Born in Beirut, of Armenian heritage, Zela a Sydney-based pianist, composer and ARIA nominated musician who fuses the rhythms and harmonies of jazz and the discipline of classical with the beautiful melodies of Armenian and Middle Eastern folk music.
Her debut album ‘Transition’ realised digitally on the Australian label Art As Catharsis, garnered favourable reviews, with the influential US magazine Downbeat calling it ‘…an entrancing and dazzlingly unique kaleidoscopic niche’, and Jazzwise, the UK’s biggest selling jazz magazine, calling it an ‘… exemplary album that is simultaneously heartfelt, authentic and wholly absorbing.’ ARIA Award nominated for Best World Music Album in 2019, this album was the impetus for a tour that took in cities in Australia, New Zealand and Lebanon, and was instrumental in her selection as the Australian Music Centre’s inaugural jazz artistic associate – a bursary that is part of the AMC’s market development strategy for jazz.
This allowed her the opportunity to travel to Jazzahead, the jazz world’s most important music market, which expanded her horizons and networks and led to a ‘Taking Off’ feature in Jazzwise, and a connection to the international label Ropeadope, who released Zela’s second album, ‘The Road’, in February 2022. In 2020, Zela’s quintet made its debut at the Sydney Opera House, she was awarded an ABC commission for a collaboration with Sydney-based saxophonist Jeremy Rose that resulted in Visions of Nar, a project that premiered at the Joan Sutherland Centre and she was selected, from a competitive international field, as one of the Creative Armenia Fellows – an opportunity from the Creative Armenia Foundation which resulted in a mentorship with extraordinary Armenian pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan .
