Benefit Concert to Feature
Blind St. Paul Teenager
by Craig Dunn
An evening of marvelous music
is approaching for Twin Cities audience members. VSA arts of Minnesota
and Young Audiences of Minnesota will present two, little-known but
highly-talented disabled individuals in a concert at Hopkins High
School on Saturday evening, September 17 at 7:00 p.m. The concert
features Tony DeBlois, a pianist and vocalist from Massachusetts,
and Lucy Sirianni, a 16-year-old vocalist from St. Paul. Proceeds
from the concert will enable both organizations to continue artist
residencies and other collaborative arts programs at the Minnesota
State Academy for the Blind in Faribault.
The concert will open
with Lucy Sirianni, a young woman who has been blind since birth
and who has been singing for as long as she can remember. Lucy
is home schooled and has received five years of vocal and music
instruction from Roderick Teh. Earlier this year Lucy won second
place in the Joyce Walsh Young Artists’ Competition,
a national contest for teenage musicians with disabilities. As a
result, she performed at the National Federation of Music Clubs conference
in Austin, Texas. For the fifth straight year she is attending the
Ars Musica Summer Institute in Minneapolis, performing roles including
Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, and Mozart’s Vitellia
in La Clemenza di Tito, Pamina in Die Zauberflóte, and the
Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro.
Lucy will perform operatic
repertoire at the September concert. She says, “I love to
perform and listen to classical music, particularly opera. It feels
more natural with my voice than anything else, and I also love
to listen to and attend operas. I enjoy the challenge, and I like
having the opportunity to sing in foreign languages, as I really
enjoy languages including Spanish, Italian, and a little Latin
and French. My favorite composer is Mozart.”
Lucy plans to study
music at a conservatory and major in vocal performance so that
she can become a professional opera singer. She states, “I’m
also interested in teaching voice. There is no question that I want
to pursue music as a career!”
The headliner for the September benefit concert is Tony DeBlois.
Mr. DeBlois was also born blind and at the age of two was identified
as having autism. During his early years, Tony was found to have
exceptional musical talents that today are evidenced in his ability
to play 20 instruments and a repertoire of over 8,000 songs. Since
graduating with honors from the Berklee College of Music in Boston
he has led an improvisational jazz ensemble and performed solo shows
internationally in Ireland, Taiwan and the John F. Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
In October, Tony will introduce his sixth CD, Some Kind of Genius,
and Rodale Books will release the book Some Kind of Genius: The Extraordinary
Journey of Musical Savant Tony DeBlois.
Tickets can be purchased from Young Audiences of Minnesota, 651-292-3399,
which can take credit card orders, or VSA arts of Minnesota, 612-332-3888
(V/TTY). Advance tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for children and
seniors. At the door tickets will be $35. $10 of each ticket is tax-deductible.
Both Audio Description and ASL interpretation will be provided. Real-time
captioning will be available if requested at least one week prior
to the show.
The concert venue is Hopkins High School Auditorium, 2400 Lindbergh
Drive in Minnetonka. From Highway 169 take the Cedar Lake Road exit
(2 miles south of I-394), go west half a mile to Lindbergh Drive
and turn right (north) to the school.
For additional information
on this wonderful evening of music benefiting students at the Minnesota
State Academy for the Blind, visit at
www.youngaudiencesofmn.org or http://mn.vsarts.org/.
