Jamie Sutta

Jamie Sutta, Founder and Artistic Director of Vocal Youth Miami, formerly The Children’s Voice Chorus, is a living example of the transformative power of music education in overcoming adversity, promoting good citizenship, and encouraging personal growth that transcends all aspects of life. Two strong threads have consistently woven throughout the fabric of her life: the platforms of singing and teaching as means to create expression, meaning, and connection with others. These are at the heart of what drives her as a leader, a creative individual, and a person dedicated to serving others through music.

Mrs. Sutta’s pathway to teaching began in 2003, when upon graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Choral Music Education from Florida State University, where she received a full scholarship, she landed her first teaching position. At Ocoee Middle School in Orlando, she not only first combined her passion for self-expression and teaching, but also developed the highly successful choral development model she now uses at CVC by directing four choral groups. Under her guidance, each chorus achieved a high level of personal and musical excellence, earning superior ratings for three consecutive years at the Florida Vocal Association's Music Performance Assessments. Mrs. Sutta also served as an adjunct voice professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University in the Popular Music Department. During her time at PBA, she founded and directed a children's chorus in the Preparatory Department.

Passionate about singing since her teen years, Mrs. Sutta has had the opportunity to perform nationally and internationally as a vocalist. While still at Florida State University, she joined Dr. Andre Thomas as a member of the University Singers, one of the first American choirs to sing in Vietnam since the end of the war.  As a performer, she has shared the stage with Ellis Marsalis, Billy Taylor, William Warfield, Tierney Sutton, Maria Conchita Alonzo, Nicole Yarling, and many others. With the band GDO Soul, she has performed at a wide range of venues including Miami Heat's Chris Bosh's wedding, and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In 2010, her work in the music video Gotta Keep Reading was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Mrs. Sutta earned a master's degree in Vocal Jazz Performance from the University of Miami.

Mrs. Sutta established the Children's Voice Chorus in the Fall of 2011 out of a desire to bring the joy of vocal music and group singing to any child who wanted to sing. Through CVC, a 501c3 not-for-profit organization, Mrs. Sutta continues to uphold the organization's mission of providing young singers of all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds in Miami-Dade County with superior choral music education, emphasizing musical and personal growth as well as diversity. As a woman of color and someone for whom music played a powerful role in her own growth as an individual, artist, and leader, Mrs. Sutta recognizes the indelible impact of not only making opportunities available to all youth to study vocal music, but also serving as a role model for students who might not think that choral music is for them. Mrs. Sutta is thrilled to work with such talented young musicians and looks forward to the continued positive impact that CVC has in the lives of all participants, and which continues to ripple out into the whole community as alumni become adults, parents, and community members, bringing with them what they learned and who they became as a result of being part of CVC.