AURORA NEALAND

Aurora Nealand is a multi-instrumentalist active in the vibrant music scene of New Orleans, USA. “I think separating ‘musical life’ from ‘life’ at this point is a challenge for me,” she reflects. After attending the renowned Conservatory at Oberlin College, where she designed her own major in “Contemporary Music,” Aurora moved to Paris to study at the Ecole du Theatre Physical Jacques Lecoq, taking the opportunity to explore doing music/sound for theatre. She eventually landed in New Orleans, where for the past 8 years, she has been playing Traditional New Orleans jazz and diving into the rich musical culture of the city. Today, she is a band leader and contributing member to a number of performing groups, as a saxophonist, singer, composer, and improvisor. Aurora was a OneBeat Fellow (Dosti’s sister program) in 2013 and joins Dosti as both a Fellow and a city coordinator: she and her partner Lisa Giordano of Sound Observatory New Orleans have curated all of the performances and social engagements opportunities that will happen during Dosti’s week-long residency in NOLA.