LIVE at Piedmont Piano Company
Songs & Stories:
Tiffany Austin
Bay Area jazz vocalist Tiffany Austin, recently named one of 30 recipients of the Center for Cultural Power's Culture Bearer Award, kicks off this brand new series with a short set of songs. She’ll share some stories of her musical journey from her beginnings in the LA area, to studying law, to performing with some of the biggest names in jazz. Followed by audience Q & A. Hosted by vocalist Sharmila G. Lash.
$25 General Admission
We are offering a limited number of tickets to attend this performance in person. Advance purchase is recommended. Masking is encouraged, but no longer required.
TIFFANY AUSTIN
Tiffany Austin is a vocalist, composer, educator, and Berkeley Law Juris Doctor. She has performed with luminaries such as Pharoah Sanders, Roy Ayers, John Handy, Cyrus Chestnut, and Doug Carn. Her soulful delivery and musical storytelling has brought her to stages at Birdland and Dizzy's Den in NYC, Walt Disney Concert Hall in her native Los Angeles and the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco. Beyond California, she has performed in Europe, Asia, and Australasia, as well as on nationally televised programming in the United States.
“Nothing But Soul”, Austin's debut album from 2015, garnered attention from NPR’s “Fresh Air” program and Downbeat magazine for its bold recasting of Hoagy Carmichael standards. Her 2018 sophomore album, “Unbroken”, was hailed by All About Jazz as a "fully formed masterpiece", received a 4 star Downbeat review, and reached #16 on jazz radio charts.
Austin is a guest educator at series sponsored by SFJAZZ, Stanford Jazz Workshop, and local school districts, and is currently Musical Director of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival Community Choir. Most recently, she became Artistic Director of the Albany, CA Juneteenth Celebration (2022), and has taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's "Roots, Jazz and American Music" program. tiffanyaustin.com
SHARMILA G. LASH
Sharmila G. Lash is sought after as a jazz and classical singer, as well as for her voice-over work. She is a private voice instructor, works as a session singer for film and television, and is a regular chorister with the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Teaching steadily since 2004, she incorporates her vast professional experience to help guide students to find their own voice. Sharmila began her music studies with piano lessons at age six and singing lessons at age eleven. She was a music student at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and continued on to study classical voice at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she discovered her passion for jazz. She has performed on some of the biggest stages in California, led by Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Michael Tilson Thomas, Zubin Mehta, and others, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Kronos Quartet, Carmen Lundy, Don Shelton, Luciana Souza, as well as with many of the top jazz and classical musicians in both Northern and Southern California. sharmilaguhalash.com