Singing and emoting classical Italian or opera pieces, three area students participated in the 12th Annual Italian Songs and Arias Vocal Competition.
Senior Tyler Hodges and junior Emma Grettenberger, both from Interlochen Arts Academy, and Kristin Farley, a senior at Central High School, traveled to the Detroit area two weekends ago to showcase their vocal and performing talent. Hodges, a native of the Kalamazoo area completing his second year at the academy, won the competition out of ten finalists.
Each student performed the two pieces they sent to the competition last fall for a taped audition. Hodges' Italian diction coach at Interlochen, Donna Brunsma, helped him choose what he termed "semi-obscure" pieces by Tosti and Bononchini. The Bononchini piece was a duet for cello and voice; having a singer with a cello accompanist was a first for the competition.
"I felt pretty good about it in the moment when I was singing," noted Hodges, who plans to study next year at the Chicago College of Performing Arts and aspires to an opera career. "It was tough because the room we were singing in wasn't acoustically that great and in rooms like that you can't really judge how you sound."
Singing in another language was not a barrier for Hodges, who believes that it enhances his performance overall.
"That's something I've learned about classical music: I think it's even more important to be expressive and a good actor when you're performing works in another language," said Hodges. "Because you really have to strive to break down the language barrier with the audience."
The Verdi Opera Theater of Michigan founded the vocal competition in 1994 to both promote opera and encourage high school singers to enhance their repertoire. Three professional opera singers judge the event every year, including George Shirley, a professor of music at the University of Michigan. The judges provide the students with an experienced insider's critique after the performance.
"It's a very fine competition and it's unusual in that there aren't many competitions for high school students, especially not for cash prizes," said Jeffery Norris, a voice instructor at Interlochen for 20 years. "I know of two really in the state of Michigan and one is the Verdi."
Grettenberger previously participated in the Italian Songs and Arias Vocal Competition last year while a sophomore at Central High School. She is a voice major at Interlochen planning a professional singing career, probably opera. She transferred to Interlochen last fall but had been studying with Norris privately for a few years before that.
While the ten finalists did not get to hear each other sing, Grettenberger said from what she did hear it was interesting to see the different philosophies of students' teachers.
"You see how different teachers approach teaching classical music because there really is a long journey to becoming a good opera singer because you voice does take a long time to develop and mature," she noted. "There are a lot of arias that people don't sing until they are in their 30s and 40s because your voice takes that much maturity."
Planning to enroll at North Carolina State next fall to study architecture, Farley was the only finalist at the Verdi competition not hoping for a musical career. But she relished the experience of learning opera style and songs, how to "belt it out," and the facial expressions and gestures that give songs zest.
In addition to being in Central's Chorale and Choral-Aires, Farley studies voice privately with Candice Wallace, who helped her choose and rehearse the songs. She also received coaching on her Italian pronunciation from Brunsma.
"I thought it was an amazing experience," said Farley of the competition, who sang two flirty love songs in Italian. "I felt really blessed to be surrounded by such talented people — everyone there was so passionate about what they were doing."