Guest ArtistsWhitney Claire Kaufman, vocalist

Whitney Claire Kaufman was most recently seen as a guest artist playing Olive Ostrovsky in the Theatre Group at Santa Barbara City College’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. She joined the North American Tour of the International hit musical Mamma Mia! in 2007 as a member of the Ensemble, and understudy for the roles of Sophie and Lisa. Following her appearance in the role of Sophie, The Boston Globe reported of her performance: “Sophie was played with assurance and aplomb…with her pure, clear voice – gentle or forceful as called for, but always beautifully placed – she really deserves to vault straight to Broadway.” Ms. Kaufman appeared in the part of Sophie in various cities including San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Whitney made her symphony debut at age 7 singing in the children’s chorus in the West Coast premiere of music from John William’s Home Alone score with Orange County’s Pacific Symphony. She has performed a program of Oscar®-winning songs under the baton of world-renowned conductor Richard Kaufman with the Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur and the Santa Barbara Symphony. Starting in 2009, Ms. Kaufman has been appearing as a principal vocalist in “Disney in Concert” with orchestras including the Pacific Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic, the Blossom Festival Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in Australia and the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. She was chosen to sing the world concert premiere of a deleted song from the Disney film Mary Poppins in the Sherman Brothers tribute concert “A Spoonful of Sherman” put on by the Golden State Pops Orchestra.

Ms. Kaufman was the featured vocal soloist with the Florida Orchestra in their Christmas Celebration Concerts, and can be heard on recent recordings of songs written by Oscar®-winning composer Dimitri Tiomkin. In 2011 Ms. Kaufman was featured with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Theater singing those same Tiomkin songs, and can be heard on the LSO Live recording of that concert, “Dimitri Tiomkin: The Greatest Film Scores.”

As both a singer and voice-over performer in film and television, Ms. Kaufman has been heard on productions including That Championship Season, The Secret of NiMH 2 and two MGM animated series: All Dogs Go to Heaven and Noddy. Other television appearances include General Hospital, the hit ABC series Modern Family and Up All Night with Christina Applegate.

Whitney Claire Kaufman is a graduate, with honors, from Chapman University in Orange, California, having earned a BFA degree in theater performance.