solo project, titled as The Mortal Lease, is an eight-part suite that Vannesluoma composed to Edith Wharton's (1862 - 1937) sonnets. The album was released in October 2023 by Flame Jazz Records as LP and CD, and digital via Playground Music.
Vannesluoma also leads and composes for vocal ensemble Signe and bossa nova group Nossa Bossa as well as for various other projects. Signe has twice been nominated for "the Finnish Jazz Grammy" at Emma Gala 2023 and 2020 and received honourable mention after being nominated for Teosto Prize 2020 with Signe's debut album To Sappho.
Born in Turku, Vannesluoma began her musical studies with classical flute and singing in choirs. At age fourteen she found a Brazilian compilation album that immersed her to bossa nova and imitating tropical rhythms. From there it didn't take her long to find interesting jazz records that engaged her with standard and bebop repertoires and further to more experimental music. Today she works fluently in and between different genres, exploring through improvisation.
Vannesluoma has pursued a Master’s Degree on Jazz Performance (2019) and Bachelor's degrees both in Jazz Performance (2016) as well as in Music Education (2013) at the University of Arts in Helsinki. Between 2016 and 2017 she lived in the US making music and studying at the University of Miami. The spring 2019 she studied at the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Vannesluoma is a dedicated pedagogue and a founder of Jazz Voice School Helsinki (Jan 2020) with her Signe colleague Riikka Keränen. She also teaches as a permanent pop&jazz voice lecturer at Turku Conservatory.
