Sophie Tassignon (born 1980 in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

) is a Belgian

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singer, improvisational musician (vocals) and composer based in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

since 2008.

Biography

Tassignon, who spent part of her childhood in Germany, received her first classical piano lessons at the age of four. At the age of six, she won first prize at the

Jugend musiziert ''Jugend musiziert'' is a music competition for children and adolescents in Germany on regional, federal and national level. ''Jugend musiziert'' in Germany In Germany, the nationwide competition refers to young adults up to 20 years and for the ...

children and adolescents music competition in Hanover. As a child, she sang in a

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

. As a teenager, she also studied

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s for five years and

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

for two years, but returned to piano and vocals. She also wrote songs and experimented with several recordings. She continued her studies in Brussels and attended the German School of Brussels. She then attended the

Royal Conservatory of Brussels The Royal Conservatory of Brussels (french: Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel) is a historic conservatory in Brussels, Belgium. Starting its activities in 1813, it received its official name in 1832. Provid ...

, where she obtained a master's degree. She also studied jazz piano and took classical singing lessons. In 2005, Tassignon founded the

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

project ''Screaming Bitches'' with singers Anu Junnonen, Elena Dunkelman and Jacobien Vlasman, who toured European jazz clubs. With the group , she released ''Zoshia: Moon Talk'' in 2006. In 2008, she published the album ''Hufflignon'' with her then-husband, Canadian jazz musician and

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

, Peter van Huffel,

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

Michael Bates and

trombonist The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

Samuel Blaser Samuel Blaser (born 20 July 1981 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland) is a Swiss trombonist and composer. Biography Born and raised in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, Samuel Blaser lived in New York City for many years before relocating to Be ...

. With the British

electronic musician ''Electronic Musician'' is a monthly magazine published by Future US featuring articles on synthesizers, music production and electronic musicians. History and profile ''Electronic Musician'' began as ''Polyphony'' magazine in 1975, publis ...

Sizuzmon Vincent, who introduced her to electro-acoustic music, she formed the electro-acoustic duo ''Charlotte & Mr. Stone'', performing sonic textures and compositions in a live context. The duo first released the album ''Trees & Birds & Beautiful Things'' in 2011 on the Vision of Sound label. In addition, Tassignon has worked for productions by Polish theater director Elzbieta Bednarska. In 2013, with the songwriter, singer and saxophonist Susanne Folk, she founded the group ''Folk-Tassignon Quartet'' (from 2015 Azolia), which toured Europe and China and released its first album ''Dancing on the Rim'' (Ajazz/NRW Records) in 2014 with

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

ist Lothar Ohlmeier and

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

ist Andreas Waelti. The group made appearances at the

Viersen Jazz Festival The Viersen Jazz Festival is a music festival held every autumn in Viersen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was established in 1969 as ''1. Internationales Niederrheinisches Jazz Festival''. History After the first year it took almost 18 yea ...

and other festivals. His solo album ''Mysteries Unfold'' ( RareNoise/Cargo) was released in 2020.

Discography

* 2006: ''Zoshia: Moon Talk'' (Alone Blue) * 2008: ''Hufflignon'' with Peter van Huffel (

Clean Feed Records Clean Feed Records is a jazz record label founded in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2001. The label's roster includes Ray Anderson, Tim Berne, Carlos Bica, Anthony Braxton, Mark Dresser, Ellery Eskelin, Peter Evans, Scott Fields, Fight the Big Bull, Cha ...

) * 2011: ''Trees & Birds & Beautiful Things'' with Simon Vincent (Vision of Sound) * 2014: ''Act One: House of Mirrors'' with Miles Perkin, Peter van Huffel and Julie Sassoon ( WismART) * 2017: ''Azolia: Everybody Knows'' (Ajazz) * 2020: ''Mysteries Unfold'' ( RareNoise/Cargo) * 2021: ''Azolia: Not About Heroes'' (Jazzwerkstatt Berlin) * 2023: ''Sophie Tassignon: Khyal'' (W.E.R.F. Records)

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tassignon, Sophie 1980 births Living people Belgian jazz singers Belgian jazz pianists Belgian jazz composers Belgian women composers Belgian women pianists Women jazz composers Women jazz pianists Musicians from Brussels Walloon musicians 20th-century Belgian composers 21st-century Belgian composers 20th-century Belgian pianists 21st-century Belgian pianists 20th-century Belgian women singers 21st-century Belgian women singers Royal Conservatory of Brussels alumni Belgian expatriates in Germany