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March 24, 2008
The Art of Fine Vocals: The
Jazz Singer and the Diva
7pm - 8:30pm
Ramo Auditorium
Caltech 332 South Michigan Ave.,
South of Del Mar Blvd., Pasadena
DIRECTIONS TO RAMO AUDITORIUM
Yvette Freeman,
Jazz Singer
Jamie Chamberlin,
Classical Soprano
Suzanna Guzmán, Moderator
 Yvette Freeman
In 2004 Yvette Freeman won a second Ovation Award and NAACP Award for her
performance in the play “Dinah Was.” This time for recreating the
role of Dinah Washington at the Long Beach International Theater in Long
Beach, California. The play “Dinah Was,” is based on the life of
legendary jazz singer Dinah Washington, and won Yvette an Obie at the
Gramercy Theatre, Off-Broadway. The same play in 1996, in Los Angeles,
garnered her “Best Actress in a Musical,” from the NAACP, Ovation Awards,
and LA Weekly.
Born in Wilmington, Delaware,
Yvette, one of seven children, developed her love of performing from her
father, jazz pianist Charles Freeman. After graduating from the University
of Delaware, with a major in Art and Theater, Yvette’s life became the
theater. Her first major performance was in the Broadway musical sensation
“Ain’t Misbehavin’,” which utilized her tremendous singing voice,
and led to roles on stage, television and feature films. Freeman also
starred in The First National, Paris and International, companies of “Ain’t
Misbehavin’.” Freeman’s other stage credits include “Elegies for
Angel Punks and Raging Queens” as Bertha (Los Angeles); Sister Hurbert
in “Nunsense” (Boston), Queenie in “Show Boat”(St. Louis),
the Sacramento production of “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” as
Jewel; and as Bernice in “Member of the Wedding” (Portland). She
was also in the national and international touring company productions of
“The Wiz,” “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope,” “Voices, Inc.,”
and “Mademoiselle Rose” in Monte Carlo and China.
On television, Freeman has
played Nurse Haleh Adams on the NBC drama ER going on the 13th
season. In addition she has been a guest-star in numerous series including
Nip/Tuck, Presidio Med, The Tick, That’s Life, Boston Public, Judging
Amy, NYPD Blue, The John Larroquette Show, and Sisters and many
more. Her feature film credits include roles in “Switch,” “Dead
Again,” “Children of the Corn III,” and “Angus Bethune.”
She was also seen in the HBO movie “Norma and Marilyn.”
In 1999, Yvette Freeman added
director to her credits when she completed the American Film Institute’s
program Director’s Workshop for Women. Her first film was The Blessing
Way. She has gone on to write, direct and produce several short films
including Remember, a film about Alzheimer’s, which won several awards
including Best Short Story for the Moondance 2004 Film Festival. Her other
short films include “The Making of a Global Village,“ a documentary
about the positive influence of African Dance in a Los Angeles community,
and for the internet site instantfilms.tv she made “The Confused Toad”
and “Hideous Scream.”
Yvette is married to jazz
pianist
Lanny Hartley, who is musical director for “Dinah Was,”
and arranger/producer for “A Tribute to Dinah Washington.” Yvette
and Lanny live in the Los Angeles area with their cats, Sam and Phoebe
BACK TO TOP
 JAMIE CHAMBERLIN
Greek-American soprano
Jamie Chamberlin is fast rising as one of the premiere singing actresses
of her generation. Most recently, she was granted the Special
Encouragement Award at the 2007 MONC Western Regional Finals. Earlier in
2007, she received Third Place in the Inaugural Jose Iturbi International
Music Competition in Los Angeles, and in November of 2007 she participates
in the Seoul International Music Competition in South Korea as one of 46
young singers from around the world. As an artist in the prestigious
Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, she received critical praise for
her portrayal of Anne Sexton in Susa’s Transformations, and for her
sparkling Merola Grand Finale performance on the stage of the War Memorial
Opera House in 2006. Ms. Chamberlin made her professional debut with the
Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2004 singing the soprano solo in the world
premiere of Esa- Pekka Salonen’s monumental orchestral work Wing on Wing.
The following season, she made her solo debut with Los Angeles Opera as
the High Priestess in Aida and the Cretan Woman in Idomeneo, with Placido
Domingo.
Miss Chamberlin holds
Bachelor of Arts and Master of Music degrees from UCLA where she studied
under Juliana Gondek. Roles at UCLA include Contessa di Folleville in Il
Viaggio A Reims, Lady Billows in Albert Herring, Concepcion in L’heure
Espagnole, La Chatte in L’enfant et les Sortileges, Arminda in La Finta
Giardiniera, Anita in West Side Story, and Hesione in the West Coast
Premiere of Triumph of Love.
In addition to her growing
operatic career, Chamberlin is also making strides as a concert artist.
In 2006, she sang the rarely performed Chansons de Ronsard by Milhaud with
the Pasadena Symphony under the baton of Jorge Mester. She returned the
following season to sing Poulenc’s Gloria and John Adams’ Grand Pianola
Music and in 2008 she will sing the Soprano I solo in Mozart’s C Minor
Mass. In January 2007 she debuted with the Fort Collins Symphony singing
Mahler’s Fourth symphony and Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5.
Ms. Chamberlin has also been a guest artist with the Occidental College
Chorale, The Nimbus Ensemble and The Indian Wells Desert Symphony.
Jamie has received many
awards and scholarships from organizations which include the Performaing
Arts Scholarship Foundation (1st Place, 2007), The Pasadena Opera Guild,
The Opera Buffs, The Society of Singers, The Pillsbury Foundation, and
Society of Singers, to name a few. She has worked with many distinguished
conductors, directors and artists, including Placido Domingo, Kent Nagano,
Jorge Mester, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Martin Katz, Sheri Greenawald, Joe Goode,
Sara Jobin, Stephen Blier, Jane Eaglen, Richard Buckley, Vera Calabria,
and Vladimir Chernov, among many others.
BACK TO TOP
 Suzanna
Guzmán, a native of East Los Angeles, fell into
the eclectic career of International Opera Diva after she lost her voice
singing in rock bands and was tricked by her vocal therapist into
auditioning for an opera. From that audition she was cast in the title
role of Bizet's opera Carmen, which became her signature role, and for
which TIME magazine hailed her as "a fire eating, singing actress." Since
then she has appeared in major opera houses and concert stages (The
Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Disney Hall)
appearing as a solo performer and opposite such legends as Placido
Domingo, Marilyn Horne, Renee Fleming, with conductors Rostropovich,
Gergiev, Levine, Rudel, to name a few. She was featured soloist on the
GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY nominated CD Carlos Chavez: Complete Works.
Suzanna realized she wasn't the only "ex-rock singer turned opera
diva-single mom" who didn't know much about classical music, so she
created her one woman show DON'T BE AFRAID! IT'S JUST OPERA! which she has
performed for over 200,000 inner-city school kids across the country. Her
work in inner-city music programs led her to realize that the world would
be a better place for her young son if there were more artistic, creative
thinkers of the future. So she got active.
She is on the roster of the Music Center Education Division Roster and
serves on the boards of many prestigious Arts Education Non-Profits:
Design for Sharing, L.A.Opera Education Committee , DISCOVER THE ARTS:
vice-chair: (the flagship LAUSD Arts High School opening in 2009) she
mentors and serves on the Board of Advisors of the USC Thornton School of
Music and she sits third row to the side and tries not to cry out "Great
shot, sweetie" at every water polo game her son plays. Suzanna is an
Artist in Residence of the California Philharmonic, is featured in Maria
Shriver's exhibit Latinas: the Spirit of California honoring remarkable
woman of California in Sacramento, and every December she is the Virgin of
Guadalupe in the Latino Theater Company's Dios Inatzin at the Cathedral of
Our Lady of the Angels. Suzanna and son, Conor live with Tramp and Glory
in their little ancestral home in Pasadena, CA.
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