About me
Award-winning Sicilian singer-songwriter, producer, and educator Sissy Castrogiovanni is one of the most original and creative voices in today’s contemporary jazz scene.
With her magnetic artistic personality and the charm of a voice that reaches straight to the heart, she has earned widespread acclaim, captivating both audiences and critics while performing on national and international stages, as well as major jazz festivals across the United States and South America. Highlights include Boston’s Symphony Hall, the European Parliament, and the Panama Jazz Festival.
Her prestigious collaborations are countless: from concerts with legendary GRAMMY® winner Bobby McFerrin to performances alongside jazz luminaries such as Jack DeJohnette, Patrice Rushen, and producer (Latin GRAMMY® winner).
Sissy’s musical roots are deeply grounded in the rhythms, colors, and scents of her homeland, the beautiful island of Sicily. At the same time, her sound embraces an international vision through a unique and eclectic language, blending Sicilian tradition with Afro-American influences and contemporary jazz, shaped by over sixteen years of life and artistic research in the United States.
Her compositions create an original synthesis of musical cultures which, combined with her extraordinary stage presence and intoxicating attention to melody, make Sissy a truly distinctive voice in the world of jazz.Her album “TERRA” became the first record entirely sung in the Sicilian language to reach the GRAMMY® Awards ballot in four jazz categories, marking a historic milestone for Sicilian language and culture on the international music scene.
The media describe her style as “Sicilian Jazz”—an original and unmistakable language in which the Sicilian dialect is used in a contemporary way, where tradition unfolds into endless possibilities for new artistic visions.Leading publications such as DownBeat and Jazziz Magazine have praised the emotional intensity of her live performances, her vocal control, and her extraordinary vocal range. She brings these same qualities into her teaching as a faculty member at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she actively mentors the next generation of international artists.
Sissy Castrogiovanni is also internationally recognized—above all—for her ongoing cultural work promoting Sicily and the Sicilian language worldwide through music, education, and artistic projects.
