Sanni Orasmaa is a native of Helsinki, Finland, currently commuting between New York City and Helsinki. She is an active singer with a strong Scandinavian influence as well as a composer and an educator. You can catch her unique northern sound in various downtown clubs and restaurants, Sanni has appeared at venues such as the Knitting Factory and the Rainbow Room, Sweet Basil, Blue Note and the Cornelia Street Cafe. She has been featured monthly at the Smoke Jazz Club and shares often Monday nights at the Bar Next Door with guitarist Ben Monder. Sanni Orasmaa has worked in independent film, radio and live with various collaborators, her recent projects include performances with Charlie Hunter - Bobby Previte Duo, Kirk Nurock's "Cross-Species" Ensemble, and the Swiss composer George Gruntz's jazz opera "Magic of a Flute".

Sanni joined her first vocal group at the age of five and started the piano lessons at the age of six. Her great uncle who collected and composed traditional Finnish folk music inspired her and gave her material to work with. Sanni Orasmaa had her first appearance as a singer at the age of five in the national TV broadcast in Finland.

Sanni began her professional career performing at the local venues as a soloist of dance bands and choirs. She made her first international solo appearance at the age of seventeen in Lithuania. Orasmaa attended the Pop/Jazz Conservatory of Helsinki as a voice major and moved to Austria in 1996 to continue her studies in the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. Her professors there were legendary New York based vocalists Mark Murphy, Jay Clayton and Sheila Jordan, who became her mentor. Sanni graduated from the Jazz Department with Master's Degree in June 2000.

Already during her studies Sanni Orasmaa was performing in clubs and festivals around the world. She traveled as a soloist as well as with her trio Saaga who performed mostly her original material. While still in Austria, Sanni won the Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead, an international competition for young artists who are dual musicians and composers, and was invited to join a workshop and three performances at the Kennedy-Center in Washington, D.C. in April 2000. She was also featured in NPR's Jazz Set program, then hosted by Branford Marsalis.

Sanni was invited to teach at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and has been a member of the school's jazz faculty since 2001. She is a recipient of the American Scandinavian Society's Artist Grant 2005 as well as the Arts Council of Finland Artist Grant 2006. Sanni Orasmaa has been profiled by PRI's Jazz Smithsonian in the documentary series "The Jazz Singers", hosted by Al Jarreau. She currently holds a position at the Helsinki PopJazz Conservatory in Finland.

Besides numerous appearances with various groups as a background singer,
Sanni Orasmaa is featured as a soloist in one or more songs on following recordings:

PaperHands: PaperHands (1994) HMPCD 0194
M.A.R.S.: Single I (1995) IKACD-005
M.A.R.S.: M.A.R.S. (1996) IKACD-006
Boston Promenade: Walking The Big Duck (1997) BPCD4
Himbeerorchester: Tief In der Haut und Hoch In der Luft (1999) 150 761-2
KUG: The Dukebox - A Celebration Of The Music Of E.K. Ellington (1999) KUG 17
Clay Giberson: The Upper Road (2002) Origin 82397
Mika Pohjola: The Music Of Mika Pohjola (2002) Change Records
Mika Pohjola: Scandinavian Yuletide Voices (2004) Change Records
Lakis Tzimkas: Different Faces (2004)
Mika Pohjola, Henrik Lamberg, Sanni Orasmaa, Eeppi Ursin: Leivonen lumimyrskyssä -
A Lark in a Snowstorm - Celebrating the Music of Toivo Kärki (2005) Change Records
Dave Hopkins: Live from Smith's (2006) Sea Change Records

Past Performance Highlights:

Panevezys Jazz Festival; Panevezys, Liethuenia; 1989
Various performances; Beijing and Chengde, China; 1995 (Boston Promenade Big Band)
July Jazz Festival; Amherst, MA, USA; 1996 and 1998
Porgy and Bess; Vienna, Austria; 1996
May Festival; Cracow, Poland; 1998 and 1999
July Jazz Festival; Cracow, Poland; 1998, 1999 and 2000
Vawel Jazz Festival; Cracow, Poland; 1999 (Opening for SCOLOHOFO)
Various performances; Venice, Italy; 2000
Stephanien Saal; Graz, Austria; 2000
Kennedy Center; Washington, DC, USA; 2000
Pori Jazz Festival; Pori, Finland; 2000, 2001 and 2005
Various performances; Sweden; 2001
Various performances; Kiev, Ukraine; 2002
Various performances; Greece; 2003

Collaborators:

In USA:

Joel Forrester
Ron McClure
Chihiro Yamanaka
Mika Pohjola
Ray Parker
Tony Suggs
Arthur Kell
Jim Cammack
Spirit of Life Ensemble
Dr. Mark Rosen Big Band
Aaron Johnston
Ted Curson
Matt Hilgenberg
Robert DiPietro
Essiet Essiet
Michael Cochrane
Nick Russo
Ratzo Harris
Tino Derado
Matthew Garrison
Valerie Troutt
Sabina Sciubba
Tony Moreno
Russ Lossing
Ray Mantilla
Ron Affif
Charlie Hunter
Bobby Previte
Sebastian Noelle
Kirk Nurock
Mike Savino
Carlton Holmes
Todd Isler
Willard Dyson
Dave Ambrosio
Ben Monder
Mike Block
Peter Stan

In Poland:

Lukasz Zyta
Marek Strzystowski
Andrej Cudzich
Wojtek Konikiewicz
Sebastian Bernatowicz
Janusz Stefanski
Jan Jarcyk
Grazyna Augustic

In Austria:

Fritz Pauer
Michael Kahr
Uli Rennert
Wolfgang Tozzi
Dusan Novakov
Mathias Auchter
Thorsten Zimmermann

In Germany:

Gregor Hübner
Veit Hübner
Frank Möbus
Claus Reichstaller
Bobbi Fischer
Jerome Goldschmidt
Norbert Nagel

In Italy:

Nicola Fazzini

In Greece:

Lakis Tzimkas Band

In Finland:

Heikki Sarmanto
Seppo Kantonen
Mika Kallio
Reiska Laine
Anna Orasmaa
Olli Ahvenlahti
Abdissa Assefa
Petri Krzywacki
Iiro Kautto
Markus Niittynen
Mikko Hassinen
Wade Mikkola
Jarmo Savolainen
Ape Anttila
Marko Timonen

Performances and/or recordings
as a sideman:

In Finland:

Hector
Jari Sillanpää
Waltari
Kaija Koo
Heads&Bodies
Generators
Rip'n'Rape

In Austria:

Roots of Future
Jazz at Seven

Sound:

Jukka Nykänen
Sam Berkow

www.sanniorasmaa.com