Biography of an American from Paris
A favorite from the Art Institute of Chicago to the Cabaret Lapin Agile in Paris, cabaret singer, actor, educator, and producer CLAUDIA HOMMEL is best known for her concerts of French and American songs celebrating Paris. Not limited to the role of French chanteuse, "Claudia Hommel is a gifted and uniquely versatile artist, with a wide range of roles demanding deep emotional commitment or zany satirical high-jinks and everything in between," writes her mentor, actor and director Alvin Epstein. Her clear and beautiful voice, ranging from lyrical to gutsy, adds to her considerable appeal.
Born in Paris, France, raised in Detroit, Michigan, a graduate of Antioch College and Wayne State University, Claudia Hommel founded the archives of the Detroit Institute of Arts before leaving for New York City to train and pursue a career on stage. Eight years later, she moved to Chicago to "do the work", to tour the US from coast to coast, Belgium and France, to record, to create historical music projects, cabaret festivals, master classes, and school programs. Specializing in cabaret shows and recitals of French chansons, art songs, and theatre music, she became an Illinois ArtsTour artist in 1998 and joined the Illinois Arts-in-Education roster in 1999.
Her five recorded albums on the Maison Clobert label celebrate Paris and French song with jazz-inflected interpretations of mélodies by the classical composer Gabriel Fauré, a tribute to the jazz age in Paris, and souvenirs of post-war Americans in Paris. Her art film Ovations for a Wise Man and a Fool was inspired by her live Vocal Canvas concerts to "hear the painting and see the song".
Hommel has been a crucial connector for a growing network of cabaret performers from the US to France and beyond, initiating the Chicago Cabaret Professionals in 1997, SongShop Live concerts in 2004, the Singers Jazz Workshops in Paris 2014-2015, and co-founding the Chicago Paris Cabaret Connexion in 2017.
She joined the faculty at DePaul University Community Music School in 2003 to lead the weekly song interpretation workshop SongShop. Hommel is a union member of Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA. She enjoys a long working relationship with the American Association of Teachers of French, the Federation of Alliance Françaises USA, and the Paris Committee of Chicago Sisters Cities International.
In 2019, Hommel joined with Bellissima Opera director Christine Steyer to found the nonprofit Working In Concert, a performing arts alliance of classical and cabaret artists. As executive director, she leads the production of WIC initiatives including an annual citywide festival for Chicago Cabaret Week, the annual international exchange of Chicago Paris Cabaret Connexion, women-focused works of Bellissima Opera & Song, and Diverse Voices in Schools to bring thought-provoking programs to secondary schools.
In 2024, she was presented La Renaissance Française Médaille d'Or pour les valeurs francophones (Gold Medal for francophone values) by the French Consul Général Cédrik Fouriscot in New York.
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Claudia's Recordings
