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
What is one of the most memorable things about your time
at Hartt?
The amazing training I was lucky enough to receive at Hartt
was the most memorable thing about my time there. I can still hear the voices of my teachers, my
mentors, in my ears every time I step on stage to perform. For example, I can still hear my late acting
teacher, Peter Flint’s voice say: “First time every time,” before each show - especially
when I was on tour for years performing the same show every night, and needed
to remember that live theatre is a new experience- every time you grace the
stage you need to give that new experience to the audience. Peter also had a mantra that I now teach to my
students. We spoke it together before
every acting class. It went something
like this:
“I am an artist. This
is my body and I own it. These are my
emotions and I own them. My talent comes
from something other than myself but I am solely responsible for it. I will dare to be bad so that I can be
good. I am an artist. I am that I am.”
-Peter Flint
I also was lucky enough to receive excellent vocal training.
I studied with Brenda Lewis, and she was
the most amazing teacher and mentor I have ever had. I loved her and I loved everything she taught
me at Hartt. All of the voice teachers
at Hartt were excellent, and the vocal excellence was apparent in the students
who trained there. Although I was a music
theatre major, I still studied with a classical technique that has stayed with
me my whole life.
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 think one of the most valuable things I learned at Hartt
was how to be a “versatile” musician. I
studied and learned about SO MANY THINGS AT HARTT!! I studied voice, dance- (tap, ballet, jazz,
modern), acting (worked on monologues, and scenes), music business, jazz with
the legendary Jackie McLean, I sang in jazz trios, recorded jazz standards,
learned how to “trade 8’s” with Mr. McLean's saxophone players in his class. (I hear now there is a vocal-jazz major at
Hartt, but when I was there, that didn’t exist yet- but my professor Jackie
McLean let me take every single one of his classes anyway, including his
amazing African History class, which I will never forget!) I learned about sacred music, music history,
music theory, composition, theatre, wigs, stage makeup, lighting and stage
design, I played violin, and viola, took piano lessons, took a wide array of
general courses at the University of Hartford in all subjects, studied and
learned languages - German, Latin, Italian, and French, and performed in all of
them, I did small black-box productions, main-stage musicals, operas, choral
concerts, cabaret shows, I sang original songs composed by my talented
classmates, I attended weekly concerts and recitals given by my classmates and
professors, and went to Tuesday “musicianship” class (we loved that - I hope Hartt
still has that class!) where the whole Hartt school came together, and I
learned from watching my friends and classmates make music together, grow and
learn as musicians and people. [Editor’s
note: Musicianship class still exists and was renamed Paranov Performance hour.]
I cannot say enough good things about my
years at Hartt. I used each and every
one of the skills I learned at Hartt in my professional career, and I am so
grateful that I had the opportunity to study there. I am convinced that my success in my career is
due to the training I received at Hartt. It is not easy to make a full-time living as a
musician in New York City, but I am lucky enough to have achieved that due to
having training in versatile fields of music.
What is next for you?
The next step for me is to promote my album. I hope that all my friends and colleagues from
Hartt will consider purchasing my album, and to help me spread the word. I would like to continue to pursue my newly found
passion for writing music. I hope to
continue developing my private voice studio, to work with the choirs at Saint
Barnabas Church, and to pursue my studies in sacred music at the Seminary. I would also like to encourage my voice
students to consider applying to Hartt. My oldest daughter Sophia is a very serious
cellist who studied at The Special Music School in Lincoln Center since she was
in Kindergarten. She was just accepted
to the La Guardia High School of the Performing Arts, and I hope that she will
also consider The Hartt School Music when it comes time for her to apply to
colleges in a few years. My youngest
daughter Chiara also studies piano. I
hope my daughters will be lucky enough to receive the kind of training I did,
if they choose to purse music in the future.
How can people get in touch with you if they have any
questions?
If anyone would like to get in touch with me, please email
me at: info@shalyma.com
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