Parliamentary Jazz Award–winning vocalist Emilia Mårtensson is widely recognised as one of the most distinctive voices to emerge from UK jazz. Known for her gently expressive tone and emotionally rich storytelling, she was described by The Observer as “the new face of British jazz,” while Jazzwise praised her as “a voice of quite remarkable expressive depth.”

Drawing on Scandinavian folk traditions while moving fluidly between lyric-driven songcraft, jazz, art-pop and improvised music, Emilia’s work combines emotional clarity with rhythmic finesse and a strong sense of space, atmosphere and dynamic contrast.

Born in southern Sweden to Swedish and Slovenian heritage and now based in Berlin, Emilia spent over two decades living and working in London, where the UK became the central home of her musical life and long-standing collaborations.

A vocalist, composer and bandleader with a finely tuned ear for arrangement and musical direction, Emilia leads projects that centre on real-time interaction and honest storytelling. Her music moves between intimacy and power, inviting listeners into a cinematic sound world shaped as much by silence and restraint as by intensity. As The Guardian wrote, she “invests every sound with a skimming, rapturous lightness and clarity.”

She collaborates widely as both singer and composer, with recent projects including Matt Robinson and Chris Hyson (Snowpoet). Other collaborators include Kit Downes, Iain Ballamy, Jasper Høiby and Alice Zawadzki, alongside appearances with the large-scale collective The Third Orchestra. Her acclaimed collaboration with Kairos 4tet led to a MOBO Award, marking a significant milestone in her artistic journey.

Her performances have taken her to stages including Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Kings Place and PizzaExpress Jazz Club in London, as well as Boulez Saal in Berlin and appearances at the European Film Awards, reflecting the breadth of her work across the European jazz and contemporary music scenes.

Emilia is also the founder of Beyond Vocals, an international community supporting singers in developing artistic depth and sustainable creative careers. The platform hosts an annual jazz vocal retreat in Izola, Slovenia, a place that reflects her continuing connection to her Slovenian roots.

Across her work as an artist, bandleader and mentor, Emilia is driven by curiosity, honesty and musical presence and aroundcreating spaces where musicians can connect deeply, take risks and tell stories that matter.