As the temperature flirted with 100 degrees on a scorching day last April in Indio, Calif., Coachella festivalgoers watched an unusual performance: the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, playing the first set billed solely to an orchestra in the event’s 26-year history. But after a rendition of Richard Wagner’s 19th century warhorse “Ride of the Valkyries,” the orchestra welcomed an unexpected guest soloist to the stage: the genre-defying, Iceland-born singer-songwriter Laufey.
“The L.A. Phil is one of the best orchestras in the world. I never thought I’d be able to play with them in any capacity,” says the modern jazz phenom, who played her bossa nova-inspired TikTok hit “From the Start” with the ensemble. “It was a really emotional moment for me, because growing up as an orchestra kid, I always thought something like Coachella was a little far from what I was familiar with.”
Laufey was born in Reykjavík, Iceland — the same year Coachella debuted — to a musical family. Her grandparents were professors of music in China, while her mother is a classical violinist, and she had started studying piano and cello by age 8. Moving between Iceland and Washington, D.C., Laufey spent her summers at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing before moving to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she began to post videos online of herself performing jazz standards by the likes of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and more and quickly amassed an audience. Managers, labels and publishers noticed her tracks taking off on DistroKid — and Laufey began taking business meetings on her own before committing to an independent global recording deal with AWAL in 2020.
Read the full interview here.
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