Age: 16 

1. When and how did you get started practicing your art form? 

 My older sister (age 26 now) did singing lessons since she was young, and once I was 7-years-old we began seeing Leanne Koch for my sister’s singing lesson one week, and my singing lesson every second week. Eventually, my sister stopped taking lessons and I began taking them weekly. I’ve been taking weekly lessons since then.

2. Who is your role model and why? 

 Two big role models for me are Brian Dokko and my school’s drama teacher. Brian worked with the BCMEA honours vocal jazz ensemble in October of last year, and over the three days we had with him, he taught me and us as a group a lot about what it means to perform music for others, and how to make our time on stage one of the best feelings in the world. The drama teacher at my school, Mr. Maller, has taken it upon himself to direct the production and pit band groups of our school’s musical theatre production this year, Legally Blonde. He manages to do so much for our theatre and drama department, all while keeping a smile on his face, and I admire his ability to juggle so much at once and stay on top of everything going on.

3. What motivates you to continue to learn this art form? 

 I love to sing and make music with others, and someday I want to share it with the world through teaching and performance.

4. How does winning this scholarship help you achieve your goals? 

 This scholarship will take some financial stress off of my mom, as it pays for a good handful of singing lessons. It’ll be easier on my family to continue funding my musical ambitions.

5. How has your teacher helped you achieve your goals? 

 Leanne Koch has taught me the proper classical techniques and skills to really find and harness my voice and sing out to the world, and this past year with Kat Gillis has helped me better develop my theory and music reading skills, as well as my more theatrical stage presence and mix register.

6. Tell us your favourite memory of Place des Arts.  

 I love looking back on videos of my first few singing recitals, and how as a kid I absolutely hated singing in front of other people other than Leanne, not even my parents. Now though, I’m actively seeking out opportunities to perform at different school events and in the community. The recitals I have at Place des Arts always remind me of my immense growth over the years, and it brings me joy knowing that I’ll always continue to improve my skills for recitals and years to come.

7. How has studying at Place des Arts inspired you?  

The two teachers I’ve worked with at Place des Arts while having pretty different teaching and singing styles, have both helped me so much in training my voice to do amazing things and sing some pretty difficult pieces. The amount I’ve improved over the past nine and a half years, both in voice and in stage presence, is really astonishing to me, and singing has become a true passion of mine that I want to pursue for the rest of my life. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to continue studying at Place des Arts.

8. Describe how you feel when you come to Place des Arts.  

Coming to Place des Arts every week is bringing me a lot of joy. I love getting out of the car and walking through the front glass doors to see youths walking about, lots of gorgeous handmade art for sale, and the low-stress environment is really nice after a long day at school. Knowing I get to work with amazing mentors and get personal feedback from a teacher/friend, feels really great to walk in once a week.