Karen Oberlin

The Bistro and MAC Award winning jazz-pop vocalist Karen Oberlin was very recently described by Stephen Holden in The New York Times as having an “impeccable pop style…musical intelligence…purity, naturalness and polished phrasing, with added colors and a jazzy spontaneity.” Rex Reed, in the New York Observer, called her recent performance “thrilling,” and continued, “Oberlin is as lovely to look at as she is to hear…(her singing) rings true and funny and flawless."

She has been heard at major New York venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Town Hall, Iridium Jazz Club, The Metropolitan Room, Merkin Hall, The FireBird, and The Knitting Factory. She entertained sold-out audiences at the Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room to launch the release of her highly lauded debut CD, "My Standards" (Miranda Music), the first of her two acclaimed CD’s, her latest being the award-winning, “Secret Love: The Music of Doris Day” (Miranda Music).

She performed in the world premiere of the newly discovered musical by Duke Ellington and Herb Martin, "Renaissance Man," as well as in an all-star CD version, "Secret Ellington" (True Life), which featured Joe Lovano, Grover Washington, Jr., and Freddy Cole, among others. She has also had guest appearances on other CD compilations, and will record a version of her most recent show, “The Wizard of Words: The Wit and Wisdom of Yip Harbug” in the fall of 2009.

Ms. Oberlin appeared in more than 100 Off-Broadway performances of the smash-hit show "Our Sinatra,” and has performed her own shows nationally and abroad. She had the honor of being part of the first-ever Cabaret Conventions in both Philadelphia and the Hamptons and has performed in the New York shows at both Town Hall and Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Along with playing Maureen in the first staged incarnation of the now-legendary Broadway show, “Rent,” Ms. Oberlin has also held lead roles at such prestigious theatres as the North Carolina Theatre, the Palace Theatre in Louisville, The Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia and the Ordway Theatre in St. Paul. She has appeared as a professional actress in everything from Shakespeare to national commercials, including playing a recurring nurse on “All My Children” and can been seen in both independent and feature films. She also enjoyed being part of a professional a cappella group called "Where’s The Band?" for many years.

Ms. Oberlin has a deep background in classical music, jazz, cabaret, theater and musical theater. The youngest daughter of two classical musicians, she often performed and competed in classical singing events and performed steadily in theater, musical and otherwise, as a child in upstate New York. As a child she played piano and flute, and cello in the county orchestra, performed in her first role in an opera at age six, and as a teen led a few local rock and new-wave bands.

Since then she has performed continuously and trained extensively, graduating from the Circle In The Square Professional Workshop Broadway theatre conservatory in New York after receiving her B.A. in English Literature. New York City led Ms. Oberlin to jazz and deepened her appreciation for the Great American Songbook. She has studied voice for more than twenty years, and she teaches master classes in acting, singing and interpreting song. Ms. Oberlin is a dedicated yogi, a very happy mother and stepmother, and is married to the writer David Hajdu.

BIRDS DO IT: Songs from the Natural World

Songs inspired by all things natural from such varied songwriters as Cole Porter, Fred Hersch, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joni Mitchell, Stephen Sondheim, Dave Frishberg and Paul McCartney.
Wednesday, Oct. 28th
Thursday, Nov. 5th
Thursday, Nov. 12th
All shows: 7:30pm
The Metropolitan Room  34 W 22nd St (between 5th & 6th Avenues)
Reservations: (212) 206-0440
http://www.karenoberlin.com/biography.html