Photo courtesy of Robert Davezac
Sophomore Andrew Bonomolo started his singing career at a very young age. It all started in his early childhood when he would watch classical musical movies like The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music, which sparked an interest in him to sing and act at an older age. The first public performance Bonomolo had was in first grade. His elementary school teacher “forced” him to sing the song All I Want for Christmas [is my two front teeth] in the annual Christmas show.
“I was scared to do it back then, but I’m glad I did because it made me realize that I liked to sing as a hobby,” Bonomolo said.
Throughout the rest of elementary school, he participated in talent shows and began to take an interest in musical theater as he entered middle school.
Junior Sierra Blackwell has been a friend of Bonomolo’s since the eighth grade. They met at Bonomolo’s vocal concert where Blackwell went up to compliment him on his singing.
“When I first met him he was surprisingly humble for how talented he was,” Blackwell said. “[When I complimented him], he was so nice about it and didn’t give off a cocky impression at all, even though he had every right to.”
Blackwell would now just describe Bonomolo as a positive person in general.
“He’s very bubbly” Blackwell said. “He always gives off a positive vibe. He’s just so happy all the time and nice to everybody he knows.”
Now, Bonomolo has been singing with a vocal coach in Chapel Hill to help him improve his voice as well as participating in a few competitions along the way. Bonomolo placed first in a national competition called National Association of Teachers Singing (NATS) last summer in Chicago, Illinois.
“When I heard I got first place I was super excited,” Bonomolo said. “It was also just a lot of fun in general.”
His singing doesn’t just go on outside of school, but very much happens in school too. Bonomolo has been a part of the a cappella group, Pitch Please, for two years as one of the lead soloists.
“[Andrew] is obviously a very incredible singer,” said Matthew Hanson, vocal teacher and advisor of Pitch Please. “Just for someone at a young age to have that much skill and control over their voice, just to have that tone, is a very rare thing to have. It’s something he’s got really figured out at such a young age.”
Bonomolo is thrilled to be a soloist in the group, let alone be in the group at all.
“I enjoy being with the people I think that’s one of the best things about it. Everybody in there is like a family,” Bonomolo said. “Everybody is so close and I think that’s a big part in creating things like music. You have to be close to one another in order to understand the emotions.”
Junior Samantha Wyrick met Bonomolo when she was a freshman but didn’t really start talking to him until this year.
“His voice is what makes him stand out,” Wyrick said “He’s very talented at singing and acting.”
Bonomolo also has an interest in acting and does some shows outside of school.
“[Being up on stage] is almost an out of body experience, that’s the only way I can describe it,” Bonomolo said.
Bonomolo has been in two shows outside of school with Playmakers at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC). Playmakers holds a summer program where students get the opportunity to come and perform in professional musicals and plays. He was recently in Violet and last year was in Guys and Dolls.
“It was really cool to perform on a stage where professional actors have worked and people from Broadway have come down and work there too,” Bonomolo said. “I was thrilled when I got the part because there are also a lot of good people that work there as well.”
Bonomolo hopes that these experiences will help him build up to his main goal, which is to someday perform on Broadway in New York.
On Broadway there are a lot of male actors and singers, but within high school there is a small male participation in theater.
“For me it’s a good thing because it gives me more opportunities; I know that sounds kind of selfish,” Bonomolo said. “It’s not the same as looking at females. A lot of females sing more than guys do so I think that’s definitely a good thing for me, but I think as far as in the world, if more guys were involved it would be a lot better.”
– By Emma Quasny
