“You were truly a godsend for this event. It was a huge success! Your band was phenomenal!” - Stamford Downtown Special Services District

“Her personality is warm like sunshine and her voice is soft and sultry”  - Fairfield County Music Reporter

“Your talented performances are so moving and charming” - Ana Gallegos, Chair, Stamford Mayor’s Multicultural Council

ABOUT BARBARA ESPINOSA OCCHINO

Born in Cuba, Barbara is a multilingual vocalist (English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese) who infuses the zest of her Latin roots along with her love of the American Songbook, jazz, blues, and Latin classics into her diverse repertoire. She is the lead singer with her "Barbara's Serenade" bands and musicians in Metro New York region, sang with Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival 50th Anniversary “the public domain” choir, and has been a session vocalist and bilingual voice-over talent in NY/CT recording studios. She has performed at the Rutgers University Puerto Rican Conference, and in Stamford (CT) at The Palace, Harbor Point, the Mayor's Afternoon of Jazz, the ARTWALK, as well as popular festivals, art galleries, yacht and country clubs, private parties, and tri-state area venues.

Barbara is a music and entertainment curator who has planned events and booked talent for the Stamford ARTWALK, Experience Greenwich Week, Sunday Afternoon Music in Latham Park, Friday Afternoon Music at Heritage Park, Make Music Day Stamford, Stamford Mayor's Afternoon of Jazz,  the Greenwich Annual Holiday Stroll, and corporate events. She studies tap, jazz, Flamenco, and ballroom dancing and has choreographed musical and choral performances. In acting, Barbara has performed leading roles in musicals (e.g. Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, Bloody Mary in South Pacific, Agnes in I do! I do!) and was a member of an improv musical comedy group. She has trained with Barnum & Bailey and Big Apple Circus professionals and performed as a clown in annual parades and a JBL internet commercial. Her commercial work includes co-hosting live auctions, acting in videos and commercials, public speaking, and appearing as on-camera TV spokesperson.

​Barbara lives in Stamford, Connecticut, where she owns a full service advertising and marketing agency (VertexMarketing.com) with her husband, Ron, and raised her two daughters, both Berklee College of Music alumni and music industry entrepreneurs. Barbara earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and minor in Biology from Rutgers University where she worked in public relations at the Mason Gross School of the Arts. She volunteers in the arts and serves as a business/marketing coach and competition judge for the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) teaching teenagers entrepreneurial and marketing skills. 

English and Spanish demos

Makin' Whoopee - 1928 jazz/blues song by American lyricist Gustav Gerson Kahn and songwriter Walter Donaldson

Quizás, Quizás, Quizás / Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps -1947 bolero by Cuban songwriter and composer Osvaldo Farrés, English lyrics by American music producer Joe Davis

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