Summer Latimer spent much of her childhood and teen years immersed in both choral and contemporary music before she began her vocal training under the instruction of Dr. Cherrie Llewellyn at Modesto Junior College (MJC) in the summer of 2001. While there, she picked up a solid understanding of vocal pedagogy, and gained experience teaching by being involved in MJC’s summer voice program. She also received priceless experience in stage production (including costume & set design and theater makeup) through MJC’s Musical Theater Workshop, and her enthusiastic involvement in various shows. Latimer transferred to San Jose State University (SJSU) in the fall of 2008 where she sang in the Concert Choir and the Choraliers each year of her residency, and finished her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance in the spring of 2013 under the instruction of renowned character tenor Joseph Frank.
Stage credits include: Hyacinth/Lady Crow/Pigeon in the world premiere of The Snow Queen with San Jose Repertory Theater; The Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute), Sister Dolcina (Suor Angelica), and Lena in the world premiere of The Three Fat Women of Antibes by Mona Lyn Reese (SJSU Opera Theater); Philia (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), Jeanie (Hair); Cinderella’s Mother/Cinderella (Into The Woods); Hodel (Fiddler on the Roof), Gretel (Hansel und Gretel); and Brighella (A Servant of Two Masters) with Modesto Junior College. Additional appearances include The Music Man (Youth Entertainment Stage Company), Oliver!, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Beauty and the Beast (Modesto Performing Arts), and Sweeny Todd (Newman Performing Arts).
Concert solo appearances include Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, Haydn’s Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Des as well as his Missa Brevis in F, Rutter’s Gloria, and Allegri’s Miserere. As part of the Choraliers (SJSU) she also had the pleasure of singing with Andrea Bocelli at the HP Pavilion and with the Rolling Stones for the bay area leg of their 50th Anniversary Tour. Summer has served as a soloist for the Los Gatos Presbyterian Chancellor Choir, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, and Los Altos United Methodist Church where she premiered a new choral work by Daniel Hughes entitled Triquetra. She currently volunteers as hymn leader at Willow Glen United Methodist and is a member of the critically-acclaimed ensemble The Choral Project where she performed with Stephen Schwartz in a concert entitled Enchantingly Wicked at Davies Symphony Hall (San Francisco) in March 2012.
Press
From: The Snow Queen – Pigeon/Hyacinth/Ensemble – New York Musical Theatre Festival
“The supporting cast makes this production”
– The New York Times
“Most admirable of all is the energy with which the ensemble approaches the material”
– StageBuddy
From: The Snow Queen (World Premiere) – Pigeon/Lady Crow/Hyacinth/Ensemble – San Jose Repertory Theatre
“Janice Engelgau (Tiger Lily), and Summer C. Latimer (Hyacinth) were fun and sexy and great singers”
– San Jose Metblogs
“Geroge, Engelgau, Latimer, and Martinez all inhabit several roles each with terrific aplomb, all with excellent vocals. Many of the ensemble double as musicians as well. It’s an astonishingly good group.”
– Talkin’ Broadway 2014
From: Fiddler on the Roof – Hodel – Modesto Junior College
“Christina Nickas, Summer Latimer and Jessica Betando, who play the daughters, brim with passion in the wistful waltz ‘Matchmaker, Matchmaker’…”
– The Modesto Bee
From: Hansel and Gretel – Gretel – Modesto Junior College
“As the bickering siblings who later pull together in the frightening forest, Summer Latimer (Gretel) and Michelle Fernandez (Hansel) have strong voices and sing the lyrics clearly…Latimer comes across as a no-nonsense Gretel…”
– The Modesto Bee