My name is Sophia Connell.

I go to Niskyuna High School and I am a singer <i>♪ Armida, ♪ </i> <i>♪ dispietata!

♪ </i> <i>♪ Colla forza d' abisso ♪ </i> <i>♪ Rapirmi al caro ciel de' miei </i> <i>contenti!

♪ </i> <i>♪ E quì con duolo eterno ♪ </i> I sing Lascia ch'io pianga, which is written by Handel.

It is from the opera, Rinaldo.

And it's all about.

It's sung from the perspective of a girl who's being held captive.

So it's all about being set free and wanting to be set free, I say.

libertà Which is Italian for liberty and freedom.

So it's all about that.

<i>♪ lascia mi piangere ♪ </i> <i>♪ Lascia ch'io pianga ♪ </i> <i>♪ Mia cruda sorte ♪ </i> It's super fun to act because it's from an opera.

It involves theater.

And the, the way arias work is, there's a repeated part, and in the end you can add ornaments, which is essentially classical riffing.

So you can make it a little bit different, add a little bit of artistic creativity.

It's it's fun.

<i>♪ E che sospiri ♪ </i> <i>♪ La libertà ♪ </i> The challenging aspects of this piece would be some of the vocal control.

Like when I'm switching notes quickly, it's easy to kind of get it muddled and trying to keep it each note sounding good.

And another challenging part of the piece is the high notes, I'd say here and there.

<i>♪ La libertà ♪ </i> I've always loved to sing.

Like, even since I was little.

I've done choirs since fourth grade.

And I've always just enjoyed it as, like a way to express myself.

And my freshman year, I wasn't able to take choir because of, like, a scheduling conflict at school.

And that was kind of a huge stepping point to be like, no, like, this is something I have to do, like, and I was so happy to come back sophomore year and continue.

<i>♪ Il duol in franga ♪ </i> <i>♪ queste ritorte ♪ </i> <i>♪ de miei martiri ♪ </i> <i>♪ sol perpieta ♪ </i> I was nominated by my teacher, Mrs.

Pizzino-Catalano.

I would like to thank my parents for all their support.

Like, no matter what I do, my teacher obviously Mrs.

Pizzino-Catalano, she has been so supportive and helped me grow so much as a singer and performer.

and Mrs.

Hawk, my accompanist, for being so supportive as well and coming here today.

<i>♪ E che sospiri ♪ </i> <i>♪ La libertà ♪ </i>