AHA Vocalist Named to Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall

 The new year brought exciting news for vocalist Deanna Frassa. The New Milford resident has been accepted to the highly selective High School Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall. Frassa, a member of the Class of 2022 at the Academy of the Holy Angels, will be singing with other talented teens in early February.

She auditioned for the Honors Performance Series after being nominated by AHA Choral Director Lisa Marciano.

“The second I read what the program entailed, I knew I had to audition,” Frassa said. “I am so glad that I did!”
She describes herself as “beyond excited” to be part of the honors chorus.

“After searching through our emails, almost simultaneously, my mom and I found an email saying that I was accepted to the program! We were ecstatic; it felt like all of my hard work had finally paid off,” Frassa said.
 
She has performed at Hershey Park, and at various locations in New Jersey and New York City, but has never been inside Carnegie Hall. She is already preparing for her first rehearsal.
 
Frassa sings soprano and alto. She performs Soprano I with AHA’s Concert Choir and Seraphima, the Academy’s audition-only a cappella ensemble, where she is section leader. She will sing Alto I at Carnegie Hall.
 
Music has been part of Frassa’s life since she was very young.
 
“From my kitchen concerts with my pink radio and microphone at my side in my youth, to my numerous theater and choral productions, to now having the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall, music has been a constant in my life,” she recalled.
 
In addition to her studies of vocal music with Mrs. Marciano, Frassa has been taking private voice lessons for nine years.
 
“I play a few musical instruments, all for the fun of it,” Frassa added. She took piano lessons to learn about notes, scales, and chords, and later taught herself to play acoustic and electric guitars, the ukulele, and drums. 
 
Frassa will major in neuroscience at college, but plans to stay connected to music.
 
“I hope to join my future university’s choir and a cappella groups, participate in theater productions, continue playing my instruments, and possibly go to a few open mic nights here and there. Who knows? Maybe I’ll pick up a minor in something involving music. Time will tell.”
 
Currently, Frassa is involved with the award-winning AHA Theater Department and the Angel Ambassador program. She is also a Kairos retreat leader. Her academic and artistic achievements, leadership, character, and service have led to her induction into the National Honor Society, the National Science Honor Society, the National Thespian Honor Society, and Rho Kappa (National History Honor Society).
 
She is teen leader of the music ministry and a leading teen member of the Bergen County youth group of the American Special Children’s Pilgrimage Group. This organization works with special needs young adults and participates in special needs Masses, fundraisers, and a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France. Frassa also volunteers at several Bergen County food banks and shelters. She has been a Girl Scout for 13 years, and is working toward her Gold Award, the organization’s top honor. 

Marciano recognizes Frassa’s ability to tap into the power of music. Last spring, Frassa sang the introduction to “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” as Seraphima performed in the AHA gym.

“She sang this song while she was going through a personally rough time,” Marciano explained. “She was able to channel her emotions into the music, which resulted in this cry of hope amidst so many negative things surrounding all of us at the time.” She called her student’s solo “a sublime moment in a gym, where all was well for just those few minutes.”

Founded by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1879, the Academy of the Holy Angels is the oldest private girls’ school in Bergen County. While AHA is steeped in Catholic tradition, this prestigious school serves young women from many cultural and religious backgrounds.