Student makes it to MET finals

Carolina Castells, a Jacobs School of Music graduate student who is finishing her master’s with a concentration in voice specialization, competed in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition (1,500 participants) last month, weaving awe-inspiring compositions with her astounding vocals, to propel herself to the finals.\nThis competition is extraordinarily prestigious as Costanza Cuccaro-Penhorwood, who has been Castells’ voice professor for three years, described it as “one of the top competitions in the world and probably the best regarded and well known in the United States.”\nHer success may be attributed to her “superb vocal talent or her diligence in her studies, and also her unusual strength and stamina in performance,” Cuccaro-Penhorwood said.\nPreparing for these competitions seems quite a staggering task, as Castells said the employment of a variety of techniques is ultimately the key to understanding complex opera pieces and conveying those pieces appropriately. \nStrenuous rehearsals are simply one facet of understanding the piece to be performed; delicate and extensive research into the time period and composer are also ways to obtain a more thorough understanding of the piece, Castells said. \nAnother method that Castells said gave her success includes evoking various emotions derived from personal experiences and recollections.\nPracticing compositions is one element of a successful preparation Castells said that in these types of competitions, as more participants get eliminated, there is a vast increase in crowd size, which provides additional stress. \nCastells’ favorite composer to sing is Mozart, and her favorite genre is more contemporary American operas because they are considerably more theatrical than other traditional operas, she said. \nA native of Miami, Castells’ musical aspirations were ignited in middle school when she was placed in an after-school choir program. Her musical career began as an accident of sorts, Castells joked. \nAfter the realization and further development of this remarkable vocal ability, Castells chose the Jacobs School of Music “because of its prestige, along with ideal staff and its ability to develop students’ stage experience.”\nA fellow Jacobs school student, Jenny Kim, who worked with Castells as a chorus member in Verdi’s “Requiem,” performed on March 1 in Indianapolis, described Castells’ tone as “full and beautiful” and further praised her ability to put on such a phenomenal show with apparent ease. \nCastells said the Jacobs School of Music is a good place to prepare for a career in music because of the performance opportunities and the curriculum. She said that along with the normal classes that one might expect a music major to take, they are also required to take Italian, French and German in order to be comfortable enough with each language to properly articulate them.\nHer musical career will proceed from Jacobs, she hopes, as she expressed interest in teaching. However, she really wants to continue singing professionally, in a more performance-oriented forum rather then academic.\nCuccaro-Penhorwood said Castells’ career potential is outstanding, and she praised her theatrical ability.\n“Carolina is endowed with a world-class voice which is beautiful, lush, rich and warm,” Cuccaro-Penhorwood said.