Back to overview
Magazine

Carte Blanche: Dalia Donadio

Brigitta Grimm01-29-20264 min. read

Dalia Donadio is one of the six artists who have received a Carte Blanche from Moods for the 25/26 season. The Carte Blanche is awarded to outstanding musicians of the Zürich jazz scene and offers them the opportunity to further develop their current musical work and try out new things. Dalia Donadio's Carte Blanche is about the instrument we all have: our voice. Find out here how she explores this human organ in different ways.

Dalia Donadio is a singer and vocal coach who approaches both disciplines with unwavering enthusiasm. She usually performs solo or in smaller groups, such as a duo with her partner Tobias Meier, who adds Pure Data electronics and saxophone to the overall sound. With roots in southern Italy, Dalia Donadio grew up in a musical family and still performs with her parents and brother as a band at family events. She initially studied jazz singing at the Zurich University of the Arts, later studying vocal pedagogy at the Lucerne School of Jazz. However, her studies raised a big question that the musician is still trying to answer today: What exactly is the voice, and how does she want to use hers as an artist?This is partly because jazz singing has not been around for as long as classical singing. It was only through institutionalisation — for example, through courses of study and research at music colleges — that concepts and methods were consolidated and taught. After graduating, Dalia Donadio's music remained traditional, focusing on modern jazz and chamber music ensembles. She also discovered a great love: Brazilian music and bossa nova.
«It's not at all clear what voices are supposed to be.»
Dalia Donadio
"But I'm just not the kind of person who can stick with something like that for ten years," Dalia Donadio interjects. Over the years, her music has become increasingly experimental. Improvisation has taken on an increasingly important role. A desire to experiment and new ideas motivate her to create new vessels in which she can try out new things. Collages of new and familiar elements emerge, as in 'Ich als eines der anderen' (Me as one of the others) from 2024: songs stand alongside free improvisation and bossa nova quotes alongside electronic soundscapes.To highlight another project, “Zinnarella” (2023) is a journey through the work of her father Toni Donadio: a songbook spanning 40 years of his life. The album is part sound poetry, part audiobook, and a meditation on the importance of heritage, the structures of culture, and the treasure that is family. It is a tapestry of intimate field recordings, sparse piano and Moog arrangements, and Donadio's voice.
Vocal technique and pedagogy
Dalia Donadio says that one particular experience has been especially formative in recent years: her three-year course of study at the Lichtenberg Institute for Applied Voice Physiology. Incidentally, the seminars are also open to interested laypeople who want to learn more about Complete Vocal Technique and other methods. There, she gained new insights into how to experience and understand the voice, and how it is described anatomically and physiologically.Dalia Donadio explaines enthusiastically: "The voice is a multidimensional thing. You can approach it from the perspectives of vocal pedagogy, physiology, psychology or acoustics. It's an intangible phenomenon that still needs to be explored. It's not at all clear what voices are supposed to be." She therefore primarily sees herself as a researcher, exploring possibilities beyond aesthetic and technical norms. "And that's exactly what connects my singing and teaching activities."Dalia Donadio's Carte Blanche
Each season, the Moods Musicians' Council grants six Zurich-based artists a Carte Blanche. This includes a budget of 11,000 Swiss francs, which the artists can use to fund projects of their choice, encouraging complete creative freedom. For her project, titled "The Voice Laboratory", Dalia Donadio has decided to curate an exhibition on the theme of voice, as well as a concert in the classical sense. But how can something so abstract yet so directly visible to us be represented visually?The Voice Laboratory – Exhibition
Thursday, 5 February 2026 – Sunday, 14 February 2026
We don't want to give away too much about the exhibition at the la_cápsula gallery. However, the title "Laboratory" suggests that it stems from Dalia Donadio's research-based approach. You will encounter a variety of pieces, including sculptures, a video of a laryngoscopy and digital artworks. There is also her participatory blockchain project, "Voice Among Voices", in which visitors and interested parties can contribute their own voices to a digital circle. Follow this link to listen to the voices that have already been contributed, and to add your own.The exhibition is open to the public Thursdays through Sundays from 18:00 to 20:00. Various performances and workshops will take place as part of the exhibition, with the latter occurring during the day. It's worth stopping by!The Voice Laboratory – Conzert
Sunday, 22 February 2026, 19:00
In concert, Donadio's experiments meet a band and two classically trained singers – a play with quotations, breaks, and possibilities. It is an invitation to hear the voice anew.

Dalia Donadio's Carte Blanche Events

  • Carte Blanche

    Dalia Donadio

    • The Voice Laboratory – Vernissage & Performance

      ExperimentalExperimental Jazz
    More

  • Carte Blanche

    Dalia Donadio

    • The Voice Laboratory – Ausstellung

      ExperimentalExperimental Jazz
    More

  • Carte Blanche

    Dalia Donadio

    • The Voice Laboratory – Workshop & Ausstellung

      ExperimentalExperimental Jazz
    More

  • Carte Blanche

    Dalia Donadio

    • The Voice Laboratory – Workshop & Ausstellung

      ExperimentalExperimental Jazz
    More

  • Carte Blanche

    Dalia Donadio

    • The Voice Laboratory – Performance & Ausstellung

      ExperimentalExperimental Jazz
    More

  • Carte Blanche

    Dalia Donadio

    • The Voice Laboratory – Ausstellung

      ExperimentalExperimental Jazz
    More

  • Carte Blanche

    Dalia Donadio

    • The Voice Laboratory – Ausstellung

      ExperimentalExperimental Jazz
    More

  • Carte Blanche

    Dalia Donadio

    • The Voice Laboratory – Finissage Ausstellung & Performances

      ExperimentalExperimental Jazz
    More

  • Carte Blanche

    Dalia Donadio

    • The Voice Laboratory – Konzert

      JazzJazz Modern CreativeExperimental JazzModern Creative JazzVocal Jazz
    More