Greetings,

If you've ever been to an awards ceremony, a convocation, or a symposium, you've likely heard orators, that is, live announcers at events.

Yesterday, I had one such privilege participating in the 286th Convocation at the University of Western Ontario, graduating with a Bachelor of Musical Arts degree from the Don Wright Faculty of Music. The faculties of Engineering and Graduate Studies were also present.

The keynote speaker was Don Smith, founder of EllisDon, one of the most successful building firms in the world. He was awarded an honourary Doctor of Laws for contributions made to his community of London and also to the world, giving us wonderful gathering places including the Skydome in Toronto, now the Rogers Centre, to name one.

One orator who stands out is Theodore (Ted) Baerg, a baritone and voice instructor at the Don Wright Faculty of Music. It was actually Ted Baerg who was on my audition jury with Dr. Alvin Reimer several years ago.

Needless to say, having someone of Theodore Baerg's calibre announcing your name in front of thousands of people is a real treat. Professor Richard Semmens (Music History) and Professor Baerg (Performance) both confirmed the pronunciation of Ciccarelli (in Canada, the "C"s are pronounced like the letter "S" - same pronunciation as former NHL hockey player Dino Ciccarelli's name) and also ensured that every graduates name from the Faculty of Music, no matter how difficult to pronounce, was given its proper due with elegant diction.

I was surprised with a handshake from the President of UWO, Dr. Paul Davenport, enroute to the conferring of my degree by Dr. John Doerksen, which was indeed something special and memorable.

I wanted to be sure to get a blog post out to you yesterday before I graduated, and thought that this (today's post) would be a good opportunity to talk about orators and also share a bit more about who I am with you.

Many voice actors start in the field of music and musical theatre. It is in the performing arts that the passion for what you do is realized and developed.

If you can relate to that statement, leave a comment.

Cheers,

Stephanie Ciccarelli, Bachelor of Musical Arts

Photograph courtesy of David Ciccarelli, portrait of Stephanie with her mother, Brenda.