The 68th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival will take place at the Monterey County Fairgrounds September 26-28, 2025.

Martyna Kosecka (*1989)
composer, conductor, performer, experimentalist, and researcher in new music. www.martynakosecka.com

Alma Samimi Mofakham, Iranian Opera Singer and Pedagogue, was born in 1984 in Tehran in one of the most famous artistic dynasties in her homeland, Iran. Her father, Kambiz Samimi Mofakham a children and young adults’theatre and TV director, actor and puppeteer, and her mother, HengamehMofid is a children’s theatre dramatist, director and university tutor.
Alma began her studies in western classical and Persian Classical singing at Tehran Conservatory (2002-2004) and continued in Germany(2004) where earned her B.A. in Vocal Pedagogy (2009) and M.A.in Singing (2010) fromThe National Conservatory of Cologne (Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln).In 2007 she received the scholarship from the Richard Wagner-Verband.
She has also attended several master courses with internationally renowned singers, Barbara Schlick, Brigitte Lindner, Zdenka Kloubová, Josef Protschka, Tom Krause and Helena Kaupová.

As a member of the Düsseldorfer Operettee.V. (2006 – 2007) She performed and sang as Jette in the operetta "The Bird Seller - Der Vogelhändler".
Alma has given many Performances in Opera or Operetta and performances of contemporary music, Song concerts, in Germany, Cyprus, Prag, Armenia, France and Italy. 
Since 2012 she lives In Prague - Czech Republik and is a Member of Opera Studio “Tichá Opera” as Soloist. 
She sang as Solist  in the role of Katuška  in the Opera “Divadlo za branou” by B. Martinu at the State Opera Praha in 2012; And in 2013 she sang as Clarice in the Opera “Il mondo della luna“ by Josef Haydn.
beside her main occupation as a singer and performer, Alma works pedagogue and has been teaching since 2011 (Musik School Allegro in Düsseldorf / Germany) and  Since 2012 she works as tutor at the Music Akademi Praha and  Prague German School.	



A non-profit jazz label with a mission. Devoted to preserving jazz and discovering the rising stars of tomorrow.



Klassik und Jazz erfreuen sich immer größerer Beliebtheit. UNIVERSAL MUSIC Stars wie etwa Anna Netrebko oder Till Brönner unterstreichen diesen Trend und sind beste Beispiele für den Erfolg des umfassenden Engagements auf diesem Gebiet. 

Neben der intensiven Arbeit sowohl mit jungen Talenten als auch mit etablierten Künstlern entwickelt UNIVERSAL MUSIC CLASSICS & JAZZ als Marktführer in den jeweiligen Genres kontinuierlich neue, innovative Marketing- und Promotion-Strategien, um alternative und zeitgemäße Zugänge zur facettenreichen und spannenden Welt von Klassik und Jazz anzubieten. Die Unit baut hierfür nicht nur junge Künstlerinnen und Künstler auf und begleitet sorgfältig und verantwortungsvoll ihre musikalische Entwicklung, sondern sorgt vor allem auch kontinuierlich für die Erschließung und Pflege neuer Zielgruppen. Mit grenzüberschreitenden Projekten wie der „Yellow Lounge“, die Klassik an ungewöhnlichen Orten präsentiert, oder auch dem „Verve Club“, der die ganze Vielfalt des Jazz präsentiert, leistet UNIVERSAL MUSIC CLASSICS & JAZZ hier und auf manch anderem Gebiet seit langem wertvolle Pionierarbeit. Diese und weitere Aktivitäten bringen die unendliche Vielfalt der Genres einem stetig wachsenden Publikum näher, das musikalische Entdeckungen als Bereicherung seines Lebens zu schätzen weiß.

Management:
American International Artists, Inc.
Cynthia B. Herbst, President
+1 (518) 686-0972
Cynthia@aiArtists.com

Much like songbird Edith Piaf, Madeleine Peyroux spent her teenage years busking the busy streets of Paris. Just like the ‘little sparrow’, Madeleine befriended the city’s street musicians and made its Latin quarter her first performing stage. Years later, Peyroux would cite iconic Piaf as an influence on her music and record a rendition of the classic La Vie En Rose, soulfully capturing the tune’s romanticism and melancholy.
 
Born in Athens, Georgia in 1974, Madeleine “grew up in a house filled with music” and from an early age “instinctively realised music’s soothing power” but it was her teenage years in the French capital that turned the childhood notion into an all-consuming vocation for life.

Young Madeleine moved to Paris with her mother in 1987 following her parents divorce. “To soothe me during the upheaval”, she recalls, “I was given a guitar and took to playing in the streets almost immediately.”

Thirty years after her formative busking days Peyroux is the proud curator of nine beguiling albums and an accomplished performer with sell out worldwide tours under her belt. Her atmospheric version of Serge Gainsborough’s La Javanaise was used in the soundtrack of Oscar Winner The Shape of Water and her countless accolades
include the coveted BBC International Artist Of The Year honour.
 
Madeleine’s thirst for creative exploration is unfading and her willingness to face creative challenges remains as solid now as it was three decades ago.

With endearing passion and great curiosity the unstoppable genre-defying virtuoso continues her search for the good and examines life with the treasured William Congreve belief that Music has charms to soothe the savage beast.
 
Madeleine might attribute her success to “mostly luck” but to the industry and loyal fans alike, it is the immense talent and utter dedication to her craft that shines through.
“Peyroux is a tremendous talent and almost a total intuitive” reflects Larry Klein, “she has the capacity to get the magic. When she sings and plays her guitar, great things happen.”

Vanguard Records, part of Concord Bicycle Music’s Fantasy Label Group, is one of the world’s leading independent record labels. Its eclectic roster of quality artists includes Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Switchfoot, O.A.R., Flogging Molly, Parachute, Sallie Ford, Matt Nathanson, Chris Isaak, Barenaked Ladies, Greg Laswell, Trevor Hall, Indigo Girls, and more. It’s rich history of catalog artists features Levon Helm, Merle Haggard, Joan Baez, Mindy Smith, Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thornton, Junior Wells, John Fahey, to name a few.

chefraled is following