Born in Havana, Cuba in 1983, Yilian Cañizares is a jazz and world music violinist, singer, composer, and percussionist of Cuban and Swiss descent. At the age of seven, she began studying both percussion and the violin. She moved to Caracas, Venezuela to attend the Academia Latinoamericana de Violin for three years, and then completed her studies at the Freiburg Conservatory in Switzerland. Although she was classically trained, she began to show an interest in jazz. Once she finished her studies, she formed the Ochumare quartet and released two albums with the group – Caminos (2009) and Somos Ochumare (2011) – before pursuing a solo career. In 2013, she released her debut solo album, Ochumare, which was a critical and commercial success. She followed that album up with Invocación in 2015. Yilian Cañizares collaborated with Cuban pianist Omar Sosa on the album Aguas, which was released in 2018. The duo followed that up with the 2019 live album Live at Elbphilarmonie. She returned to her solo career in 2019 with the album Erzulie, an album that was recorded in New Orleans, Louisiana and featured musical assistance from Christian Scott (trumpet), Bobby Sparks (organ, Michael League (double bass) and others. This album, like her previous releases, was a critical success and ended up on many year-end lists. Yilian Cañizares has collaborated with many artists during her career including Chucho Valdés, Ibrahim Maalouf, El Comité, and many others.
