Talented vocal students pay homage to the lives and work of famous artists

Vocal+students+take+a+bow+at+the+end+of+their+successful+performances%2C+still+dressed+as+the+musical+legends+that+they+impersonated.+

Photo by Dennis Krasnay

Vocal students take a bow at the end of their successful performances, still dressed as the musical legends that they impersonated.

From a vintage-inspired Edith Piaf-based performance to a modern-day Adele impersonator, the Legends Concert, held last Thursday and Friday, featured a diverse and unique array of musical talent showcased by students. With Director Rob Blaney and Collaborative Artist Christine Lecce as the founders of this annual event, these musical nights are among the unforgettable.

Twenty-eight student singers impersonated different music legends, matching their appearances and voices to the different historical figures from the music industry whom they portrayed. Performances were very diverse. There was the famous Barbra Streisand, performed by Lauren Neser, famous rock singer Stevie Nicks, performed by Katie Jones, and also the rhythm and blues Amy Winehouse, performed by Gabriela Tatone.

“Well, the Legends concert in my opinion is mostly just about the students of Woodbridge just getting together and singing from their favorite artist of the past, which have been greatly renowned for their singing abilities, their songs and their talents,” junior Santiago Mier y Teran said.

With so many different imitations of musical legends, the performance that stood out the most was undoubtedly senior Jane Sorena’s impersonation of French singer Edith Piaf. She performed one of her famous songs, “La Vie en Rose” or “Life in Pink.” The most amazing part of Sorena’s performance was the fact that she sang the entire piece beautifully in French.

“I started to learn French at the same time that I learned to speak English, so as soon as I was talking, I was speaking both languages together,” Sorena said.

Background music performed by students and Blaney included piano, guitar, drums, bass and percussion. Background singers were used as well for some songs to provide color and dynamics to the song.

“We actually tried different things with the background music because we started with having the piano just play all the way through. The original song has trumpets and lots of other instruments that we don’t have in this band, so we were trying to improvise,” Sorena said.

Another memorable performance was when the “king of pop” himself performed one of his hits, “Thriller.” Junior Christopher Kagoo dressed in Michael Jackson’s red coat and mimicked his smooth dance moves. He was joined by fellow family and friend “zombie” background dancers. Freshmen Catherine Kagoo, Haley Mitchell and Anna Julia joined by junior Alex Kim unleashed their inner dance moves that night, proving the undead can dance too.

“I think [the performance] went really well. I mean, of course I can’t measure up to Michael Jackson. He is the king of pop, one of the best performers ever, but I feel it went really well. I worked a lot on his dance moves…and the singing. And for me, I think I did as good a job as I could,” Christopher Kagoo said.

With the lead dance role as Michael Jackson, this required his unique dance moves.

“That was something new [learning to dance like Michael Jackson]. I had to learn how to do it, so I went on YouTube basically and I looked up how to dance like him,” Christopher Kagoo said.

The legends concert overall was a spectacular musical event that featured an immense amount of talent from the student singers who dedicated their time and effort to perform on stage.