BIOGRAPHY
Mareille Merck was born in Stralsund (D) in 1996 and lives in Zurich (CH).
As a teenager, she discovered her passion for the guitar and jazz. She won the federal prize in the “Jugend Musiziert” competition in the “Guitar (Pop)” category in 2011 (3rd prize) and 2014 (1st prize) and accepted numerous workshops such as the "Blue Boat" jazz festival or "Young Woman for Jazz" in Trossingen. From 2012 to 2014 she received lessons from Kalle Kalima in Berlin.
Mareille studied jazz guitar with Lionel Loueke, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Frank Möbus, Kalle Kalima and Roberto Bossard Guitar in Weimar (D) and Lucerne (CH), among others, where she received her master's degree in performance in 2020. This is followed by studying music education at the ZHdK in Zurich (ZH).
She is the founder and leader of the trio "Mareille Merck LARUS", in which she performs her own compositions. The trio was nominated for the ZKB Jazz Prize in 2021, selected for the Suisse Diagonales Tour (postponed to 2022) and released their debut album "Fadenschlag" in March 2021 in cooperation with Radio SRF 2 Kultur on Mons Records, which was internationally recognized in the specialist press for caused a stir.
Mareille is actively involved in the local music scene - for example as a board member and member of the musicians' council of the jazz club "Moods" in Zurich or on the board of the association "Jazzbaragge", but also in joint projects with numerous well-known musicians: inside.
In 2021 and 2022, Mareille received a working grant from the city of Zurich to support her work on artistic projects.
In addition, she is also attracting international attention. Finland's national radio "YLE" listed Mareille among the five most interesting young jazz artists of today (2021). She has also shared the stage with world-renowned artists such as John McLaughlin, Anne Paceo, as well as Snarky Puppy's Michael League, Bill Lawrence and Justin Stanton.