MARIZA AT MASSEY HALL (TORONTO, ON) - OCT. 3/07

“When Mariza sings, time stands still.” (BBC Radio)

MARIZA

Wednesday, October 3, 2007 – 8:00 pm / Massey Hall

Tickets: $59.50 to $39.50 – Call 416-872-4255 or visit the Roy Thomson Hall Box Office

www.masseyhall.com

For Immediate Release, Toronto, ON. September 11, 2007 – Hailed as Portugal’s reigning ambassador of fado, Mariza returns to Massey Hall on Wednesday, October 3, 2007, at 8 p.m., after her sold-out concert here two years ago. With her mesmerizing contralto and a series of acclaimed recordings, the Mozambique-born, Lisbon-raised Mariza has quickly achieved international star status and brought the art form of fado (Portugal’s brand of soulful blues) to a world-wide audience. Her three-week, 16-city North American tour, which kicks off in Toronto, includes an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman on October 11.

Almost immediately following her 2001 debut album, Fado Em Mim, Mariza became one of the most popular fado artists. The album reached triple platinum sales in Portugal, received the German Critics award, and introduced Mariza to the world outside her adopted home country. In 2002 she was named "Best European World Music Artist" by BBC Radio 3 and received the award for "Most Outstanding Performance" at the Quebec Summer Festival.

Mariza’s second album, Fado Curvo, released in 2003, surpassed all expectations. It reached number six on Billboard’s world music chart, and in Portugal, the album went double platinum. German critics awarded her the Deutsche Schalplatten Kritik Award, and in Portugal, foreign journalists voted Mariza “Personality of the Year”, recognizing her as one of the best-loved artists in the country.

In 2004, she released her first DVD, Mariza: Live in London, recorded at London’s Union Chapel. She was also featured on the Official Album of the 2004 Olympic Games in a duet with Sting, and was honoured with the European Border Breakers Award at the international music trade show MIDEM. Her third album, Transparente, released in 2005, pays tribute to legendary fadistas Fernando Maurício, Carlos do Carmo and Amália Rodrigues. That year she was named a UNICEF ambassador for Portugal and also took part in the Eden Project section of “Live 8” in Cornwall, UK, under the banner “Africa Calling”, alongside such artists as Youssou N’Dour and Angélique Kidjo.

At the end of 2006 Mariza released her live CD/DVD, Concerto em Lisboa, on the EMI label. It was recently nominated for a Latin Grammy in the "Best Folk Album" category. In 2007, the BBC produced a documentary titled, “Mariza and the Story of Fado”, and Mariza played the lead role in a new film called “Fado”, by Carlos Saura, which will give fans a chance to see Mariza in an acting role.

Since her recording debut, Mariza has performed on four continents at such venues as Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Albeniz Theatre in Madrid, the Macau Cultural Centre and Moscow’s House of Music, as well appearing at the Cairo International Song Festival, the Chicago World Music Festival, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival.

Through all of this, Mariza continues to see the stage as an intimate space, a sort of living room where she might entertain her friends, exuding a warmth to which audiences throughout the world have responded in kind.

For more information, visit http://www.mariza.org/english.html or http://www.mariza.org/index.html

This performance is a co-presentation with the Small World Music Festival and is sponsored by the Portuguese Trade and Tourism Commission.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

For interviews, please contact:

Beverly Kreller, SPEAK Music
http://www.speak-music.com/
bev@speak-music.com

Liz Parker, Publicity Manager
email: liz.parker@rth-mh.com

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