Our artists of the year with STA Head Vance Wilson, NCS Head Kathleen O'Neill Jamieson, and Performing Arts Department Chair Ben Hutto. Elisa Passamani NCS '02 was the featured guest speaker. Kudos to event cochairs (l-r) Bonnie LePard and Joelle Delaplace. Guest Speaker Ms. Passamani '02 with students at the opening reception.

Shafali Jalota ’13 Voted NCS Performing Artist of the Year

Jalota and Joshua Harmon (STA ’13) were elected as this year's Outstanding Performing Artists by their NCS and STA peers.
Shafali Jalota ’13 and Joshua Harmon (STA ’13) have been named the 2013 NCS/STA Outstanding Performing Artists. Each year, an NCS senior and a STA senior are selected by a combined vote of the NCS and STA Upper School students. The recipients have their names inscribed on a plaque. The award, established in 2002, is donated by former STA parent Joyce Brently and her son Nick, STA ’02.  The winners were announced at the annual Performing Arts Banquet held May 21 at NCS (the two schools alternate hosting the banquet). 

The evening’s special guest speaker was Elise Passamani NCS ’02, the first NCS recipient of the Outstanding Performing Artist award in 2002. During her time at NCS, Elisa was a Chorister and also performed as the female lead in the schools’ productions of South Pacific and Kiss Me Kate. At Wellesley she pursued acting, snagging a small role in the film “Mona Lisa Smile," which she humorously recounted in her remarks.

Most recently, Elise has been a choral scholar at St John’s College, Oxford, where she is currently a doctoral student, writing a thesis about the comedies of Molière. “The singing I did in Oxford was easily the most challenging singing I’ve ever done, and amazingly, I found myself very much on equal footing with my fellow English singers, many of whom had trained as choristers at King’s Cambridge and similar institutions,” she said. “This was entirely because of the musical base I’d gained over the full nine years I was a student here [at NCS]. Rest assured, what you receive in arts training on the Cathedral Close is highly unusual and exceedingly refined.” You can read the full text of Elise’s remarks here. 

The audience was also treated to a special rendition of a song from  “Oklahoma," sung by performing arts faculty members Scott Wood, Mark Bishop, Charles Bowers, and Ben Hutto; a short video excerpt can be seen here.

The NCS and STA communities extend their thanks to event co-chairs Joelle Delaplace (mother of Paola Maseda ’13) and Bonnie LePard (mother of Nelson Reed STA ‘13) for a wonderful evening!
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    • Our artists of the year with STA Head Vance Wilson, NCS Head Kathleen O'Neill Jamieson, and Performing Arts Department Chair Ben Hutto.

    • Elisa Passamani NCS '02 was the featured guest speaker.

    • Kudos to event cochairs (l-r) Bonnie LePard and Joelle Delaplace.

    • Guest Speaker Ms. Passamani '02 with students at the opening reception.