Senior Mary Kaliszewski has been involved in the arts ever since she can remember. It has been a passion of hers since elementary school, where she started singing in her school choir. Since then, she has never stopped being interested in music. At KO, Mary contributes vocally to the singing group Voce, and she also lends her voice to the theater department, participating in KO’s plays and musicals.
When Mary was younger, she loved to sing in the car. “I used to think that the music on the radio came from miniature people singing in the trunk of my car,” she said, “and when I turned the radio on they would start singing, so I was so excited to be the one singing.” Although she has outgrown that phase in her life, she still loves singing in the car. “I sing half of a Taylor Swift album on my way to school and the other half on my way home every day,” she said.
Mary started auditioning for different shows that her school was performing in third grade. She worked her way up from various ensemble roles to playing Peter Pan in her middle school’s production of “Peter Pan.” At her previous high school, she was in a production of “Back to the 80s.” “It was a performance of various songs from the 80s strung together with a kind of bad plot, but the music was really fun,” she said.
Mary started taking voice lessons the summer before her junior year, which has allowed her to develop her sound and learn about the technical side of singing, such as sound placement and how to use vowels most optimally. “The one-on-one feedback was especially helpful because while it was a little nerve-wracking, I think it definitely helped me improve,” Mary said.
Not only is Mary musically gifted, she is also a phenomenal actress. Mary played Tilly, the lead in “Melancholy Play,” in her junior year, which was her first experience with KO’s theater department. “It was really exciting,” she said, “and I was able to make a lot of friends through the fall play, which was amazing.”
Mary was also cast as Cora in last winter’s “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and was taken with learning various skills in order to play the part. “I had to learn how to tap dance, which was surprisingly fun considering I never took dance classes or anything,” she said. “I just had to learn over the course of the musical, and while it was challenging, it turned out to be enjoyable.”
In terms of the musical opportunities this year due to COVID-19, Mary was glad that there was an option for students who love performing. “I think it is really great that Mr. Reynolds was able to come up with something for us to do,” Mary said, “because learning and growing is really important, especially for students that still have time left to perform at KO.”
Mary has loved singing as a member of Voce and Oxfordians for the past two years. Singing in a group is one of her favorite things to do, and she considers the repertoire for all female ensembles to be exciting and fun to learn. “One of my favorite memories is from the Candlelight Concert my junior year, when Voce was singing ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ and we all forgot the words,” Mary said. “It was definitely not optimal, but we just smiled and sang through it.” Voce and Oxfordians have allowed her to form close friendships with her fellow vocalists and greatly improved her time at KO.
The KO community is very grateful for Mary and everything she brought to the music department, and we wish her luck in her future endeavors!
