Alicia Olatuja

While the 2013 Presidential Inauguration ceremonies may have featured such A-list talent as Beyonce and Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys, it’s the voice of a classically trained mezzo-soprano who has drawn the most critical acclaim. On the edition of ABC’s The View that aired the day after the inauguration, co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck raved about Alicia Olatuja’s “breathtaking” voice...even though she admitted she didn’t know the singer’s name. However, it won’t be long before her name has much more of a familiar ring to it.
In fact, the 30-year old Alicia Olatuja’s reputation has been growing since her arrival in New York in 2005. The New York Times praised her performance with her husband, bassist Michael Olatuja, in their band The Olatuja Project, lauding her “strong, lustrous tone.”

Although Alicia’s solo ran for only one minute of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir’s nearly five-minute long performance, it resulted in several radio and television interviews and magazine articles praising her performance and a feature in the New York Daily News, which began by stating, “Brooklyn gave birth to a new musical star at Monday’s inauguration.”

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Alicia Olatuja is a Vocal Performance graduate of the Manhattan School of Music Masters program. She made her recital debut at Carnegie Hall and her professional debut as Sacagawea in the World Premiere operetta Corps of Discovery at the Opera Memphis. She has also performed selected scenes at Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center. In 2011, Alicia performed as Sophie in the world premiere of the dramatic work by Tony-nominated composer Elizabeth Swados, "From the Fire," both in New York and at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh Scotland.

Although musical theater and opera are two of Alicia’s passions, she also performs in a variety of other genres and has been creating quite a buzz in the jazz arena, receiving great praise from jazz giants such as Dianne Reeves and Monty Alexander. She has sung with various recording artists such as Christian McBride, Chaka Khan and Bebe Winans.

Alicia recently released her solo debut album,Timeless, on which she is joined by 3-time Grammy-Award winner McBride, husband and bassist Michael Olatuja, pianists Jon Cowherd and Christian Sands, Grégoire Maret on harmonica, Ulysses Owens, Jr., on drums and David Rosenthal on guitar.

In addition to her solo career, Alicia regularly performs with her husband in their African jazz band, the Olatuja Project, in which Alicia sings various African dialects, such as Yoruba and Shona. In April 2011, they released their debut album, “The Promise.”