Arts and Entertainment Downtown

Jazz singer-songwriter Alicia Olatuja to perform in Downtown Brooklyn

March 8, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Alicia Olatuja. Photo by Carsten Fleck
Alicia Olatuja. Photo by Carsten Fleck
Share this:

“Brooklyn is my second home, and I can’t wait to share some of my new music at the Kumble Theater,” Alicia Olatuja told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

The renowned jazz singer-songwriter will be performing in a program sponsored by Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College on Saturday, March 10 at 8 p.m.

While the center’s programs have normally been presented at the Walt Whitman Theatre on the Brooklyn College campus, that facility is being renovated, and Olatuja’s performance will take place at the Kumble Theater on the Long Island University (LIU) Brooklyn campus in Downtown Brooklyn.

Subscribe to our newsletters

Drawing from a wide range of musical influences including classical, R&B, soul and gospel, the Brooklyn resident brings her unique jazz stylings to the Kumble. Her concert will include a preview of selections from her yet-to-be-released second album, “Intuition: Songs from the Minds of Women.”

“Alicia is a vocalist of unparalleled range and virtuosity who makes every song her own, from jazz standards to re-imagined pop songs,” Jon Yanofsky, director of the Brooklyn Center, told the Eagle. “The intimacy of Kumble Theater will create an amazing opportunity to experience her warmth and power up close and personal.”

Olatuja first came to national attention in 2013, performing as the featured soloist in the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration.

Originally from St. Louis, Olatuja was influenced by a wide range of musical styles, including gospel, soul, jazz and classical. She graduated with a master’s degree in classical voice/opera from the Manhattan School of Music.

After appearing in numerous operatic and musical theater productions, she started to perform more regularly in gospel and jazz concerts. She has worked with such well-known artists as Chaka Khan, BeBe Winans and Christian McBride.

In 2014, thanks to a recommendation from Grammy-Award winning artist Dianne Reeves, Olatuja came to the attention of acclaimed composer, arranger and pianist Billy Childs and was hired to be part of the touring production of “Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro.”

Over the past year, Olatuja and her band have performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Saratoga Jazz Festival, Jazz Standard, Birdland, Vermont Jazz Center, Rockport Jazz Festival, Markham Jazz Festival, Monty Alexander Jazz Fest and Harlem Stage Gatehouse, to name a few. She was a featured vocalist on Gregory Porter’s 2017 Grammy Award-winning “Take Me to the Alley.”

Tickets are $30 and can be purchased in advance at BrooklynCenter.org or by calling the Brooklyn Center box office at 718-951-4500. Day-of-show tickets can be purchased at the Kumble Theater at 1 University Plaza on the LIU Brooklyn campus or by calling the Kumble Theater box office at 718-488-1624.

Discounts for Brooklyn Center’s 2018 Kumble Theater performances are also available for seniors, students, Brooklyn College faculty, staff, alumni, active and retired military personnel, children ages 12 and under and groups of 10 or more. Ten-dollar student rush tickets are available on the day of the show.


Leave a Comment

Related Articles

Leave a Comment