By Helen Peng
As ninth grade student Emma Lee took the stage during the Arts Week Assembly to perform “You’ll Be Found” with the choir, I remember being completely mesmerized while sitting in the audience. When I heard her individual voice and got a chance to know her better, I realized that the vitality I heard in her voice came from a special place of deep, genuine love for singing.
Originally from Korea, Emma was taught the piano at a young age and began her singing career learning opera. After two years of training, she moved to Vancouver in 2014 and pursued it further by joining the choir. In addition, Emma’s mother, one of Emma’s most important life influences, played classical music for her and drew art with her from when she was a child. From these memories, she builds her genuine passion for the arts.
With her diverse education in the performing arts, Emma takes on an open mindset about the arts. Not only does she think that art is a means of creatively expressing oneself, she believes that everyone has a means of expressing themselves through different kinds of art, whether it be in the form of visual or performing arts. In her journey, she has experience other forms of art, such as visual art, through courses at Collingwood. In the end, although she has tremendous respect for all the arts, she chose choir because that is where she could express her most authentic self.
As ninth grade student Emma Lee took the stage during the Arts Week Assembly to perform “You’ll Be Found” with the choir, I remember being completely mesmerized while sitting in the audience. When I heard her individual voice and got a chance to know her better, I realized that the vitality I heard in her voice came from a special place of deep, genuine love for singing.
Originally from Korea, Emma was taught the piano at a young age and began her singing career learning opera. After two years of training, she moved to Vancouver in 2014 and pursued it further by joining the choir. In addition, Emma’s mother, one of Emma’s most important life influences, played classical music for her and drew art with her from when she was a child. From these memories, she builds her genuine passion for the arts.
With her diverse education in the performing arts, Emma takes on an open mindset about the arts. Not only does she think that art is a means of creatively expressing oneself, she believes that everyone has a means of expressing themselves through different kinds of art, whether it be in the form of visual or performing arts. In her journey, she has experience other forms of art, such as visual art, through courses at Collingwood. In the end, although she has tremendous respect for all the arts, she chose choir because that is where she could express her most authentic self.
Emma loves genres of music which she claims is at two ends of a spectrum: classical and pop. However, for her, the connection between the two genres is how much fun she has when playing and listening to them. Classical music has been deeply integrated into her life, while pop is associated with her present self. While talking about this, she mentions Ariana Grande with a shy smile.
Last month at Kiwanis, a festival which the choir attends annually, Emma performed a spontaneous solo which she was extremely proud of. In the future, she hopes to continue to develop her voice through choir performances and solos like these while pursuing engineering in university. I have interviewed many artists who claim that they will continue to do art as a hobby, but, for once, I truly believe it. I could hear in Emma’s voice that she will pursue her art with absolute integrity–her strong foundation and pure love for singing has pushed her this far and will push her even further in the future.