Wichita Collegiate School is celebrating it's 50th anniversary with fine arts performances by returning alum from around the globe including, Soprano Rochelle Small-Clifford. KMUW’s Carla Eckels reports…
Small-Clifford is a 1993 graduate of the independent college prep school. The Wichita native has made varied appearances in her music career from ground zero in New York City to guest performances in Europe.
She enjoys singing in several languages including English, French German, Latin, Spanish and Italian and is equally at home in recital and operatic repertoire such as, Chililbelsogno by Puccini. Small-Clifford says Collegiate is the birthplace of her talent.
"It's such a forward motion institution for learning," she says. "They have such amazing instructors there who really respect that teacher-student relationship as being quite sacred and they do everything they can to ignite that passion for learning. I have such deep respect for that. It fuels my spirit to witness it and it’s something I take back to New York with me.”
Small-Clifford will perform with other alums at the Orpheum on Saturday night. She will also have a recital at Collegiate on Sunday afternoon.
She will sing traditional opera, gospel and musical theatre repertoire.
