The German-born singer/songwriter/composer Michaela (Misha) Steinhauer has lived most of her musical life in the US and Russia where she studied jazz vocals, performed, toured and recorded 8 CDs with such renowned jazz greats like Wallace Roney, Orrin Evans, Hendrik Meurkens, Roman Stolyar, Aleksey Kruglov and many others. In 2018 she moved back to Germany.By the time she hit her mid-teens, Misha had delved into piano studies, sung in church and school choirs, and co-founded her first band. She studied business education in Mainz and graduated certified teacher for commercial subjects, meanwhile taking vocal lessons. She moved to Moscow, studied jazz vocals (full course) at College Konsort and started performing. Studying and gigging throughout Europe Steinhauer proved herself an enormously versatile singer, using her nimble, adventurous, spiritual but above all tender voice not only to communicate lyrics and melodies but as an instrument in its own right. 2014 Misha made the move to the U.S. to attend Queens College, where she earned her Master’s degree in Jazz Studies in 2016.
Throughout her career, the vocalist has gained recognition for her original songs, as well as for applying her unique point of view to her arrangements of jazz standards and more. In addition to her beloved jazz, her broad repertoire has encompassed standards, pop hits, traditional hymns, and 1930s-vintage German tunes. Steinhauer has demonstrated a knack for taking the familiar and making it new; well-worn material and subjects take on a new life and image, thanks to her fertile musical and lyrical imagination.
In the US, Russia and Germany she recorded and/or played with jazz greats like Hendrik Meurkens, Wallace Roney, Orrin Evans, Craig Handy, Itaiguara Brandao, Valery Grokhovsky, Roman Stolyar, Aleksey Kruglov, Anton Kotikov, Lionel Haas, Mathias Claus and many others.