Abby McHenry
Senior Mackenzie DeRosa has been in numerous operas, concert choir and Mocapella performances since her freshman year at Florida Southern.
DeRosa’s favorite project she has been a part of this semester was working with the Chamber Singers and touring with the group. She got the opportunity to tour schools and churches in the central Florida area.
“We went and sang all day for a weekend and that was really really awesome and really really exciting,” DeRosa said.
She started getting involved with the Chamber Singers after being involved in concert choir her freshman year. It did not fit in her schedule senior year so she decided to try out for Chamber Singers because she still wanted to be involved in choir.
DeRosa has also been involved in the Mocappella acapella music group since her freshman year. She said she has always been a fan of acapella music, so when she found out FSC had an acapella group she was so excited to talk with them at Blastoff!. She had doubts about trying out, but a friend encouraged her to go.
“I just pulled a song out of nowhere and I auditioned on a whim and then I got in,” DeRosa said. “I’ve been on the exec[utive] board ever since my sophomore year, so I’ve been really involved,” DeRosa said.
DeRosa’s favorite piece she has done with the Mocapellas is a mashup of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz and “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. She said those are two of her favorite movies of all time and have been since she was a kid.
“For a lot of reasons that one [performance] was my favorite,” DeRosa said. “The fact that I could sing it at my last concert was just the cherry on top of everything.”
DeRosa said she was used to singing classical music, but ended up enjoying opera after taking a class. DeRosa has done operas in both English and Italian and said that was a cool experience that FSC’s opera department had to offer.
“Operas are just like musicals, but like kind of on steroids,” DeRosa said. “They’re just amped up a little.”
DeRosa has a job in New Hampshire working as the the box office and house manager at the New London Martin Playhouse until September. After that she plans on auditioning and moving to New York City.