On Sunday, March 17, the fine arts department presented a resident artist from the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia. The event was held in the Mansion at 4 p.m. with 113 attendees- a mixture of faculty, community members, and students.
An afternoon of music took the audience to various places in musical history. For approximately ten years, Cabrini has welcomed four students from AVA to perform various pieces that they have studied and have been studying.
This year AVA presented tenor Dominick Chenes (first-year student), soprano Youna Jang (first-year student), baritone Wes Mason (fourth-year student), and soprano Alexandra Maximova (third-year student).
Each student graced the audience with pieces in a wide range of languages such as French, German, Russian and English. Maximova, a third-year student of AVA, performed “I Could Have Danced All Night” from “My Fair Lady” in both English and her native language, Russian. Before performing this song, Maximova shared an interesting fact about herself: she had spoken her first English words three years ago.
The afternoon allowed students to experience opera pieces that told stories of love, heart-break, betrayal and joy. Before each piece, musical director and pianist for the performances Michele Scanlon explained what each piece meant, where it was from and what language it would be in.
“They were very talented students. I look forward to seeing them. They really know what they are doing and know how to capture an audience,” Dr. Adeline Bethany, professor of fine arts and music said.
Many attendees were in awe of the powerful voices and could not wait to express that to them after the performance. The singers along with their director joined faculty, community members, and students in the dining area for a small reception.
