Soprano Amy Jarman has been hailed by the Los Angeles Times for her “radiant tone and moving phrasing.” Ms. Jarman has sung with the Nashville Symphony, Nashville Opera, Nashville Sinfonietta, and Nashville Chamber Orchestra. She been a guest artist at the Vocal Artistry Art Song Festival in Albuquerque, N.M., the Festival of American and Bulgarian music in Sofia, Bulgaria, the Baroque Festival of Corona del Mar, California, the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago, the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Tennessee, the Rocky Ridge Music Festival in Estes Park, Colorado, and in concert in London, Leeds, Manchester, and Bristol, England. Ms. Jarman has sung roles as diverse as Mímí in La Bohème and Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro and her concert repertoire includes Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, the Mozart Mass in c minor, Brahms’ German Requiem, and Britten’s Les Illuminations de Rimbaud. At Vanderbilt University she has performed the works of many esteemed visiting composers, including John Harbison, Jake Heggie, Robert Beaser, Elizabeth Austin, and Pulitzer Prize winners Lewis Spratlan, Michael Torke, William Bolcom, and Joseph Schwantner. She has premiered new works written for her by her composer friends and colleagues Phil Wilby, Stan Link, Georgia Stitt, Evan Mack, Michael Rose and Michael Slayton. Ms. Jarman recently retired from the voice faculty at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University after 39 years. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). Her students have consistently placed in the finals of both the Tennessee State NATS Chapter Auditions and the NATS Mid-South Region Auditions. In 2018 the MTNA Young Artist National Competition First Place Winner was a member of her voice studio at Vanderbilt. Ms. Jarman’s students have also placed in the finals of the Orpheus Competition, the Palm Beach Opera Competition, the Franco- American Vocal Academy (FAVA) Competition, and the Birmingham Opera Competition. At Vanderbilt her students have been winners in the annual Concerto Competition, been selected to sing in master classes with guest artists and frequently appeared on the Student Showcase Concert. Ms. Jarman is also a faculty member at the InterHarmony International Music Festival in Acqui Terme, Italy. She is in demand as an adjudicator and master clinician.

In a recent interview Ms. Jarman discussed her teaching philosophy. “Every singer has an individual voice to be encouraged, cultivated, and guided. My focus on ‘Process’; rather than ‘Product’ (the end result) is based on my belief that each student must be taught the skills required to establish a healthy and reliable vocal technique and to discover their own voice. Voice as an instrument is one of the most difficult of all to teach; vocal pedagogy relies on scientific evidence, as well as empirical knowledge. The teaching/learning process is a collaboration which, at its best, results in a student’s growth into an independent artist, capable of singing securely, expressively, and allowing the beauty of every voice to shine through.  Communicating text is of utmost importance and must be the partner of technical security.” 

Ms. Jarman’s students have been admitted to summer programs in the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, Canada and the Czech Republic. Graduates of her studio have been accepted into performance programs at leading universities and conservatories, among them Eastman School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, Rice University, San Francisco Conservatory, Northwestern University, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and Indiana University.  

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, holds a B. A. in Music from the University of Evansville (Indiana), and earned a performance diploma, A.R.C.M., from the Royal College of Music, London. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, Vanderbilt Centennial Professor of English, Emeritus, poet Mark Jarman.