{"id":58513,"date":"2016-05-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-music-graduate-to-take-the-stage-with-operatic-performance-of-god-bless-america-at-may-22-commencement\/"},"modified":"2016-05-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-17T00:00:00","slug":"uri-music-graduate-to-take-the-stage-with-operatic-performance-of-god-bless-america-at-may-22-commencement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2016\/05\/uri-music-graduate-to-take-the-stage-with-operatic-performance-of-god-bless-america-at-may-22-commencement\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 music graduate to take the stage with operatic performance of \u2018God Bless America\u2019 at May 22 commencement"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I., May 17, 2016\u2014Expect runs, trills and wide leaps from Felicia Baker when she graduates from the 溏心vlog免费B站 on Sunday.<\/p>\n


\nAnd she\u2019ll do it all with her voice.<\/p>\n


\nIn front of thousands of 溏心vlog免费B站 graduates and their families, Felicia will deliver a power-packed operatic version of \u201cGod Bless America\u201d and, last but not least, the 溏心vlog免费B站 Alma Mater.<\/p>\n


\nListening in the audience, with smiles and moist eyes, will be her parents, Frank Baker, a science communications specialist at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography, and Catherine Vieira-Baker, a contributing faculty member in the psychology department.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe are proud and pleased,\u201d says Frank. \u201cIt\u2019ll be moving for both of us. We\u2019ll see who tears up first.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nLast year, Felicia saw a flier in the music department announcing auditions to sing at commencement and thought, \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI remember going to my brother\u2019s commencement years ago and seeing student singers on stage and wanting to have the same opportunity,\u201d says Felicia, 22, who is earning a bachelor\u2019s degree in music, with a focus on vocal performance. \u201cSo this is exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nGrowing up in Virginia and East Providence, Felicia started singing and dancing as a little girl. She remembers taking her pre-school teacher\u2019s hands and twirling across the classroom. <\/p>\n


\nShe debuted on stage in fourth grade during a performance with the Friends of St. Anne\u2019s Little Theater in Fall River, Mass., where she played a villager in \u201cFiddler on the Roof.\u201d She was mesmerized.<\/p>\n


\nAt St. Mary Academy Bay View in East Providence she continued to excel as a singer, actor and dancer. She was involved in 15 productions, including the school\u2019s acclaimed \u201cManhattan at the Bay\u201d show.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 was her first choice, as was music, with a minor in philosophy and, eventually, German. She took vocal lessons, music theory and piano lessons, but her life changed when she went to the Bel Canto Summer Voice Program in Munich. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe opera was captivating,\u201d she says. \u201cI went to six operas, and the one that really got me hooked was Verdi\u2019s Don Carlo. I could\u2019ve listened to it for an eternity.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nBack home, she told her parents about her new career path.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cIt was Broadway, Broadway, Broadway in our house and then, boom, your kid comes home from college and decides she wants to be an opera singer,\u201d says Frank. \u201cAnd we\u2019re like, \u2018O.K.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n


\nHer accomplishments are impressive. She worked with Opera Providence in its productions of L\u2019elisir d\u2019amore by Donizetti and La Traviata by Verdi. In her first complete operatic role, she starred as Adele in Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss with 溏心vlog免费B站’s Opera Workshop. She also sang in a master class for opera singer Elizabeth Weigle at Brown University and for Metropolitan Opera House singer and Rhode Islander John Relyea at the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School. She was coached by Bavarian opera singer Marita Knobel.<\/p>\n


\nThe scholarships have been plentiful. She received the Sebastian P. and Marybelle Musco Scholarship for three years at 溏心vlog免费B站. She also placed first in her division of the Rhode Island chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Song and Aria competition in 2014 and 2016. In 2015, she won the James Ladewig Scholarship in music history. <\/p>\n


\nWhat does it take to be a great opera singer? Ambition, discipline, excellent technique and a passion for life, she says. Learning how to breathe is probably the most important skill. \u201cOpera is the unification of the human condition in a way that moves the souls of others,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s timeless.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nHer parents are fully supportive. Catherine spent many hours backstage during productions at Bay View and Little Theater helping with costumes and the many tasks necessary to put on a show. <\/p>\n


\nLast Christmas, Felicia and Frank went to New York City to see Les p\u00eacheurs de perles at the Metropolitan Opera House. They stayed in a hotel and ate in Chinese restaurants. Before the performance, they went on a backstage tour, even seeing the dressing room of world-famous soprano Diana Damrau, who is Felicia\u2019s idol. (Felicia is also a soprano.)<\/p>\n


\n\u201cShe was over the moon,\u201d says Frank. \u201cIt was so nice to share it all with her.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tFelicia\u2019s dream? \u201cTo be a Bavarian Staatsopera singer.\u201d That would be in Germany, and yes, she expects mom and dad to travel across the sea to hear her sing.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above: Felicia Baker, 22, of East Providence, who is graduating from the 溏心vlog免费B站 with a degree in music, with a focus on vocal performance. She will sing \u201cGod Bless America\u201d at the 溏心vlog免费B站 commencement May 22. Photo by Joe Giblin.<\/p>\n


\nHere\u2019s a sneak peek of Felicia in Die Fledermaus.<\/p>\n