Claudia Beechman began singing in coffeehouses in the Philadelphia area at age fifteen, accompanying herself on guitar . After college, she went to Paris, where she studied acting at the Theatre Ecole Tania Balachova and fell in love with French popular music.
She learned the guitar accompaniment to Piaf songs and began singing them in Philadelphia clubs and cafes. She made several television appearances and appeared in a Canadian production of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Besides her cabaret repertoire, she also developed a concert-lecture performance which bridges French popular and classical songs. She continues to perform at colleges and cabarets, and has produced three records, Parlez-moi d'amour (1994), Souveinrs de Paris (1999), and her most recent CD The Grand Legrand (2003).
Claudia has sung at a variety of theatrical and cabaret venues, includung Odette's in New Hope, Act Two Playhouse, Lincoln Center, and Plays and Players Theater in Philadelphia. A published poet, Claudia recently had a poem dedicated to her late sister, Laurie set to music by composer and pianist Rich Rudin.
Conductor and arranger Bruce W. Coyle says of The Grand Legrand that Claudia's "interpretations are wonderfully passionate ... [the]arrangements are wonderfully inventive". He praises Claudia's "rich lower register" and the "accomplished" and "stellar" accompaniment.
OTHER COMMENTS
... you'll get an added glow from the voice of talented Claudia Beechman, who specializes in the heartwarming songs of Edith Piaf and other chanteuses.
- Philadelphia Inquirer
One of the best singers in Philadelphia.
- Chuck Elliot on WXPN
To hear Claudia Beechman sing the songs of Edith Piaf and Jacques Brel, you'd peg her as Parisian.
- Montgomery County Record
"...regional great Claudia Beechman"
-A. D. Amorosi, Philadelphia City Paper
Hear the passion of Paris ... in her sultry, sophisticated singing voice
- Jewish Exponent
Read more...