Carolyn Jean Brady maintains a private voice studio of students and clients who sing a multitude of styles around the country and world, both virtually online and in the landmark Fine Arts Building at 410 South Michigan in Chicago. Her current and former clients have performed with the Broadway Cast of Book of Mormon, Broadway in Chicago Book of Mormon, National Tour Mean Girls, National Tour The Prom, National Tour School of Rock, NBC's The Voice, Walt Disney World, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Goodman Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare, Drury Lane, Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre, Mercury Theatre, Porchlight, Music Theatre Works, BOHO, Theo Ubique, American Blues, House Theatre, Metropolis, the Southwest Indiana Symphony, Chicago Opera Theatre. She is a Jeff Nominated music director for professional theatre at institutions such as Drury Lane Theatre, Marriott Theatre, Porchlight and Steppenwolf Theatre. She is a current and proud member of the Chicago Federation of Musicians Union. Formerly, she served as Voice Faculty, Music Theory, Music Director in the Theater Conservatory at College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, Adjunct Professor of Voice and Musicianship at Loyola University Chicago and she taught Applied Voice, Opera Workshop, and University Chorale in the Music Department at Saint Xavier University in Chicago.
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Music Direction credits include the 2023 & 2024 Equity Jeff Awards, New Faces Sing Broadway NOW (Porchlight Music Theatre), Secret Garden & A Sondheim Tribute Review (Theo), Elephant & Piggie’s We Are in a Play (Marriott Theatre), How to Lobster (Steppenwolf Lookout Series), Cinderella, Shrek, A Chorus Line (Jeff Nom for Music Direction), and A Christmas Carol (Drury Lane), the Jeff-Nominated Bullets Over Broadway (Night Blue), The Wedding Singer, the Jeff-Nominated The Who’s Tommy (named one of the Best of Chicago Theatre 2009 in the Chicago Sun Times’ Hedy Weiss Theatre Critic column) & Meet Me in St. Louis at Circle Theatre, Little Shop of Horrors and Nunsense at Curtain Call Theatre in Mokena, college productions at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, Moraine Valley College and Triton College, children’s theatre for Paramount School of the Arts, Circle Theatre Emerging Young Artists Program, St. Francis High School, Nazareth Academy, & St. Ignatius College Prep. She served as Vocal Director for the 2020 All-State Cast of AIDA and served as Assistant Vocal Director for the 2009 All-State Cast of Hairspray at the Illinois High School Theatre Festival. She has music directed and directed several other productions chosen to be performed at the festival.
After training for her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance with a Minor in Theatre (Illinois State University) and Master of Music in Vocal Performance (Roosevelt University), Carolyn has performed in the opera, musical theatre, and concert genres. Credits include: Grant Park Symphony Chorus (Soprano & Alto), Muscatine Symphony Orchestra, the soprano soloist in Mendelssohn's Elijah (First Unitarian of Chicago), the Brahms Liebeslieder, Giovanna in Rigoletto and La Maetressa in Suor Angelica (Intimate Opera), Penelope Pennywise in Urinetown (Chicago Tribune’s Kerry Reid called her a “standout” in 2011), Ella in Mack & Mabel, Miss Scatcherd/ Lady Ingraham in Jane Eyre (both Jeff Recommended) and Ensemble in Harry Connick Jr.’s Thou Shalt Not (all Circle Theatre), Miss Segstrom in A Little Night Music (Porchlight), Micaeala & Mercedes in Carmen (Vocal Arts Group), Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd (Effective Theatre), and First Lady in The Magic Flute (Brevard Music Center). While studying in the Opera Apprentice Program at Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, she coordinated a recital, An Afternoon of Opera, for patrons of the festival. She has presented numerous masterclasses, cabaret, recitals, and concerts: Ben Vereen Masterclass, Muscatine Iowa Symphony, Davenport’s Piano Bar, Moraine Valley and North Central Cabaret Series, Peoria Opera Guild, Intimate Opera, Illinois State University, Morgan Park Sunshine Club and was honored to be invited to sing for then Lt. Governor Quinn of Illinois for his inauguration.
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Music Direction credits include the 2023 & 2024 Equity Jeff Awards, New Faces Sing Broadway NOW (Porchlight Music Theatre), Secret Garden & A Sondheim Tribute Review (Theo), Elephant & Piggie’s We Are in a Play (Marriott Theatre), How to Lobster (Steppenwolf Lookout Series), Cinderella, Shrek, A Chorus Line (Jeff Nom for Music Direction), and A Christmas Carol (Drury Lane), the Jeff-Nominated Bullets Over Broadway (Night Blue), The Wedding Singer, the Jeff-Nominated The Who’s Tommy (named one of the Best of Chicago Theatre 2009 in the Chicago Sun Times’ Hedy Weiss Theatre Critic column) & Meet Me in St. Louis at Circle Theatre, Little Shop of Horrors and Nunsense at Curtain Call Theatre in Mokena, college productions at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, Moraine Valley College and Triton College, children’s theatre for Paramount School of the Arts, Circle Theatre Emerging Young Artists Program, St. Francis High School, Nazareth Academy, & St. Ignatius College Prep. She served as Vocal Director for the 2020 All-State Cast of AIDA and served as Assistant Vocal Director for the 2009 All-State Cast of Hairspray at the Illinois High School Theatre Festival. She has music directed and directed several other productions chosen to be performed at the festival.
After training for her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance with a Minor in Theatre (Illinois State University) and Master of Music in Vocal Performance (Roosevelt University), Carolyn has performed in the opera, musical theatre, and concert genres. Credits include: Grant Park Symphony Chorus (Soprano & Alto), Muscatine Symphony Orchestra, the soprano soloist in Mendelssohn's Elijah (First Unitarian of Chicago), the Brahms Liebeslieder, Giovanna in Rigoletto and La Maetressa in Suor Angelica (Intimate Opera), Penelope Pennywise in Urinetown (Chicago Tribune’s Kerry Reid called her a “standout” in 2011), Ella in Mack & Mabel, Miss Scatcherd/ Lady Ingraham in Jane Eyre (both Jeff Recommended) and Ensemble in Harry Connick Jr.’s Thou Shalt Not (all Circle Theatre), Miss Segstrom in A Little Night Music (Porchlight), Micaeala & Mercedes in Carmen (Vocal Arts Group), Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd (Effective Theatre), and First Lady in The Magic Flute (Brevard Music Center). While studying in the Opera Apprentice Program at Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, she coordinated a recital, An Afternoon of Opera, for patrons of the festival. She has presented numerous masterclasses, cabaret, recitals, and concerts: Ben Vereen Masterclass, Muscatine Iowa Symphony, Davenport’s Piano Bar, Moraine Valley and North Central Cabaret Series, Peoria Opera Guild, Intimate Opera, Illinois State University, Morgan Park Sunshine Club and was honored to be invited to sing for then Lt. Governor Quinn of Illinois for his inauguration.