5 Questions with Kim (Deluccio) Collins

Kim (DeLuccio) Collins (BM 1992) studied Flute at Hartt from 1988 to 1993.  She is currently living in Trumbull, CT.

What have you been up to since you graduated from Hartt?

So many things have happened in the last 20-plus years!  I got married to Steve Collins (BM Percussion, 1989).  On the teaching front, I taught at Hartt Community Division for about 7 years, maintained an active private teaching studio, and also did some teaching at Fairfield University, Choate Rosemary Hall, and Neighborhood Music School.  As far as performing is concerned, I never stopped after school.  I decided early on that I really enjoyed the freedom and variety of being a freelance artist, and I have been fortunate to play with so many great musicians along the way.  I have played solo recitals, chamber music, orchestral music, been featured soloist with orchestra here and there, lots of shows including some work on Broadway, and a few recordings…a really fun variety.

In 2007 we had the first addition to our family, and now have two little boys in Elementary School, so that keeps things in perspective and is a huge project in itself.

What are you involved with right now?

I am currently performing in a freelance capacity with the Vermont, Springfield, Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, and Albany Symphonies as well as in the pit for nationally touring shows that come through the state.  I am also Principal Flutist with the Waterbury Symphony.  I am teaching at home and at Southern Connecticut State University.  I’m always looking for new and interesting projects so I’m open to ideas for fun collaborations and concerts.  Sometimes I feel as if, although I really enjoy orchestral music, that I have some untapped spark for other genres that I want to explore.  I hope I can do more of that in the coming years.

I enjoy running and cooking, and being the best mom I can be to my two boys.  I’ve been known to hit local boot camps and flip some tires and push some prowlers around here and there and always enjoy a good physical challenge like an obstacle race.

What is one of your most memorable things about your time at Hartt?

I hate to repeat what others have said, but…there are so many!

Mr. Lepak with his cigar hanging out of the corner of his mouth, performing Concerto for Orchestra at the MENC conference with Arthur Winograd conducting, playing with the Emerson String Quartet, coachings with Moshe Paranov, our trips to NYC to play in Town Hall and Alice Tully hall, working in the Information Booth, Mr. Rauche stamping my papers with a dancing pig in a tutu, and especially my lessons and studio classes with John Wion.  I loved getting the chance to play the flute in so many different settings.  A huge thank you also for the life-changing moment in which Dr. Feierabend said that we shouldn’t use a Music Education degree as something to fall back on.  I recall being wracked with guilt at that statement, and feeling like a sham.  He inspired me to change my major to performance, and I know it was the right choice for me.

What did you learn during while at Hartt that you did not appreciate or recognize until after time passed and you had some time to reflect?

5 Questions with Shana Mahoney

Shana Mahoney (B.M. ‘93) studied Music Theatre at Hartt from 1989-1993.  She is currently living in New York City.

What have you been up to since you graduated from Hartt?

Right after I graduated from Hartt I got my first job at a summer-stock theatre in the Catskills doing 7 musicals over the course of 5 months.  I actually couldn't even attend my graduation ceremony from Hartt because I had already started rehearsals, and was working, which I thought was a great sign.  I was lucky enough to work non-stop performing in musicals for several years after graduation.  I performed in summer stock, regional theatre and national tours including: Forbidden Broadway, and Evita.  

While on tour with Evita, I auditioned for and booked the European tour of Cats playing Gumbie/Griddlebone.  I was lucky enough to perform in Switzerland, Italy, France and Austria.  While in Austria I auditioned and booked the European premiere company of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in Vienna, which I performed in for a year.  After that I was also cast in the world premiere of Roman Polanski and Jim Steinman’s Dance of the Vampire, which I also recorded the original cast album for. 

After a year’s run of Dance of the Vampire, (and getting married to an Austrian), my husband Andreas and I moved back to New York after several years in Europe. I booked a job that summer as the lead singer in the Supper Club’s Andrews Sisters and Swing Dance show in Manhattan, which was a lot of fun.  After that, I booked the Broadway 1st National tour of Cabaret starring Teri Hatcher and Norbert Leo Butz.  I toured for several years with Cabaret- and I even took a leave of absence to give birth to my first daughter Sophia and returned to the tour just in time to spend a month in Tokyo, Japan with the show.  We also performed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and us Cabaret-girls recorded a National commercial for Degree deodorant, which was a lot of fun!  Why they wanted to feature girls with hairy armpits for a deodorant commercial is beyond me, but I was happy for the opportunity to have a national commercial!

After landing back in New York, and having a second daughter, I tried to station myself in the city and not travel as much, doing local off-Broadway shows, and singing concerts and church jobs.  I was hired as a professional cantor at St. Barnabas Church, and did several concerts with them over the years.  I also started a voice studio, which has grown so big now that I have a long waiting list.  My vocal studio is one of my biggest joys of my career, and I enjoy it immensely.

I am also a teaching artist at the Riverdale Children's Theatre.  www.riverdaletheatre.org  RCT was just named in Backstage Magazine as "one of the 12 Great Children's Theaters Across the U.S."  It is an amazing place to work.  I am currently the music supervisor of Annie, and playing the role of Grace.  I love being able to share my love of music theatre with children.  I was also hired last year to be the music director of The Saint Barnabas Church in Bronx, NY.  www.stbarnabasbronx.org  It’s the largest Irish-Catholic parish in the country actually, and I direct 4 choirs there, as well as plan the music for Masses, weddings and funerals. 

Next year, our Saint Barnabas children s choir is invited to perform in Rome for Pope Francis in the Sistine Chapel with the Sistine Chapel Choir.  This is a huge honor for us, and I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to take the choir there for the Epiphany Mass.

I am also currently attending the Saint Cecelia Academy of Music at The Saint Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, NY pursing a Master’s Degree in Theology/Sacred Music.  http://nyliturgy.org/st-cecilia-academy-for-pastoral-musicians/

What are you involved with right now?

A few years ago, in a Manhattan restaurant, I happened to meet a platinum award-winning record producer by chance.  I convinced him to listen to a demo recording of my voice.  After several meetings and discussions, he offered me a recording contract under his label.  For a few years, we developed a concept for an album, and wrote songs together.  He helped me to develop a unique style of classical-type vocals, combined with electronic pop production.  I am happy to say that I just finished the album entitled Beyond The River under my artist name “Shalyma”. The album is available as a special “friends and family pre-release sale” before it becomes officially released in the late Spring/Summer.  I’m very proud of the work I did on the album.  I am especially proud to have some of the pieces that I composed featured on it.  I also featured the Children’s Choir of St. Barnabas on Caccini’s Ave Maria, which I wrote a children's choir part to accompany Caccini’s vocal line.  I think it’s a really unique twist to a traditional sacred classical piece, being that it is produced in a pop-style.  I am hoping that my friends and colleagues will purchase a copy of the album, and give me their feedback and support before the album is officially released and on iTunes. The album can be purchased on my website www.SHALYMA.com

 

Now Listen to Performances from the Hartt Archives

We have just launched a new program for Hartt alumni.  You can now listen to the 1992 performance by the Hartt Symphony, Chamber Singers, and soloists of Mozart's Missa Brevis.

From time to time, additional recordings will be added here.

For now, you can listen to the recording and view the Hartt concert program.  There is also a link to a concert program from when this performance was repeated a couple days later in NYC at Lincoln Center.  That NYC program contains a full list of performers.

For your convenience, we have also include a link to the Hartt Recording Studio in case anyone wants to purchase a CD of the recording.

5 Questions with Peter Furlong

Peter Furlong (Master of Music, Vocal Performance) studied at Hartt from 1993 to 1995.  He is currently living in Berlin, Germany. 

What have you been up to since you graduated from Hartt?

Hoo, boy.  That’s a long one (which means it’s been a long time).  Right after graduating from Hartt, I was an apprentice at The Santa Fe Opera (for whose audition I sacrificed a vocal jury at Hartt) for two summers.  From there I was a Young Artist at Opera Colorado for three seasons and was eventually asked back to sing as a MainStage artist by none other than Maestro Julius Rudel.  From Denver, I moved to NYC where I sang with Dicapo Opera and I received my three NY Times reviews (all positive, thankfully) during a ten-year period of being a guest artist there.  I also sang with other companies around the US (Opera Colorado, Fort Worth Opera).  Then I moved to Dortmund, Germany to sing a one-year fest contract.  From there I called Italy home for almost ten years while I sang in Italy, Scotland, NYC, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, and Berlin (where I reside, now).  It’s not all been fun and games, though.  There was a two year hiatus to deal with acid reflux which had been making singing impossible and threatening to end my career, and a recent Fach change from lyric tenor to Heldentenor took me out of the performance business for a year to learn a lot of new repertoire.

What are you involved with right now?

Right now, I am co-producing a concert with my wife (soprano Julie Wyma) called Lovers’ Quarrels: Arias and Duets from the dysfunctional world of opera, which we are performing in Niemegk, Germany (Berlin/Brandenburg) on March 27th, and in Concord, NH on April 8th as part of the Walker Lecture Series (free admission).

After that, I am very excited to be singing my first Max in Der Freischütz at Kloster Chorin (Chorin Cloister) near Berlin June 6, 7, and 13.

Then it’s back to the USA to another co-production concert this time called Three Tenors and a Soprano which will be July 23rd as part of the Summer Music Associates concerts in New London, NH.

In addition to the above, I am also a founding member of a group of opera singers here in Berlin called Voci Inglesi. We are a group of classically trained, English speaking singers who are bringing high-quality, English-language opera and art song to European audiences. Our inaugural season begins this July, 2015.

What is one of your most memorable things about your time at Hartt?

5 Questions with Marthia Sides

Marthia Sides (Bachelor of Music (Vocal Performance)) studied at Hartt from 1992 to 1996.  She is currently living in Nashville.

What have you been up to since you graduated from Hartt?

I went on to get my masters in Opera at Longy School of Music in Boston.  From there, I have been on TV, Film, Off-Broadway, sang with Carolina Opera, studied in Italy and toured the U.S.  I've released 4 radio singles and 2 Music Videos. (Check out my website bio for more info www.marthia.com.)

What are you involved with right now? 

I had a baby girl Feb. 28th 2014. She is 1 year old. Her name is Echo,  I got married Oct. 11th 2014 to Kevin Shaw. I am working on a few Variety Shows in Nashville and will start performing in March.

What is one of your most memorable things about your time at Hartt?

There were so many moments but the Vocal training was super important and something I will always remember.

What did you learn while at Hartt that you did not appreciate or recognize until after time passed and you had some time to reflect?

I grew up. I became an adult.

What is next for you?

Many things, but right now just juggling a family and career.