By Aleen Anderias<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UNIVERSITY CITY, SHARJAH \u2014 Two American University of Sharjah students \u2013 Shahd Mohammed and Vighnesh Prasad \u2013 will form part of the chorus for Handel\u2019s Messiah<\/em> performed Dec. 13 at the Dubai Opera. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Interviewed Oct. 16, Mohammed said that she auditioned in front the conductor at The Fridge, which bills itself online as \u201can independent artist and entertainment agency,\u201d in Alserkal Avenue, and where she and Prasad are members of The Fridge Choir. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mohammed added that the experience was less intimidating than expected as conductor Rob Johnston was welcoming and understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Initially, Mohammed said she had signed up for an alto role but decided to audition with a soprano piece from the oratorio How Beautiful are the Feet of Them<\/em>. Later, she said, she was placed as an alto in the large chorus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She credited Prasad for alerting her to the opportunity to sing in the Messiah<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe was in one of those group chats that always have Google Form sheets, audition letters, and opportunities,\u201d she said. \u201cHe sent me the Google Form for the audition that asked me about my background, who I am, how old I am, and other information.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prasad, a student in the master\u2019s degree program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), has been part of The Fridge\u2019s Festival Chorus since 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve always been a part of their productions since Carols<\/em> by Candlelight in 2022,\u201d he added during an Oct. 19 interview. \u201cI had a Christmas performance with them at EXPO, and ever since then I\u2019ve been in their database and whatever events they\u2019ve had, I\u2019ve attended.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prasad added that this is The Fridge Choir members\u2019 first major performance after winter 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prasad said he found the audition process nerve-wracking, auditioning with an Aria piece titled Danza, danza, fanciulla gentile<\/em> by Francesco Durante. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe challenges were to get into that zone because for auditions you usually sing songs from pop culture but, this Aria, I had learnt it from voice instructors,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Prasad, Handel\u2019s Messiah<\/em> features two choruses, a small one and a large one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are 16 pieces shared by the large and small chorus, with the small chorus singing slightly more songs,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prasad said he\u2019s part of the smaller chorus and is placed as a tenor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSince the small chorus is an intimate group of people our rehearsals are much longer than the large chorus and we are scheduled to come in from 10 a.m. till 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays,\u201d Prasad said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the large chorus rehearses on those days from 2-5 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Aleen Anderias UNIVERSITY CITY, SHARJAH \u2014 Two American University of Sharjah students \u2013 Shahd Mohammed and Vighnesh Prasad \u2013 will form part of the chorus for Handel\u2019s Messiah performed Dec. 13 at the Dubai Opera. Interviewed Oct. 16, Mohammed said that she auditioned in front the conductor at The Fridge, which bills itself online […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[33,46,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-4760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-campus-news","8":"tag-aus","9":"tag-culture","10":"tag-sharjah-uae"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}