Senior reflects on singing journey through solo recital in McAfee

When her parents first heard her sing “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid in the back of the car, senior Ankitha Sarvesh, then a 3-year-old, was immediately put in voice lessons.

Fourteen years later, and Sarvesh is looking back on a very different milestone: her first solo recital. On the evening of Aug. 23, on the familiar stage of the McAfee Center, she performed a variety of music for her friends and family.

“My mom always wanted to put on a show before I graduated,” Sarvesh said. “I thought it would be pretty cool to do the show with all my grandparents and friends around.”

Sarvesh started her singing journey with elementary school musicals and began studying the art more seriously with music teacher Margie Alejandro in sixth grade.

With Alejandro’s help, Sarvesh started preparing for the recital in March and rehearsed the 15 songs on a daily basis for four months.

“[Even] after preparing so much, I was still nervous about completely forgetting words because of nerves,” Sarvesh said. “Another great fear I had before the show was falling onstage, because I am such a klutz when I wear high heels.”

Luckily, Sarvesh’s fears were unfounded; despite facing an audience of 380 people, she performed everything from the Broadway tune “Reflection” by Mulan to the German classic “Wie Melodien” by Johannes Brahms without missing a single note.

Sarvesh said this performance will not be her last; she plans to continue studying music in college.

“Next year, I will definitely continue singing either in [a] choir,  as a soloist or even [in an] a capella [group], which seems to be increasingly popular these days,” Sarvesh said.