Artistic Statement

Growing up, I was completely surrounded by music. My mother is a pianist, and she was the children’s choir director at our church. Needless to say, I took choir very seriously from a young age. My mom didn’t play favorites, but I was undoubtedly the only choice for the angel in the Christmas play. Ever since then, I have loved performing and I have taken every opportunity available to me to perform. During my time at Brevard College, I had the opportunity to perform many solos in several different settings. I have sung with small chamber orchestras as well as larger ensembles such as the Brevard Philharmonic and the Transylvania Choral Society. Because of their small student body, Brevard doesn’t offer full-scale opera productions, but I sought them out myself. During the summer of 2019, I had the pleasure of being a young artist with the Harrower Summer Opera. I was featured in several opera scenes, playing roles such as Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), and Alexandra (Regina). I also had the experience of covering Despina (Cosi fan tutte) and performing in an opera chorus. I was also the youngest artist accepted to Brevard Music Center for the 2020 season. Most recently, I have had the pleasure of performing as Gretel in Hansel and Gretel at Ohio University.

All I’ve ever known is music. I have always used music as a form of self-expression, and I have always shared my gift with others in order to experience the joy of music together. Since childhood, I have known that I wanted to spend the entirety of my life making music. I never gave myself a “backup plan” because, to me, music was the only option. I never pictured myself doing anything else with my life, even through the challenges of a pandemic. Throughout my life, I constantly found new challenges to engage my musical abilities. I have always found excitement in new experiences and testing my abilities. My main passion is music, but my secondary passion is learning.

I find that I learn not only from doing, but also from teaching. In high school, I was given the responsibility of teaching sectionals in choir and marching band. I found it fulfilling to help my peers learn and improve upon the music we were given. I was also given the opportunity to teach trumpet lessons to middle school students. Being only slightly older than them, I enjoyed seeing them progress and succeed because I was able to remember what my first region band auditions were like; how scary they were, and how satisfying it was when I got accepted. During my undergraduate studies, I had the opportunity to teach a middle school chorus class. I started by teaching them fundamental sight-singing skills, such as solfege and ta-ka-di-mi. On my campus, I was given other teaching opportunities, such as being a teaching assistant for two classes and choral assistant since my second semester. I especially enjoyed my time as a choral assistant because I had the opportunity to teach sectionals, teach and conduct pieces, and teach entire lessons when the choir director couldn’t be in rehearsals. This is how I discovered that I wanted to teach music professionally. At Ohio University, I was granted the opportunity to be a graduate teaching assistant, which involves teaching undergraduate-level classes, as well as teaching private voice lessons to undergraduate and graduate-level students.

After I complete my graduate studies, I plan to teach lessons at a college or private studio while continuing to perform.