[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 107 (Wednesday, June 28, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1357]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


             SAMANTHA McELHANEY: AN OUTSTANDING YOUNG STAR

                                 ______


                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 28, 1995
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the outstanding 
talents of Ms. Samantha McElhaney, a resident of Clinton, MD and a 
recent graduate of Suitland High School in Prince Georges County.
  As a student of the prestigious Performing Arts Magnet School Program 
at Suitland, Samantha studied opera, singing in both French and 
Italian. Not only is Ms. McElhaney a gifted singer, but she is also a 
driven student and athlete. She enjoys studying biology, and has been 
recognized as a superior shot-putter and discus thrower. Outside of her 
vocal training, studying, and athletics, Ms. McElhaney has found the 
time to share her talents with the community by singing in the choir at 
Ebenezer AME Church in Fort Washington.
  I am pleased to submit to my colleagues an article by David 
Montgomery which appeared in the Washington Post. It is my hope that 
this article will give further insight into the achievements and future 
of this talented young woman.
                [From the Washington Post, June 1, 1995]

            Powerful Voice May Carry 17-Year-Old a Long Way

                         (By David Montgomery)

       In the age of rock and rap, fine U.S. opera singers are 
     rare, so it caused a stir when Samantha McElhaney was 
     discovered recently in the practice studios of Suitland High 
     School.
       ``She has the potential to be one of our great American 
     opera singers,'' said Elayne Duke, president of the Rosa 
     Ponselle Foundation, an opera talent underwriting group 
     outside Baltimore. ``This [talent] maybe will come along once 
     in our lifetime.''
       ``I would call her a wunderkind,'' said Myra Merritt, a 
     Metropolitan Opera soprano who has taught McElhaney. ``She 
     has one of those dramatic, heroic, epic, full-throated voices 
     that comes along once in a lifetime.''
       The object of all this effusion is a studious 17-year-old 
     soprano from southern Prince George's County. She is no 
     pampered diva. In her senior year at Suitland, she drives 
     herself to achieve good marks in biology, her favorite 
     subject. Last year she was one of the top high school shot-
     putters and discus throwers in the county. She can bench-
     press 185 pounds.
       Most of all, she sings.
       ``I wake up and get in the shower, I'm singing,'' she said. 
     ``I'm walking around the house, and I'm singing.''
       At school, in addition to regular voice lessons, she spends 
     her free time in the practice studio. Her teachers say 
     McElhaney's voice is a remarkable gift, but it would have 
     remained the vocal equivalent of an uncut diamond if she had 
     not poured enormous work and study into her singing. Her gift 
     has become her responsibility.
       ``She's very meticulous about her voice, her instrument,'' 
     said Ronald Johnson, coordinator of visual and performing 
     arts at Suitland. ``She takes a lot of care and pride in her 
     instrument.''
       McElhaney is one of many vocal talents nurtured at 
     Suitland, which has a performing arts magnet program. The 
     mellifluous singing in French and Italian that the audience 
     hears during senior recitals is the most obvious clue that 
     the rigorous art of opera is being passed down to a new 
     generation.
       ``It is our opinion here at Suitland that our students must 
     be versatile,'' Johnson said. ``Along with the spirituals 
     [and other musical styles], we want to make sure our students 
     have a very strong background in classical music.''
       McElhaney's relationship with music goes way back. She 
     could talk before she was a year old, and she started singing 
     soon after. Her nickname, Mandy, bestowed by her dad, comes 
     from the Barry Manilow song of the same name.
       The family lives in Clinton. Robin McElhaney, her mother, 
     is executive assistant to the president of a trade 
     association, and Samuel McElhaney, her father, is a technical 
     information specialist for the State Department. McElhaney's 
     sister, Adrienne, 13, has been admitted to Suitland's vocal 
     program; she shows a talent for singing Broadway show tunes.
       Growing up, McElhaney sang whenever the opportunity arose, 
     in the middle school chorus, in the choir at Ebenezer AME 
     Church in Fort Washington. Before she got to Suitland, music 
     was just a hobby. Her main goal, even as a 12-year-old, was 
     to make all the right moves that would lead to a good 
     college. She considered music a means to that end. She 
     realized she could use her singing to audition for Suitland's 
     academically challenging magnet program. She sang ``Amazing 
     Grace'' and passed the audition.
       In McElhaney's junior year, her teachers noticed a 
     significant change in her voice. By senior year, there was 
     stunning improvement. Her voice had lost its ``breathiness'' 
     and acquired a lyric timbre.
       It was the voice of a much more seasoned performer than a 
     17-year old shower singer.
       For the first time, McElhaney allowed herself to dream of a 
     career as an opera singer.
       This spring, she won the prestigious
        Rosa Ponselle Gold Medallion, named after one of the first 
     great American divas, who lived in Baltimore.
       At her senior recital last month, McElhaney was resplendent 
     in a red dress with a black velvet jacket and a red 
     handkerchief. Before the piano began each piece, she would 
     bow her head, then she would look up and her face would 
     appear transformed, becoming tragic, comic, coy, as befitted 
     each selection.
       The French and Italian lyrics soared and swooned and filled 
     the auditorium.
       To lend her performance authenticity, she imagined a 
     private meaning for each piece that matched the emotion 
     communicated by the composers. So, when she sang ``Pur 
     dicesti, o bocca bella,'' by Antonio Lotti, a spritely solo 
     about a beloved and beautiful object, she was thinking 
     ``about me asking my father to get me a car, o bocca bocca 
     bella!'' she said.
       She got six standing ovations. When the recital was over, 
     Samuel McElhaney brought up a bouquet of roses for his 
     daughter the diva.
       The experts say she has the talent to become one of the 
     great voices of her generation--but they add a big if.
       ``The next few years will be the most critical part of her 
     life,'' said Duke, of the Ponselle foundation. ``This is 
     where she is going to develop as a singer or lose her voice 
     altogether. That depends on where she will study and with 
     whom she'll study.''
       Everyone has an opinion about how to manage the rising 
     star's career. Duke thinks McElhaney ought to study with a 
     private coach for two years, spend a year in Italy, make her 
     debut at age 21 and never mind getting a college degree.
       McElhaney, for her part, cares too much about college to 
     forgo it. Besides, private opera coaches don't offer 
     scholarships. She is leaning toward accepting a scholarship 
     to New York University, which has a music program. If her 
     opera dreams don't pan out, she'll have a degree to fall back 
     on.
       But she has faith in her gift: ``I love singing, and I know 
     it can carry me far.''
     

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