Marie Claire Figadere is a remarkable young woman. A gifted singer, at 18 she is absolutely certain about what she wants to do with her life, so she’s off to Montreal to further her unswerving ambition: “I just want to be a performer.”
Headed for terciary-level study in Canada at the end of September, Figadere will take Professional Musical Theory for a year at a private academy, followed by three years at the University of Montreal studying Jazz for Vocal Performance.
Such aspirations don’t come cheap, but despite her youth Figadere is a realist. She’s been working really hard and saving for this opportunity, performing classical jazz standards and R&B with her jazz quartet (occasionally quintet) All Night Jazz. In August Viva la Musica acknowledged her potential by awarding her a scholarship to help with the expense.
To raise funds for her studies she will also be singing at a special fundraising Farewell Concert, themed as “an anthology of old standards, musicals and spirituals,” accompanied by Timothy G. Ruff Welch on piano.
The youngest of four children and fluent in Spanish, French and English, Figadere was born in Aix en Provence, France to a French father and Mexican mother. The family returned to Mexico when she was eight, first to Guadalajara and subsequently to Ajijic where she now lives.
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