St. Petersburg College music transfer students, Giana Gagliardotto and Kodey Beard, are winners of the National Society of Arts and Letters (NSAL) Classical Voice Competition.
Beard, an Associate in Arts music student and tenor performer, and Gagliardotto, an Early College student and soprano performer, both won in the Florida Region semifinals and were each awarded $250.
Gagliardotto went on to win the National Region and was awarded $1,000.
This is the first time a young artist from the Clearwater/Tampa area has won at the national level in the Classical Vocal Competition. Gagliardotto will be honored at a holiday party on Dec. 9 at the Belleair Country Club. She plans to use the award money to study voice and opera in Italy next summer.
Beard and Gagliardotto plan to pursue careers in opera as they transfer to the university or music conservatory level in Fall 2018.
Music is their passion
Gagliardotto’s voice was highlighted in the Opera Workshop scenes at the 2017 Summer Vocal Institute at SPC. She sung the famous “Libiamo” from La Traviata by Verdi and Liu’s aria from Turandot by Puccini. Beard brought the house down with his performance of “Core’ngrato” by Cardillo at the Bel Canto recital on June 14 as part of the 2017 Summer Vocal Institute.
Both students are Scholarship Singers at Chapel by the Sea, Clearwater Beach, under the Dr. Marilyn Michael, Director of Music/Organist.
This Saturday, Beard will be performing at the 2017 Summer Commencement. He also performed at 2017 Spring Commencement.
Florida folk artist 
