“The very talented Antoinette and I go back a long way. It’s great seeing her singing career resurge and I’m sure lots of people are waiting to hear her; will definitely want to continue to hear her sing.”
- George Coleman, Jazz Saxophone

“I hear originality in her voice and if given a chance, Antoinette could do great things in the music world.”
- Harold Mabern, Jazz Pianist

“Antoinette has a wonderful vocal style, very fluid, very rhythmically flexible and very expressive. In addition, her range is fantastic and shows an impressive breadth of stylistic range.”
- Dr. James Matheson, Composer

“Antoinette has the technique of a trained singer and the chops of a vernacular musician.”
- Dr. Phillip Stevens, Voice Specialist

“I hope that Antoinette has great ongoing success with her wonderful way of performing and her great voice. For me, she is one of the greatest American voices ever.
- Prince Max Schaumburg-Lippe

BIO
Antoinette Silicato is a singer/performer who, for more than three decades, resided in New York City and worked in Jazz Ensembles, Negro Spiritual Choirs, Gospel Choirs and Musical Theatre. As a solo artist, she has smartly amassed these musically rich experiences into a swinging style that sparkles with excitement and into a storytelling balladeer, rendering lyrics and melodies that are deeply visceral, defining her as a timeless song stylist/chanteuse. Crediting her earliest influences, Silicato reaches back to her home town of Wilmington Delaware, where she acted in both leading and supporting roles at The Candle Light Theatre, Arden Gild, and the Wilmington Drama League. It was Silicato’s participation in a summer theatre workshop at the Hedgerow Theatre in Media, Pennsylvania that ignited her curiosity and creative energies forward, towards her artistic endeavors.

Harold Mabern, jazz pianist/composer, began coaching the young Silicato in jazz vocal styles shortly after her arrival in New York City, during the summer of 1976. Solidifying a call to sing, she continued vocal training and went on to study classical voice with her mentor and teacher, the renowned Professor Edward Boatner and spent several seasons performing with his Negro Spiritual Choir. Max Roach was quoted as saying, “there has been no greater influence on the world of Black choral music than Edward Boatner.” A suggestion made by Dizzy Gillespie led her to the tutelage of Barry Harris and performed, for a number of years, in his annual Symphony Space Concerts, under the conductorship of Coleridge Taylor Perkinson; she simultaneously furthered private classical vocal studies with New York Metropolitan Opera Soprano, Magda Stott, of Latvia. During this period, as a member of various ensembles, other stages where Silicato added her voice include Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Ellis Island.

Ann Ruckert, ethnomusicologist and studio musician, instructed Silicato for two years in the Nadia Boulanger method of musicianship. She remains committed to one of Ms. Ruckert’s dictums, “use what you do know to discover what you don’t know.”

2007-2010: Silicato lived in Taormina, Sicily and continued to lift her voice between New York and Italy, where an international following added flavor to her style and reflected in her artistry. The Italian/American newspaper OGGI has declared that Silicato sings “in the of Edith Piaf, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.” During this period, Silicato honed another passion, the Sicilian Mediterranean style of cooking. Carefully collecting chosen recipes, in Sicily, Silicato has developed a specific theme for her cookbook SOULFUL SICILIAN COOKING; scheduled for release in the fall of 2012.

In 2010, Silicato became a resident in Las Vegas, Nevada where she began working with the La Voce Publishing Co. as Deputy Editor and Writer (Spotlight Review Column). The following year, Silicato made her Las Vegas singing debut, resulting in continued performances. An impressive review by Las Vegas Jazz Society President, Frank Leone, who is also the president of the Musicians Local of Las Vegas 369 stated, “…Silicato’s soulful voice, with its great range, delivered from a soft whisper to that of resounding belting, always with intensity.”