Tony nominated singer/songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway and Grammy-winners Laurel Massé and
Janis Siegel of The Manhattan Transfer will come together for the first
time to teach a master class in jazz vocals for the New York vocal academy Singers Forum.
The class, ""Sing the Swing,"" will
take place on July 10th and 11th, from 7-10 pm in The Dorothy Jones
Theater at Singers Forum. Participating students will be chosen by
auditions on May 31 and June 1, but auditors are welcome and
encouraged. Over the two-day workshop, Callaway, Massé and Siegel will
give students individual instruction and constructive criticism within
a safe environment, meant to encourage the freedom to take chances and
stimulate the exchange of creative ideas. Sessions will also include
vocal/physical warm-ups, instructor demonstrations and improvisations,
and Q&A time. Interested parties should contact the school for
audition appointments and class prices.
Hampton Callaway has won renown as a singer, pianist,
composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, and educator. She has performed in the worlds of jazz and pop as well as on stage, in the
recording studio, on TV and in film. An award-winning cabaret star, she performed in
the hit Broadway musical
Swing, and wrote and sang the theme
to the internationally successful TV series "The Nanny."
Laurel
Massé, founding member of Grammy award-winning vocal group The
Manhattan Transfer, toured internationally for seven years with the
group and recorded five albums. She has released four solo CDs. In
the course of her career, Massé has performed at such prestigious
venues as Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium, Salle Pleyel de Paris,
the Hollywood Bowl, The Smithsonian Institution; jazz festivals in
Montreal,
Chicago, Woodstock, Syracuse, Detroit and Saratoga Springs;
the clubs Birdland and the Blue Note in New York City, The Roxy
Nightclub and The Cinegrill in Los Angeles,
Chicago's Green Mill, and
Harrah's, Caesar's Palace, MGM Grand, and the Hilton in Las Vegas and
Lake Tahoe.
Over the past three decades, the voice of
Siegel, a nine-time Grammy winner and a seventeen-time Grammy nominee,
has been an undeniable force in The Manhattan Transfer's
musical catalog. Alongside her career as a member of this 32-year
musical institution, Siegel has also sustained a solo career that
has spawned more than a half dozen finely-crafted solo albums and
numerous collaborative projects.
Singers Forum
was founded in 1978 by Andy Anselmo and John Albert Harris to be a
training center for the vocal arts. Over the years, the Forum has
always been located in the historic Flat Iron District, and recently
moved to 49 West 24th Street in Manhattan. Singers Forum has been a
classroom to professional performers including
Liza Minnelli, John
Leguizamo,
Brooke Shields,
Mandy Patinkin,
Billy Stritch and Amanda
Green. Master Classes have been offered at the school by Lucine Amara,
Maxene Andrews,
Julie Wilson, Dick Gallagher, and
Tovah Feldshuh, among
others. The school also offers a Youth Scholarship Program for at-risk
youth, as well as Community Outreach Concerts for seniors and hospitals.
Visit
www.singersforum.org/masterclasses.html for more information.
