CAREER BIOGRAPHY

Nerissa Campbell graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (Jazz Performance & Composition) in 1998. As a young jazz vocalist she studied with Mark Murphy, Madeline Eastman, Sheila Jordan (USA), Sue Kingham, Michelle Nicolle (AUS), and Anita Wardell (UK).

After graduating, she performed regularly around Perth and was a volunteer at The Perth Jazz Society. She started composing her own material in 1999.

In 2000 she was accepted into the Stanford Jazz Workshop where she was one of a few select vocalists to perform at the Stanford Jazz Festival.

In 2001, she moved to New York City and has subsequently performed her original music in the city at well known haunts such as 55 Bar, The Jazz Gallery, Fat Cat, Le Poisson Rouge, Zinc & Rockwood Music Hall, among others. A long term member of NY’s Balinese Gamelan Dharma Swara, she has also been the feature vocalist and collaborator in post-metal band, A Storm of Light.

Outside of New York City, Nerissa has performed at Basilica Soundscape (Hudson NY), Festival Centro (Bogota Colombia), Roadburn Music Festival (Tilburg, NL), Singapore Arts Festival, Stanford Jazz Festival (Stanford, USA), Perth International Arts Festival (Perth, AUS), Asymmetry Festival (Wroclaw, PO), as well as at clubs throughout Europe, USA, Canada, & Australia. Her music was featured in ‘Freddy’s - the Documentary’ (screened at Brooklyn International Film Festival), ‘Stranger Love’ (original music performed as part of Eva Minemar & Tony Lepore’s play) and she has been a part of performative literary readings, modern dance pieces, off-Broadway plays, and a 32-piece orchestra.

Campbell was the recipient of a 2013 Australian Arts Council New Works grant for her album, After The Magic, a project that explores the use of Balinese Gamelan, a jazz trio, fleeting guitars and moody instrumentals. She has released five albums of original music under her own label, Crooked Mouth Music, Paint Me Orange (2003), Musings of a Telescopic Tree (2009), Blue Shadows (2012), and After The Magic (2016) and Cricket (2020).

Always learning, she has completed courses in Songwriting, Production, and Film Scoring at the Juilliard School and NYU as part of their evening classes and summer workshops.

In 2021 she was a participant in Composing In The Wilderness, where select composers are commissioned to write a piece inspired by time spent in the back country of Alaska. Her piece, I Am A Braided River was premiered at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival and has a subsequent performance in NYC in October 2021.

Always energetic in supporting the arts, Nerissa currently works at The Jazz Gallery, a non-profit jazz club supporting creativity and innovation, encouraging community engagement as Membership & Marketing Director. She is also a private music teacher who relishes in passing on her knowledge and love for music.