Laura Rizzotto

Laura Rizzotto is a 19-year-old recording and performing Music artist, a 7-year trained ballet dancer, an activist and a professional songwriter, with over 50 original songs published by herself, most of them with English lyrics. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Laura started playing the piano at the age of 9 and wrote her first ballad “Reason Why”, at the age of 11, when she used to live in the city of Edina, in Minnesota. She taught herself how to play the guitar and the ukulele at her early teens. Laura started performing her own songs in the music scene of Rio de Janeiro, at the age of 15. Her first record deal, with Universal Music Brazil, came up at the age of 16, just after a record executive saw her performing live in the legendary venue Modern Sound, in Copacabana. Her debut studio album “Made in Rio”, released in 2011, was produced by British musician Paul Ralphes and the track “Who You Are” by Brazilian jazz legend Eumir Deodato. “Made in Rio” was critically acclaimed and extensively featured in the Brazilian media. Laura was a guest artist in the main Brazilian TV shows and promoted the album with live performances in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, with a 6-piece band. The single “Fish Out of Water” was included in the soundtrack of a popular soap opera from Brazil’s major TV network, Rede Globo. Laura opened up for former Disney star Demi Lovato, at her major concert in Brazil, for 7,000 people, in April 2012. Shortly after, she was offered a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music. In a bold move, she decided to give a break at her rising career in Brazil and move to Boston, to pursue a Bachelor of Music degree. She was placed at Berklee’s Dean’s list for 3 consecutive semesters and featured live in radio shows, in Massachusetts. The girl from Ipanema chases the dream to break into the US pop