The Sonoma State University’s Music Department has continued the Spring semester with the vocal program’s Variety Show. The event was live streamed on March 17 through the Music Department’s website, where students sang a song of their choosing that meant something to them, and may have a prop or staging to enhance their performance and in order to show “the audience their individuality and creativity as an artist.” 

The live stream was opened by Brendan Corr who selected his piece to be ‘Stars’ from Les Miserables, because it’s a song he describes the song as, “quintessentially me is that I’ve always loved slow songs like this whether they’re rock ballads or something like this from a musical.”

The performances were from their homes and the music ranged from original pieces to musicals and in a variety of languages including Latin.  

Maddy Connor sang ‘Ave Maria’ and her reasoning behind the selection of the song being that typically the program, “sticks to the traditional languages like Italian, French, German, English, and sometimes Spanish,” and the Variety Show “brings not only a piece in Latin but a Latin piece that is very well known definitely fits the theme very well.”

Another foreign language song was by Kyle Piet who sang ‘Canción Picaresca’ from El Canate by José Palomino because Piet, “figured why not perform this tongue-in-cheek song Spanish song from a couch!”

Alexandria Ortiz’ rendition of a Spanish lullaby that is, “a religious lullaby sung to a baby Jesus, and that she “used to sing as a little girl.” Ortiz wanted “to portray it from the perspective of it from the perspective of the night sky rather than from Mary.” This is reflected in her choice background in that of a blue night sky as well as her makeup matching the background. She said she wanted to, “create a truly tranquil yet engaging performance which I hope you’ll enjoy.”

Another performance was that of Abbi Samuels who sang a Scottish folk song called ‘Parting Glass.’ Samuels wanted to highlight the accompaniment of the hurdy gurdy, a type of string instrument played by Dan Gianola-Norris. 

Brian Carillo performed ‘Johanna’ from the musical Sweeny Todd by Stephen Sondheim. Carillo chose this song as metaphor for his own vocal freedom; having already glimpsed it and is determined to make it a reality.

 Grace Victor also delivered a rendition of Sarah Braillies of ‘Simple and True’ and even recorded a video to accompany her performance. It meant a lot to her because she had spent a lot of time on it even recording her own background track. She also had collaborated with fellow classmate Andrew Cedeno who was the male harmony.

As the Voice Program Recital page states, “This great variety of talent and skill makes the SSU Voice Program a diverse and vibrant community of top-notch performers.”

The Vocal Program’s Variety Show can be rewatched under the Sonoma State Music Department website.

This performance was a safe place for students to showcase their talents and accomplishments despite not being able to perform live in front of their classmates or others due to the pandemic.