Lily Holgate has been gliding her bow across a violin since kindergarten and finally decided that she wanted to make her passion her life. The freshly graduated Saratoga Springs senior already has a sign that this career in music has a good chance of working out, as winner of the Outstanding Performer award given out by Schenectady Light Opera Company each year.
`I guess they just really enjoyed my performance, my singing and my acting, which I’m really honored to hear,` said Holgate, who won the same award in 2008. `I think they like how I’ve added to the shows and my character, because I played two very different characters both times.`
Scouts from the opera company scope out the local musicals in search of the best performers in the Capital Region. The Saratoga Springs high school drama club won the first-place award for the region’s best high school musical for the March production of `Bells are Ringing.` The drama club also won a top award in 2008 and second place in 2009. Seventeen high schools, from Columbia to Saratoga County, participated in the competition.
Drama club director Bob Berenis said seven other students were nominated for the `Outstanding Performer` award and that the club has proved `high schoolers can put on shows of high quality and entertain their audiences.`
Holgate has always touted herself as a musician but seemed to always have the acting bug in her blood, with parents that have always been in theater. She said she joined drama club her freshman year for a change of pace, and has been having fun onstage ever since.
`High school gave me an opportunity to try my hand at acting. I always knew I kind of wanted to do it but never got the chance,` said Holgate.
Musicianship and masquerading onstage are two very different experiences, said Holgate, but she’s grown to love them both.
`Violin is primarily something you do for yourself. You can play in orchestras and chamber music and string quartets to interact, but with acting you’re putting on a show with a bunch of different types of people. It’s more of a teamwork thing rather than an individual effort,` said Holgate. `You learn how to work with people and every little thing you do benefits the group as a whole; that’s really nice.`
Holgate said it took her awhile to realize music was what she `absolutely loved` but is now all set to attend Purchase College Conservatory of Music in the fall, studying violin performance.
`When it becomes such a steady part of your life like that, sometimes you forget just how important it is; it becomes a way of life rather than something that you really love to do and I realized this year that making music with my violin, or even with singing, is one of the most fulfilling things,` said Holgate.
She said she plans to take advantage of everything college offers and immerse herself in as much musical variety as possible.
`I would love to do a whole mixed bag of things; play in an orchestra, string quartet, teach music, have the chance to sing with a really good group of musicians sometime. Being able to combine all my talents would be really nice,` said Holgate.
A mixed bag is exactly what she presented at a concert on Tuesday, June 29. Holgate organized a concert to celebrate the culmination of her musical life, thus far, and toast the future.
`It [was] a combination of violin and voice; my year all put into one concert. I thought it would be a really nice way to wrap up all the hard work I’ve put into both things over my high school career, and even before that; wrap it up before I go off to college,` said Holgate, who was involved with Empire State Youth Orchestra and part of a number of different chamber music groups and choruses through the years.
Holgate moved to Saratoga Springs from New York City in fifth grade, so she said heading back downstate for her college years feels a bit full circle and she thinks it will help her reach her dreams.
`It’ll be great to be near the city, I’ve always loved it there and seen myself living back there eventually,` said Holgate. `If I could perfect my talent to the caliber of being part of a huge group or orchestra, that would be great, but for now I don’t really know what I want to do. I want to learn all different types of music, not just classical, so I’ll play around with jazz and more contemporary sounds. I’m just excited to work with new musicians and to be exposed to different people and sounds.`
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