Teen vocalists performing timeless classics at Carmel-based Songbook Academy
CARMEL, Ind. (WISH) – Ten teen vocalists from central Indiana – including four from Zionsville, three from Carmel, two from Greenwood and one from Lebanon – are among the 40 finalists selected to participate in the eighth annual Great American Songbook Academy.
The week-long summer program is the only high school intensive in the United States focusing on the timeless pop, jazz, Broadway and Hollywood standards of the early 20th century – a selection of classics known as the “Great American Songbook” – and receives applications each year from hundreds of teen hopefuls.
Finalists rank among the nation’s top teen vocalists and are considered “tomorrow’s stage, screen and TV stars in the making,” according to Songbook Foundation founder Michael Feinstein.
Tara Lacy, an Academy participant and rising senior at Carmel High School, said she was honored to share a stage with the five-time Grammy nominee.
“We’re doing workshops, masterclasses and mentoring sessions all week… and it just means so much to me to be able to study this kind of music,” she said with tears in her eyes.
Lacy first fell in love with classic show tunes and timeless American melodies as a toddler. Her parents said she watched Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals “over and over,” and was singing along by age three with no prior musical training.
“I guess it’s been a life-long journey [for me to arrive at the Songbook finals],” said Lacy.
Hayden Elefante, a fellow finalist and Zionsville Community High School student, also started singing as a child and found himself inexplicably drawn to songs created for musical theater and Hollywood musical film.
The works of George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers and others are “more than just melodies,” he explained.
“You have to tap into the audience’s emotion and really live the experience,” said Elefante. “When I study new lyrics, I try to think of an experience that happened in my past life… You really have to put your heart into it.”
His performance Friday morning at the Songbook Showcase drew cheers from the audience at Carmel’s Palladium concert hall.
“I think I’ll continue doing this [professionally after high school],” Elefante told 24-Hour News 8. “Maybe music and movies… I want to be like Hugh Jackman!”
Haley Burgh, another finalist from Center Grove High School in Greenwood, said she also hopes to pursue a career in music.
“I’m still soaking all of this in,” she said Friday following her Showcase performance. “I’m so grateful to be doing what I love and I’m starting to think about college auditions.”
Lacy, however, revealed she’s considering a career in broadcast media. She noted similarities in the work of Songbook performers and journalists.
“These songs [in the Great American Songbook are] more of a storytelling type of song,” she said. “It’s all about connecting with people to tell a good story.”