"Music is my haven. The one place where I can fully exist. I never found a place where I could feel wholeheartedly comfortable, where I could truly belong. Until one day I realized that my perception of my artistic work is that of a universe. It is almost a place of its own. Although abstract and intangible in the sense that it neither can be touched nor seen by others, to me, it holds the most real, natural and palpable existence. It is a universal version of me as a person that encompasses my thoughts, feelings, colours, shapes, words and all senses intertwined. Singing is the voice of my heart and listening to that voice has kept me alive; singing is my channel of expression." Maria Palmqvist is a singer and a composer based in Gothenburg, Sweden. In her music lays the core of her being and the whole of her heart. In all her artistic work flows a river of sincerity, vulnerability and inner power that creates a world of its own. The music draws inspiration from improvisatory allusions of jazz, pure harmonies of classical music and structural elements of pop music. Maria holds a Bachelor degree and a Masters degree in improvisation from the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg. She easily moves between genres and expressions and has composed and arranged music for bigger orchestras like Bohuslän Big Band and Göteborg Wind Orchestra.