Woonsocket native Jacob Chippo to sing with Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra Going solo
WOONSOCKET – As a child growing up in Woonsocket, Jacob Chippo’s love of music and singing was sparked by his mother’s cassette tape recordings of songs that ranged from Celine Dionne’s “My Heart Will Go On“to Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” and everything in between.
“She had a very weird range of musical tastes,” says Chippo, who would sing along to those tapes every chance he could.
“I was always singing,” says Chippo, who eventually joined the chorus in fourth grade at the Leo J. Savoie School where he received his first formal instruction.
But it wasn’t until arriving at Woonsocket High School, where he graduated in 2013, that he was able to expand his technical ability to sing and refine his skills at individual and ensemble levels.
It was there that he also realized that he was a pretty gifted tenor.
Now a junior at Rhode Island College where he is majoring in music education and vocal performance, Chippo, 20, is preparing to make his professional debut as a soloist and he’s going to do it before hundreds of people at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence.
Chippo, the son of Lorene Kelman of Woonsocket, is one of four music students who will serve as soloists in Michael Haydn’s
Missa Sancti Gabrielis and Franz Schubert’s Magnificat in C Major performed by the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra on March 12.
The concert will also feature the Jump! Dance Company directed by 2014 Pell Award recipient Mary Paula Hunter, which will perform the Rhode Island premiere of Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass.
The four students, which include soprano Alyssa Weathersby, New England Conservatory; mezzo-soprano Susannah Thornton, The Longy School of Music; and baritone Chase Gutierrez, The Hartt School of Music, were the winners of the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra’s 8th Annual Collegiate Vocal Competition held last October at the Music Mansion in Providence. They were chosen from among 23 candidates from 14 institutions of higher education in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
According to Edward Markward, now in his 29th season as conductor of the Chorale, the group represented “a record number of entries and a record-setting standard of quality.”
Although Chippo is very active in his musical endeavors at the collegiate level, the Rhode Island Civic Chorale & Orchestra’s annual concert next month is his profession- al debut.
Since its inception in 1957, the Rhode Island Civic Chorale & Orchestra, founded by Dr. Louis Pichierri, has been a significant presence in the Rhode Island arts community. RICCO has enjoyed continuous growth and community support for more than 50 years, presenting a season of at least three major choral concerts each year. Its repertoire includes major works of choral literature, and lesser known artistic gems.
Chippo and the three other winners will have two opportunities to rehearse before March 12.
“I’ve have experience singing before an audience and it’s always a bit nerve racking,” he says. “I’m a little nervous about this, but it’s not overwhelming.”
Looking on from the crowd on March 10 will be Chippo’s voice teacher, Donald St. Jean, an adjunct professor at RIC and a full-time faculty mem- ber at Salve Regina University.
Chippo is also very active musically outside of school. He’s an active choir member at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Providence, and he co-teaches the choral program at Robert J. Coelho Middle School in Attleboro.
His career goal is to teach music and voice on the collegiate level while maintaining a professional singing career.
“Music and singing is something I’ve always done and something I will always do,” he said.