As a continuing segment from the first issue of the 2024-2025 school year, The Accolade finds out more about students on campus. For the second “Lancer Life,” staff reporter and social media team member Emily Lee interviews junior Katherine Fernandez on her singing background and thoughts on being one of the six students in Orange County [OC] selected for Hugh Jackman’s Candlelight Master Class and Segerstrom Center performance.

Question 1: How did you first get involved in choir, and what originally drew you to singing?

A: “I got involved in choir because I wanted to do it in middle school, but then for high school, I started doing it because I needed to do it to do a choir in San Juan Capistrano that I’m a part of for the Basilica. I have also been a singer for the past 10 years. I have been with my vocal coach since I was seven. It was my mom who realized that I could sing as a child, and she had my vocal coach meet with me just for fun for a while until they realized that, ‘Hey, she can actually do that,’ and nine years later, I’m still with the same coach.”

Question 2: Who have been the biggest influences or mentors in your musical journey so far?

A: “The biggest mentors that I’ve had would be my main vocal coach, Patrick Kohlieber, Mr. Duncan-Schwartz, Mr. Penuelas and then my parents. All the people I knew who did vocal lessons started singing at like four years old, so me starting at seven felt like I was kind of behind in a way. I knew I wasn’t, but it felt like I was, so for a while, I just didn’t fall in love with singing until I was older. Because of that, I was never really confident in my voice until my vocal coach convinced me, ‘Hey, you need to step out of your comfort zone.’ And then I talked to Mr. P, the theater teacher, and he also said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to step out of your comfort zone.’ So everyone just pushed me to do stuff that I wouldn’t have done by myself, and that’s why I’m here.” 

Question 3: What did the entire process of you becoming selected look like? Was there an application process, or were you nominated? Did you have to perform in front of the interviewees?

A: “Mr. Duncan-Schwartz, the choir teacher here, he’s signed up for this, so he was able to give all of us the link to send in a videotape in Google Classroom. So, I recorded a self-tape of myself singing ‘Breathe’ from ‘In the Heights,’ and I submitted it and then got a call back. I believe there were over a couple 100 students who applied, and 15 were called back to audition in person. Then, I went in person, and I sang ‘Breathe’ along with ‘When He Sees Me’ from ‘The Waitress,’ and I sang those songs in front of three panel members from Segerstrom. Later that week, they emailed me with the six people that got selected for the Master Class.”

Question 4: When you found out you were selected as one of only six students in OC for Hugh Jackman’s Candlelight Master Class, what was going through your mind? How did you feel?

A: “I was really proud of myself, just because I kind of signed up, not thinking that I would even get callbacks. I was like, ‘This will be fun to do,’ but I didn’t think I’ll get called back because there’s so many people who go to OCSA or go to all these different schools, and I was like, ‘I probably won’t get it.’ And then I got called back, and I was like, ‘I probably won’t make it past the callbacks. There’s 15 students who are probably the best of the best in Orange County.’ And then as soon as I saw the email that I got into the Master Class, I emailed Mr. D, I emailed Mr. P, I texted my vocal coach, I texted all my friends and family and I was like, ‘I just got into the class that I did not think I could get into,’ so I was just very proud of myself.”

Question 5: What does learning directly from Hugh Jackman mean to you as a young vocalist? Were you a fan of his (if so, how did you become a fan)?

A: “I discovered him through his musical theater, like through ‘The Greatest Showman’ and ‘Les Misérables.’ I never really watched his other movies like ‘Wolverine,’ so a lot of my friends were like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re meeting Wolverine,’ but I don’t know him as Wolverine. I know him as a theater kid, so it means a lot just because I get to perform in front of someone with that big of an audience, who has that much experience in the real world with performing, and he’s done so many productions that I would love to be a part of someday. And it just means a lot because I get to have feedback from someone who not only has that experience, but is someone other than the same vocal coach whom I’ve had for 10 years. So, I get to have an outside opinion on what I can do and what I can do better because my vocal coach is a vocal coach, but he’s not an actor. [Jackman] is going to help a lot with my acting, and it just means a lot to me.”

Question 6: When will the Master Class be and where?

A: “We’re having rehearsals throughout the first week of December, and then we have our Master Class, which is when we perform in the small theater for [Jackman] with our solos, and he gives us feedback, so that’s the actual class, which is on Dec. 4 from 5-7:30 p.m. And then on Dec. 5, I’ll be there from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the Segerstrom Candlelight Concert, which is when Hugh Jackman will be performing a concert for all the sponsors and donors for Segerstrom, who have contributed a lot of money, and I’ll be performing for all of them. We have been given the opportunity to perform alongside him at this concert, where we will not be performing our solos, sadly, but we will be singing in the choir behind him. The choir is us six soloists that are performing at the Master Class, plus the 50 quarterfinalists from the entire program. One girl out of our group, Isadora, will be singing a duet with him on stage. The song that we’ll be singing is ‘You Will Be Found’ from ‘Dear Evan Hansen.’”

Question 7: How are you preparing for the Master Class and performance at Segerstrom Center?

A: “I have weekly vocal lessons and practice for 30 minutes to an hour daily on various vocal pieces.”

Question 8: What do you hope to accomplish in doing both?

A: “It hasn’t hit me yet. Like, I’m going through the rehearsal process with all of these kids who are really talented and have done so many productions, like one of the kids is a voice actress, as well as an actress, a musical theater actress, so this whole thing is crazy. But, it’s definitely gonna look really good on any further auditions that I do for other productions or for other programs. It’s also just gonna give me something cool to tell my kids one day. It’s just a really cool experience that I’m really grateful to be able to be a part of, and it means a lot.”

Question 9: In what ways do you think this experience will shape your growth as a performer?

A: “It’s definitely increasing my confidence in myself because I got selected along with these five other kids who are just as amazing and so unbelievably talented, and I never thought that I was at that level until I’m standing alongside them. I also think this experience has strengthened my ability to do good auditions, and again, increased my confidence in myself and my confidence on stage and being able to do big movements and to make choices that I was too scared to make before.”

Question 10: What are you most excited and nervous about for the Master Class and performance on Dec. 5?

A: “For the Master Class, I’m going to be performing a solo in front of a lot of people who are very important to Segerstrom, so I don’t want a voice crack; that’s what I’m scared about. But, I’m really excited because I get to get advice from someone with such big of a platform. The performance on Dec. 5 is also just a really cool experience. Candlelight is a fundraising event that’s been going on for 50 years now; this is the 51st year, but the Master Class program is only in its third year, so it’s just really cool to be a part of such a long-standing tradition, and it’s going to be really fun, but also really nerve-wracking. This is probably going to be the biggest crowd I’ll be standing in front of, even though I’m in a choir.”

Question 11: After participating in such major events, what aspirations do you have next for your musical future? Do you see yourself going professional?

A: “I’m not sure. I think I’m going to focus on getting college auditions so that I can audition to be part of the music department at whatever college or university I plan to go to, and maybe start auditioning for agencies to see if I can get more auditions to do different roles and to just expand the scope of what I think I can do. For right now, because I’m also considering veterinary work, I was looking at Texas A&M [Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University], UCSB [University of California, Santa Barbara] for biology, but for music, I was looking at Eastman School of Music, [The Juilliard School] and Auburn University in Alabama.”