Lauren Amber Newton (born 16 November 1952) is an avant-garde jazz and contemporary classical singer and founding member of the Vienna Art Orchestra.

Biography

Newton earned a degree in music at the University of Oregon. In 1974 she moved to Europe and continued her music studies with Sylvia Geszty at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. In 1977 she joined the Vienna Art Orchestra, touring widely with the group until 1989. With Bobby McFerrin, Jeanne Lee, Urszula Dudziak and Jay Clayton she formed the Vocal Summit in 1982. Newton combines conventional techniques with unconventional vocal sounds. She has taught at the Berlin University of the Arts, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz in Austria, Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany, and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Lucerne, Switzerland. Her debut album, Timbre (1983), won the Annual German Critics Award. During the next ten years, she collaborated with Austrian poet Ernst Jandl. She has also worked with Jon Rose, Fritz Hauser, Vladimir Tarasov, Anthony Braxton, Christy Doran, Bernd Konrad, Peter Kowald, Joachim Kühn, Joëlle Léandre, Urs Leimgruber, Patrick Scheyder, Aki Takase, and the Südpool-Ensemble directed by Herbert Joos. She performed Adriana Hölszky's Comment for Lauren and other works by Hans-Joachim Hespos, Bernd Konrad, Hannes Zerbe, and Wolfgang Dauner. In 1993 she performed Wolfgang Schmiedt's adaptation for solo vocalist of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder. In 1998 she participated in the international conference Frau Musica (nova) at the conservatory in Cologne, Germany.

Discography

As leader

As member of Vienna Art Orchestra

As guest

With Jon Rose With the Vienna Art Choir With the Vienna Art Special With others