PRESS REVIEWS

Chosen by North Shore Magazine for "Ten Best Party Ideas Ever" (click to read article)

Neil Tesser's Critic's Choice for the Chicago Reader (click here)

More reviews from the Press:

Ed Vincent for Oak Park Journal: "The sweet voice of Claudia Hommel will make you want to buy chocolates and dance along the Seine, to travel to Paris sooner than you had planned, or to relax in comfort and feel as though you have just returned from France."

John S. Wilson for the New York Times says "Claudia Hommel, a singer and actress who performs in both theater and cabaret, brings a sense of theater with her when she goes into cabaret...Miss Hommel's voice can be strong and soaring, and she uses it to excellent dramatic effect in her lusty Spanish and French songs."

Joe Hannan of the New York Native: "A soprano with bright, silvery voice and sharp, clear diction, Hommel sang with great verve, savoring each poetic nuance."

Paul Edson, Detroit Center News: "Petite Claudia Hommel is the evocation of every French chanteuse from those painted by Toulouse-Lautrec through Yvette Guilbert and on to Edith Piaf."

Studs Terkel, following Claudia's appearance on the Studs Terkel Show, WFMT radio in Chicago, "What a delight to meet and hear you: a joy!"

Owen Leroy for Gazette Francophone: [translation] "We see through her gestures the profile of an empassioned heart in search of an immortalized past. During Claudia's "Souvenirs de Paris", I could enter a Paris which few of us really know, there in the piano bar ...where Claudia serves as guide to the heart of all Paris."

From John Michael Koroly and "Welcome to the Club" at WRTN-FM in New Rochelle: "I recently got to enjoy an impressive new CD by a singer named Claudia Hommel. It's a highly enjoyable melange of Francophillic numbers from "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" to "Les Feuilles Mortes," (otherwise known to the monolingual as "Autumn Leaves." She's clearly a seasoned talent and the arrangements sprightly, jazzy and richly atmospheric. Tonight at Judy's Supper Club, Hommel will be doing an evening of songs from the recording. I'll be there, and I hope you will, too.

Keith Meritz for Cabaret Scenes: The French-born songstress from the mid-west, well known to Chicagoans for her weekly performances at the Hotel Sofitel, made a return visit to Judy's in New York, celebrating the release of her new album, Paris/Paree (which includes a great insert with information commentary and translations). She created a lovely flow, and montage of post-war Paris, reflecting its enormous influence on cabaret music today.
     She opened with a light hearted humorous tour of Paris in English, followed by another fanciful tour with amusing, tongue twisting rapid fire lyrics en Française, that worked beautifully, whether you understood the language or not. Later, following an effective English translation, she took us for quite a tour of Pigalle and its complex human menagerie, and Java gave a delectable taste of that exhilarating musical genre. Several of the numbers followed moving recitations of the poetry of the lyrics, that pur them in perspective, like Barbara, a chilling paean to the horrors of war. Yet, one of the most effective and tearful numbers was Autumn Leaves, featuring Johnny Mercer's lyrics alternating with its original French incarnation, highlighting the tender and fragile emotive qualities of her voice.

Art Hilgart for Broadway Revisited on National Public Radio: "Those who remember Germaine Montero and Juliette Greco will be rewarded by this recital, as will those who have no memories of those mid-century chanteuses. Paris born Claudia was raised in America and is now a Chicagoan, fortunate because these performances also feature violin virtuoso John Frigo. Along with accordion and rhythm section they perform a bilingual bi-national program ranging from the serious to the jazzy, with Parisian touches. The lighter numbers are especially felicitous."

Pierre Saka (radio host in Paris and author of several Larousse publications including the encyclopedic French popular song through its great hits: "My country owes Claudia a debt of gratitude for bringing the best of French songs to the American public. Claudia brings a unique «swing» to these songs that rarely knew such tempos at their birth. Bravo."

See what students have said about Claudia Hommel.

Maison Clobert | P. O. Box 259327 | Chicago, IL 60625 | (773) 509-9360 | (888) 590-9360
info@cabaret-paree.com