Svetlana

Svetlana stands out as a refined jazz singer whose thoughtful, smoldering interpretations embrace both classic jazz and swing repertoire along with enduring Broadway and American Popular Song material. Since stepping onto the New York City stage in the 2010s, she has maintained an energetic profile while fronting her own ensembles of varying sizes, notably the Delancey Five and the New York Swing Collective. Additional collaborations have linked her with trombonist Wycliffe Gordon on multiple recordings, among them Night at the Speakeasy in 2016 and Night at the Movies in 2019.

Originally from Russia, where she was born Svetlana Shmulyian, she felt an early pull toward performance and absorbed a wide-ranging array of sounds during childhood that encompassed jazz. In the late 1990s she relocated to New York’s East Village in pursuit of broader creative prospects, later completing an MA at the Manhattan School of Music in 2015. Her studies there included vocal work with Theo Bleckmann, Gretchen Parlato, and Kate McGarry, while composition classes were taken with James McNealy and Phill Markowitz. As a solo artist she has performed internationally at venues and festivals such as the Tel Aviv Blues Festival, Italian Villas and Jazz Festival, and Blue Note Jazz Festival.

Her first album, Night at the Speakeasy, appeared in 2016 under the guidance of Grammy-winning producer Guy Eckstine and included guest spots from trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and pianist Sullivan Fortner. Three years later she issued Night at the Movies, a collection that reimagines film themes spanning the French New Wave and Soviet-era cinema to present-day Hollywood scores. Matt Pierson served as producer with Gil Goldstein handling the arrangements, and the sessions again featured Gordon and Fortner alongside guitarist Pasquale Grasso, drummer Rogerio Boccato, and additional musicians.