Fotoverslag | Lea Maria Fries "Cleo - River Jazz Festival 2026

Lea Maria Fries "Cleo @ Jazz Station

On the opening night of the River Jazz Festival, Swiss vocalist Lea Maria Fries delivered a performance at the crossroads of contemporary jazz, chanson, and European art-song traditions, Fries has built a reputation for using her voice not merely as a melodic instrument but as a narrative one, shifting between languages, textures, and emotional registers with striking precision. In fact, the first set opened with a piece in Swiss German, immediately establishing the personal and multilingual landscape that defines her repertoire. Sorcieres followed with a darker, more theatrical tone, before the mood softened with a delicate lullaby-like composition described as a “cure against nightmares,” written for someone close to her. Accompanied by piano, the piece unfolded with the gentle cadence of a nighttime ritual. Nile closed the set, expanding the sonic palette with flowing melodic lines and subtle rhythmic movement. The second set began with a love song built around a cinematic image: a farewell at a train station where two lovers depart in opposite directions, one heading west, the other east, perhaps for the better. Other songs, performed in French, deepened the emotional palette, while her long-standing creative partnership with her bassist, her primary compositional counterpart, remained the backbone of the performance, the two musicians interacting with quiet telepathy and with a visible musical chemistry. For the encore, Dust in Gravity stripped everything back to its essence: just voice and bass, fragile, precise, and a perfect closing for a perfect debut night.

---

Vrijdag, 13 maart 2026, Jazz Station (Brussel, BE) | Foto's & tekst: Cristina Vergara