Senior vocalist holds audience captive

Senior Cassandra Hernandez captivated the crowd as she performed her senior vocal recital Tuesday, April 10 in the Snow Fine Arts Auditorium.
Hernandez said the recital displayed her knowledge, skill and training.
“Every instrument does it,” she said. “Every voice too.”
She said the recital was graded and judged by her voice teachers. She said it was very important to pass.
“It pretty much displays whether I deserve to earn my degree or not,” she said.
She said that although giving her senior recital was fun, it stressed her out.
“If you fail, you probably wont be able to graduate,” she said.
She said it takes years of preparation for a senior recital, but one truly solidifies the components of the performance at the beginning of their senior year.
She said she had performed most of the songs in her recital many times before and felt confident in her abilities to perform them.
“It all has to be memorized,” she said.
Hernandez sang 13 songs and performed one more in an encore.
She said her favorite song to sing was “My Man’s Gone Now,” from the opera “Porgy and Bess,” which was composed by George Gershwin.
“It was hugely emotional,” she said. “Her husband just died and she’s all alone. Her man’s gone now.”
She said that there was a lot of wailing in the song.
“It was really neat,” she said.
She received a standing ovation after her initial performance, which she said was “awesome.” She then treated the audience to an encore song, Coldplay’s  “Fix You,” which she performed with UCA’s a Capella group Purple Reign.
Sophomore Jennifer Hulsizer said the encore song was her favorite.
“It was really sweet performance,” she said. “She’s the one that led the group this year and it was kind of like a good-bye. They’ve all gotten close this year and they’re sad to see her go.”
Hernandez said she really appreciated the encouraging audience.
“Everyone in the audience was either people I love or people who love music,” she said.
She said that even if she messed up, she knew she was going to be supported no matter what.
“I felt so incredibly loved,” she said.
Senior Chelsea Knight said she thought Cassandra was amazing.
“She really blew me away by how talented she was,” Knight said.
She said Hernandez is one of her best friends and it was awesome to see her excel at something she knew Hernandez loved and something God has gifted her with.
Hernandez said because she’s a music education major, she will teach next semester and then graduate in December. She said her plans after graduation, though not solidified, would involve either performing or teaching.
“We’ll see what opportunities arise, because I thoroughly enjoy both,” she said.
Hernandez said she is thankful for all the opportunities she’s had at UCA, including the types of music she’s been exposed to and the places she’s been able to perform.
“It’s given me so many opportunities to figure out whether I like to perform or not and I do,” she said. “I’m not just a choir kid. There’s more to singing at UCA than just that.”