Vocalist, composer & educator, Kristin Berardi is from Koumala, near Mackay, Queensland, and currently lives in Sydney, Australia. She most recently performed at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, the Tauranga International Jazz Festival, NZ and was a finalist in the Bell Awards for Best Vocal Jazz Album for 2008. In 2007 she won the Nation’s most prestigious jazz award, the Freedman Fellowship, and successfully completed a European tour with guitarist James Sherlock in July 2007, including a concert supporting Al Jarreau and George Benson at the 2007 Montreux Jazz Festival. She came 1st in Montreux Jazz Festival’s Shure International Vocal Competition, July 2006, and she came 3rd in the 2005 Australian National Jazz Vocal Competition. She has spent time studying & recording in NYC in 2004 & 2005 with such people as Kenny Werner, Jim Pugh, David Binney & Ingrid Jenson. She is on casual staff at the Australian National University in Australia’s capital city, and in the rural country town of Rockhampton, Queensland, at Conservatorium of Music. She has performed in NYC, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand and continues to perform within Australia at Jazz festivals, and at jazz venues, such as The Studio at Sydney’s Opera House.