Untamed musician and adventurer, singer, and songwriter, Claudia Solal has been performing for over 25 years in France and abroad, on some of the most prestigious stages and festivals. Her singular collaborations and diverse artistic experiences have played a key role in developing a unique and captivating vocal language, at the crossroads of written material and improvised songs. She likes to call them offshore songs.
After her widely acclaimed early albums—My Own Foolosophy (with Baptiste Trotignon, 1998), Porridge Days (with Benjamin Moussay, 2005 – Académie Charles Cros “Coup de Cœur”), and Room Service (with the quartet Spoonbox, 2010 – “ffff” Télérama)—Butter in My Brain (with Benjamin Moussay, 2017 – “ffff” Télérama, 4 stars Jazzmagazine) was met with resounding praise.
The album was nominated at the 2018 Victoires du Jazz awards in the “Unclassifiable Album” category. Punk Moon (due Spring 2025), the fourth installment of their collaboration, is an album of orchestral and lunar pop songs that prominently features modular synthesizers.
In 2020, the album Hopetown (RogueArt – “CHOC” Jazzmagazine / “ffff” Télérama) marked the continuation of her duo work with Benoît Delbecq, which began in Chicago in 2015 with artists like Katie Young, Tomeka Reid, and Lou Mallozzi. A new album is currently in preparation. Meanwhile, Cérémonie de thé, a new trio with Hasse Poulsen and Simon Drappier, began performing in 2024. Written in French, the project is an ode to nature, blending romanticism and post-modernism.
Claudia Solal is currently performing in a trio with Didier Petit and Philippe Foch (Les Ferrailleurs du ciel – Grand Prix of the Académie Charles Cros 2018 / tours in Mexico, China, Korea, the Baltic States, Finland…), with Françoise Toullec (5tet La Banquise), Christophe Rocher (Ensemble Nautilis), and in a trio with Jean-Charles Richard and Marc Copland.
A sought-after sidewoman and soloist, she has appeared in recent years in Yves Rousseau’s sextet (Poète, vos papiers, a tribute to Léo Ferré) alongside Jeanne Added, in a duo with her father Martial Solal as well as in his Newdecaband, in the quintet Les Âmes Papillons, Jean-Marie Machado’s Danzas orchestra, the improvising vocal trio La Théorie du Chaos(with Médéric Collignon and Lê Xuy Xuân), Jean-Marc Foltz’s Eleanora Suite with Régis Huby, the duo Equivoxe with singer Valérie Philippin, the duo Moldaves! with Sylvain Kassap, and in Diego Imbert’s Le Vent Nocturne (based on poems by Apollinaire) for strings and woodwinds.
Since 1998, she has also been deeply involved in vocal pedagogy (workshops, masterclasses), particularly with the company D’un instant à l’autre. She taught at the Strasbourg Conservatory (CRR) from 2005 to 2023, at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin, and at the conservatories of Paris’ 7th and 13th districts. She currently teaches at the PSPBB in Paris. Additionally, she composes for television and theater, and lends her voice to radio and cinema projects.