MICHELLE WILLIS is a Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player based in New York City.
Support from VALERIA POZZO
Valeria Pozzo is a classically trained violinist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer who feels comfortable crossing genres, taking influence from Joni Mitchell to Jeff Buckley and Emiliana Torrini. Pozzo’s music is born out of her love for storytelling within an intimate and nuanced palette. It brings together melodies inspired by folk, rich harmonic movements and intricate yet tasteful grooves informed by jazz.
Over the years, her boundless musical curiosity led her to perform with artists spanning a spectrum of styles such as Jazz Jamaica, ESKA, Sam Ryder, Neil Cowley, Antonio Forcione, Robert Mitchell, Coke Studio Pakistan and Southbank Sinfonia. Valeria has performed at many prestigious venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and has sung at world renowned Abbey Road Studio, where she recorded a cover of George Harrison’s ‘Here Comes The Sun’ for Peroni Nastro Azzurro.
Valeria’s classical background, along with her extensive collaborations with a variety of artists, seem to perfectly synthesise in her own work. In 2020 Valeria released her debut single ‘My Heart’, written, recorded and produced by her at home during lockdown.
Much of Valeria’s writing is directly inspired by her own personal experience, with themes of family, relationships, and distance explored with a deft touch and a heart-rending wisdom. Her self-produced EP ‘Circles’ due to be released in February 2023, was written from a place of vulnerability; a response to the fact that, sometimes, we are exposed and open but not met in the way we hope. The songs move through cycles of stability and turmoil. They represent a quest for connection, acceptance and belonging; an attempt to resolve something that is broken.