Biography

Karen Oberlin, a jazz-pop singer and recording artist, is a Back Stage Bistro Award winner and Nightlife Award finalist for Outstanding Vocalist of the Year. For her recent tribute to lyricist Yip Harburg, The New York Times praised Oberlin as having "musical intelligence... purity, naturalness and polished phrasing, with added colors and a jazzy spontaneity. (Oberlin is) a jazzier inheritor of (Doris) Day's impeccable pop style." Rex Reed called her 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 performed at major New York venues such as Town Hall, Merkin Hall, The Metropolitan Room and The Firebird, among others, and 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). Oberlin has since released her award-winning album, "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 is working on a new recording of the songs of Yip Harburg.

    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, along with performing in the New York Convention (she will be performing in the Convention on closing night this fall in 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. Along with touring with a professional a capella group called "Where's The Band?" for many years, she has appeared as a professional actress in everything from Shakespeare to national commercials, including playing a recurring nurse on ALL MY CHILDREN and acting in both independent and feature films.

      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.  She also 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 childhood 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.