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Michelle Amador

Michelle Amador is a jazz and electronic vocalist/composer, who has contributed to more than 100 original works in her career. Born in Santa Clara, CA, to Peruvian composer/pianist, Augusto A. Amador and Austrian mother Margaret Amador, she was trained in classical piano from age 6-16 and wrote her first composition at the age of 12.

She studied choral voice and acting through high school, performing in musicals and when called on, accompanying the vocal choir. She attended the University of Southern California to pursue a BFA in acting. “It’s strange. Music has always been an integral part of my life growing up, to the extent that it did not occur to me to make a career as a vocalist/composer until I began writing and performing music for theater productions: Woyzeck, Antigone, and Vinegar Tom.” says Michelle.

Before completing her final two years of the university, Michelle took a semester off and in that time expanded her writing skills by studying under her father. During that time she wrote and composed a full-length musical entitled American God which examined the experience of being a first generation American and questions/challenges posed when recognizing American social values as an unspoken religion.

After graduating from USC in 1998, Michelle continued to pursue music, studying solo jazz voice under award-winning jazz educator, Roger Letson, and attending Stanford Jazz Workshop to study voice and jazz arranging. From 1999-2001, Michelle studied jazz piano and arranging under the late pianist/composer/arranger Don Haas (Stan Getz Orchestra) as well as continuing to study technique with her father.

In 2001, she recorded her first modern jazz/latin influenced album of original works, Composition, which she self-released in 2001. She also began mixed medium performance collaboration with hmDance, composing and premiering “I Could Be In Any Room” at San Francisco’s Dance Mission Theater.

In 2002, Buster Williams took notice of Michelle’s talent and premiered her instrumental composition, “Peace Prayer,” at Yoshi’s Jazz Club, Oakland, CA. Of Michelle’s writing skills, Mr. Williams commented “I was impressed by her musical maturity…her compositions are so original and innovative that they demand the ear’s attention.” In 2002, Michelle also wrote her first score for an independent short film, Make a Living, by Wallace Scott Robinson. That same year, hmDance commissioned Michelle to arrange selected pieces from Henry Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas for mixed medium performance/premiere at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco.

In 2004, Michelle was again commissioned by hmDance to compose/perform at ODC Theater in San Francisco as part of the dance company’s 10th anniversary season. The San Francisco Chronicle called Michelle’s performance “silken-voiced.” She was also selected as one of sixty participants (out of 2,000 applicants worldwide) to participate in the renowned Red Bull Music Academy, a two-week electronic music symposium that brings together musical minds from around the globe together with established professionals. There, she met and collaborated with: UK producer Zed Bias and German producer Lars Dorsch of Karma (both were instructors at the academy), lecturer Om’Mas Keith (member/producer of Sa-Ra Creative Partners who have produced for Heavy D, Pharoahe Monche, Bilal, Dr. DRE, Jill Scott, Jurassic 5, Erykah Badu and others), and fellow peers DJ Eurok and Graeme Blevins to create “In & Out” and “Al Ghetto” which were broadcast immediately on BBC Radio 1 Xtra under the group name Roma All-Stars. She also toured with Southern California with Patrick Cress’ Telepathy where she performed her arrangement of “Mericful” by Nils Petter Molvaer.

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“Michelle Amador is a new breed of musician…” -San Jose Mercury News

“The sophisticated soul of early jazz singers such as Etta James with the restraint of more contemporary vocalists like Cassandra Wilson, although the band may have more in common with groups like Portishead thanks to its penchant for downtempo beats.” -East Bay Express

"Silken-voiced" - SF Chronicle

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Higher

Inpartmaint (Japan)
2008

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Because Of You

Not On Label
2007

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Videos

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