Arts & Entertainment

Five Towns Teens to Perform in the Alps

Although he’s only been singing on stage for about five years, Jose Romero of Inwood will soon travel for his second international performance.

The recent Lawrence High School graduate, along with classmate Shana Mireku, will embark for Switzerland on July 16 to perform at the Verbier Festival.

Romero said that he started singing at a very late age, performing for the first time in the chorus in a production of Cinderella when he was in seventh grade. This fall he will attend a five-year program at Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts in Pittsburgh.

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“I am so happy because I feel as if my talent will get me somewhere someday,” Romero told Patch. “It's like, I'm just a kid from the Five Towns, however I am already going to do my second international tour. It brings my hopes up for the future.”

After his first experience performing, Romero — who never had official training — said his “voice developed” and he landed the role of Beast in his eighth grade production of Beauty and the Beast. Since then, he’s been in many school productions and was the first freshman to be selected for show choir.

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Romero has performed at the NYSSMA Solo Festival for the last two years and was selected to go to Rochester with classmate Nicole Eras to sing in the All State Chorus this past November. He sang as tenor soloist for Mozart's Regina Ceoli at the NYSSMA All County Chorus last year.

Lawrence High School’s Christina Mazzitelli Academy of Fine and Performing Arts was invited by The Collegiate Chorale to send students to audition for its mentoring program, Side by Side. Romero auditioned successfully his freshmen year. The choir is invited to perform internationally every year, with its most recent trips to perform in Israel and Austria for the Salzburg Festival with the Israel Philharmonic.

"The trip is a wonderful opportunity for Lawrence music students," said Richard Buckley, coordinator of LHS music program and chorus director. "This program has been running for about 10 years. Only three schools in the Metropolitan area are a part of it."

The Inwood youth is currently rehearsing for the group’s performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Choral Fantasy and Schubert’s Mass in E flat major. He will also be in the chorus for a performance of the first act of Verdi’s Otello.

“The experience I gained last year in Israel was amazing,” Romero said. “I met professional singers from Broadway and became friends with them. I know I will get the same experience, if not more, this year.”


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