Beautiful Deep: A Journey of Faith, Part 1 Featuring Sherrita Duran “I fell in love with opera, I fell in love with Puccini and Verdi, and I went to USC (University of Southern California), to the music school there, because that was my passion. I’m going to be an opera singer. That’s all I want to do, be an opera singer. So, I just put all my energy into that and obviously life, you know, it surprises and changes.” Sherrita Duran Join me this week for the first part of my conversation with the incredibly talented and charismatic Sherrita Duran, professional singer and songwriter, and fellow US expat in Italy. In this first part of our chat, recorded during Easter week in Florence, we talk about Sherrita’s vocation, her path as an artist, and her journey to Italy. We also touch on her love of opera, what first drew her to the country, what kept her here, and what it was like to make the leap, professionally and personally, from the stages of Broadway to the piazzas, theaters, and concert halls of Italy. We also talk about what it is like to be a performing artist in Italy today, what she is currently working on, and her exciting plans for the future.
Links
https://music.apple.com/it/artist/sherrita-duran/201995862
https://www.youtube.com/ciaotanto
https://www.instagram.com/sherritaduran
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZGeME6csW
Official Biography
A SONG THAT COMES FROM THE HEART, A VOICE THAT TOUCHES THE SOUL”
A rich colourful voice, with a warmth like her home state of California, a velvety timbre with a notable extension, sensitivity and technique that grant her the ability to be versatile in many different styles. It all began with her childhood passion for Broadway musicals and opera …
The voice of Sherrita amazes and delights the listener to the point that the music critic Mario Luzzatto Fegiz called it” An acrobatic soprano, a force of nature capable of uniting Bel canto to black music.”
Born and raised in Fresno (California), Sherrita moved to Los Angeles where she earned a Bachelor of Music in Opera and Vocal Arts at the University of Southern California. While still attending the university she began appearing on prestigious stages in the United States (Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with the Los Angeles Opera, Pasadena Performing Arts Center and the Mark Taper Forum) and Canada (Ford Theatre for the Performing Arts in Toronto); she also toured Europe (Germany, France and Austria) on tour with The Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers.
Sherrita decided to move to New York to devote herself to opera and musical theater where she performed in the highly proclaimed Broadway productions of Showboat and Candide at the Gershwin Theater. Both shows were directed by the legendary Broadway director Hal Prince. She performed in other musical productions at New York City Center “Encores!” She also participated at the Dicapo Opera young artist program and the ‘American Singers’ Opera Project, a program for young opera singers. Television appearances include Good Morning America, The Tony Awards (Candide) and The Jay Leno Show.
Sherrita is also a published poet who was awarded in “Poet of the year 2000” by New York magazine Talent in Motion and in 2003 she won the prestigious scholarship for the Gerda Lissner Foundation for opera singers. After nine years of living in New York City, Sherrita moves to Italy to follow her God-given dreams.
In November 2011, she performed on the popular Italian TV show Chiambretti Music Show, Sherrita and the Italian Gospel Choir where they sang a Gospel version of the famous song by Laura Pausini La solitudine.
In February 2012, the Festival of Sanremo calls and Sherrita accompanies the legendary Adriano Celentano and Gianni Morandi in both his appearances, under the direction of maestro Fio Zanotti.
She has performed in several popular Italian television shows: Sei un mito (“You’re a legend”) where she won first place imitating Tina Turner, Tutte le mattine by Maurizio Costanzo where she sang Summertime accompanied by the orchestra of Demo Morselli. On Rai TV she has appeared in the transmission I Raccomandati accompanied by her friend Carol Alt, A Tutto benessere where she sang Gospel classics accompanied by a Gospel Choir. Sherrita was also the face and voice of the national commercial spot raising awareness for Oral cancer day in 2009 which was aired by RAI, Mediaset and proposed in cinemas, airports and metro stations.
Sherrita has participated on the most important radio stations (RaiRadio1, Radio 101, Radio Deejay, Radio KissKiss) with her music, interviews and radio jingles.
Sherrita continues her artistic career making new creative collaborations: in addition to her participation at Sanremo accompanying Adriano Celentano and in 2013 she collaborated with Gianni Morandi at “Arena di Verona”. In the world of Hip-Hop and Dance she has collaborated with rapper Mondo Marcio dueting on the song Segui la stella and appearing in the music video, DJ Molella (Radio Deejay, M2o), producer Max Boncompagni, Roby Montano, Jill Cooper (Mediaset) and many others.
Sherrita has revisited and recorded House versions of several songs of great success: Una storia importante by Eros Ramazzotti, No One by Alicia Keys, I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.
In 2009, along with other artists such as Katia Ricciarelli, Riccardo Fogli, Little Tony, Silvia Mezzanotte and Andrea Mingardi, participates in the compilation Caro Papà Natale 2 with the song The Dream of Christmas, written and recorded with DJ Molella. The CD sold more than eighty thousand copies and was awarded the Gold Record in 2009 with the platinum disc in 2010.
Her talent as a songwriter is finally being recognized as two previously unreleased songs, “You Are” and “Your Love” (taken from the album Time of the Butterfly), became part of the album Milano Gospel Festival 2009, sold on newsstands throughout Italy, annexed to newspaper Il Giornale.
She also performs many live concerts throughout Italy ranging from Gospel, Jazz, Blues, to the operatic.
The reputation of Sherrita continues to grow and its presence is increasingly in demand at festivals and major events. In 2009, important events where she participated as a guest artist are Miss Padania and the Milano Gospel Festival.
Thanks to the theatrical Show Notorious (a mix of opera associated with the rock) where she was one of three soprano protagonists, Sherrita sang on some of the the most important operatic stages in Italy.
In December 2008 at the Conservatory of Piacenza he was appointed “Art Show Director” of the Nicolini Gospel Choir, composed of more than one hundred singers.
Since December 2010, she has been active vocal coach and soloist of the Italian Gospel Choir which is recognized as the official national Gospel choir of Italy and directed by important masters such as Peppe Vessicchio, Fio Zanotti and Fabio Perversi. The choir enjoys the support and patronage of the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, the President of the Council of Ministers and other Italian institutions and is “a source of pride and excitement among over a thousand singers involved from north to south.”
Sherrita, American singer and songwriter, takes off with the album Time of the butterfly: a collection of eleven new songs that come from the depths of his heart and accompany the listener on a journey of inspirational lyric gospel and soul. The CD was released March 18, 2010, the day of her birthday.
In May 2017, her new album “Keep Shining,” featuring 9 tracks of Gospel/R&B genre, was released, played, and arranged by Maestro Marco De Domenico.
In February 2019, she was called back to the Sanremo Festival, and this time she accompanied singer Irama with her Gospel choir for the four evenings of the festival, performing the song “La ragazza con il cuore di latta,” where she was entrusted with a solo part.
In 2023, Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari engaged the “Sherrita Duran Gospel Choir,” consisting of 20 members, for 5 concerts at the Terme di Caracalla in Rome and 2 concerts at the Rcf Arena in Reggio Emilia during the World Wild Tour. Supported by an uncommon vocal versatility that allows her to span from gospel to opera and musicals, Sherrita expresses her inner singing with passion and originality.
In addition to her professional commitments, Sherrita regularly organizes Gospel concerts for prison inmates together with her husband manager Antonio Puccio, with the desire to bring the message of love, hope and salvation through Jesus Christ on the wings of song.