ELSA NILSSON

Elsa Nilsson was born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden, where she started her love-affair with music at the early age of 2. Her father placed her in front of a microphone with his all Swedish ex-navy sea shanty’s band and said “sing child, sing“. By the time she was 4 she was singing harmonies with her younger brother Albin. She started playing piano at age 5 and by the time she was accepted to Hvitfeldtska gymnasium (a classical conservatory style program in Gothenburg) at age 14 she had been playing flute for 3 years, teaching herself how to improvise by listening to jazz records. Nilsson moved to Brooklyn, New York, in September 2010. She has been performing and teaching in the area ever since. She has studied with Chris Potter, Peter Bernstein, Kenny Werner, Jean-Michele Pilc, Robert Dick, Jamie Baum, Brad Shepik and many more in the process of attaining her Masters degree from NYU’s Jazz Program. Nilsson has performed with Kenny Werner’s and Brad Shepik’s NYU ensembles, The Jim Knapp Orchestra, Jovino Santos Neto, Ben Thomas, Chuck Deardorf, Dawn Clement, Michael Owcharuk, Darrius Willrich and more.