“Pazzano shines throughout with energy and luscious tone, as she soars with her quartet. Pazzano possesses a gorgeous, classically trained contralto voice capable of projecting the full gamut of emotions, as well as an uncanny skill with rendering the lyrics of current music, jazz standards and show tunes.”
–Lesley Mitchell-Clarke, The WholeNote Magazine
Mary-Catherine Pazzano (she/her)
As a concert vocalist, recording artist, choral director, and voice teacher, Mary-Catherine Pazzano lives a varied and busy artistic life! With a voice that spans opera to jazz, her concert career has taken her across North America and as far as New Zealand. Classically, she has performed the American debut of Carol Ann Weaver’s “Songs for My Mother” off-Broadway at Symphony Space, NYC, as well as the North American debut of Weaver’s “Poland Parables” in Goshen, Indiana. As a jazz singer, her voice has graced the stage of the iconic Birdland Jazz Club in NYC, as well as Jazz Bistro and The Rex in Toronto, the Uptown Waterloo Jazz Festival, and many appearances locally at The Jazz Room and The Registry Theatre. In demand as a choral director, she is Artistic Director of Waterloo Region’s Age of Majority Singers and Noteworthy Singers. She is also Music Director at Knox Church, Waterloo. She continues to maintain a sought-after voice studio, and has taught multiple workshops and ensembles at Laurier Academy of Music and Arts. As Founder of Jazz in the Schools, she leads jazz education outreach in Waterloo Region District School Board high schools, with the support of Grand River Jazz Society.
In addition to her classical and freelance recordings, Mary-Catherine has released two vocal jazz albums as leader. “You’re Gonna Hear From Me” was released on the label Glorious Feeling Records and was deemed “an excellent debut” (Jazz historian Scott Yanow) and a “gorgeous opening salvo” (WholeNote Magazine). Her second album, the “vocally flawless” (Take Effect Reviews) “Christmas: Live at The Jazz Room”, was released in November 2022. Both albums have received international radio airplay, including CBC and JazzFM here in Canada.
Finally, Mary-Catherine is also a freelance vocalist, and has been featured on multiple recording projects, including: “Intrinsic Value” (2016), “Songs for My Mother” (2018), “Earth Anthems” (2020), “Poland Parables” (2021), and “In Perfect Harmony” (2026). All recordings are available on digital platforms.
marycatherinepazzano.com
Mary Catherine,
I’ve done some work editing photos from the Jazz Camp performances. There are quite a few, but I hope I was able to take some nice photos, particularly of the singers. I regret that I only took a few of you and Don, and they aren’t very good ones, but I was concentrating on the participants. A second regret is that I forgot that some of the instrumentalists were students as well. I wish I had focused more on them, even with the music stands blocking the way.
I can send you a link to the photos in Google Photos, which you could share with the participants. Alternately, I have created a “secret” Facebook group where I can post the pictures as well. I’m not sure what the level of technology is for the participants and which would be easier.
Finally, I’m glad to facilitate prints of any of the shots if anyone is interested.
Hi Doug!
Are you able to share the photos via a Google Drive link or Google Photos, and then I can distribute to the participants? Thank you so much for all your effort, with taking them, editing them, and then willing to share them!
MC