At the annual Ash Wednesday Mass, many ILS students, faculty, and staff were blown away by a certain performance.

It happened towards the end of the Mass, the usual song sung by the choir on Ash Wednesday. One student singer’s voice was louder than the rest. More palpable, more elevated, and overall more received.

This student was none other than Agustina Coretti, a senior at ILS and a valued member of the choir. Her gorgeous and harmonious voice caught many of us off guard at the Mass, because we simply weren’t used to hearing it. Not to mention we were all sorely unprepared for her graceful melody.

But who even is Agustina Coretti? Have we heard her before? Is she a professional singer? How did she get to be that good?

Well luckily, I have most of those answers. And no, she’s not a professional in anything (yet).

Believe it or not, this performance was actually Coretti’s second with the ILS choir. You might not think so from what we all heard, but it’s true! I asked Coretti about her past experience with our choir, to which she responded:

“I’ve never really done choir in the past, since it entails sight-reading, part-singing, and many other things that I don’t have much experience with. However, I have sung in group numbers before, so I thought of it as something similar to that. I don’t regret the experience at all, and I’m extremely thankful to Mr. Cabrera for giving me the opportunity to sing with the choir!”

Her testimonial was honest, but also shocking! It must sound hard to believe, and it doesn’t yet answer the question as to how exactly Coretti built her talent. The short answer is: practice, of course. But the long answer, in her own words, is:

“At first, I only trained myself in theatre and acting, but right before Covid, I began to take singing more seriously and started working on my voice. Now, I take singing lessons once a week with a private teacher, as well as musical theatre and acting classes every week.”

Currently for practice, Coretti is working on her “head voice” rather than her “chest voice,” which she feels is more developed and more comfortable to sing in. In singing, it’s more important to be able to use both, depending on what the situation and song call for. Many professional singers and actors must have their voices well developed in both areas. Whatever her practicing methods may be, one can’t help but wonder how Coretti got her start in singing.

She commented, “I’ve loved to sing for as long as I can remember, and I truly cannot imagine a life without music.”

As it happens, Coretti has been singing since she was about six-years-old.

“I still remember… putting on a Little Mermaid costume and forcing strangers at a hotel to stop whatever they were doing to listen to my singing in the lobby. Although I am a very shy person now, I was definitely not the type to go unnoticed at the time!” she recalled.

But all that time and all that practice led up to one moment, one of the first times Coretti felt incredibly proud of her vocal performance:

“The first time I felt truly proud of one of my performances was in 2019, when I got the chance to perform in a show called “Best of Broadway” where I sang “Don’t Rain on my Parade.” It was a very challenging song, and I had been working on it for a really long time, so after the final performance, I felt extremely happy and proud of myself.”

Coretti has had a lot of experience with musicals involving both acting and singing. She has starred in renditions of both Aladdin and West Side Story, both of which she recalls warmly and of great help to improve her skills.

But that still leaves us with… what’s the point? What’s Coretti’s goal here? Personally, I find it quite admirable.

On her future and goals, Coretti plans to pursue a career in musical theatre, which she regards as a “mix up [of her] two passions.” Those being music and the theatre.

“I would love to be on Broadway, as well as on TV and film!” she mused.

Looking even further down the looking glass, Coretti hopes to one day begin writing and creating her own songs in order to start a music career.

But yet another one of her passions as someone who has grown up around the industry is to teach. After working with many talented individuals and some inspiring mentors and teachers, Coretti too hopes to one day become an acting and singing coach for kids, possibly opening up her own theatre school to do so.

“But at the moment,” she concluded, “I’m focusing more on theatre and performing.”

Besides being in choir, Coretti is also in the drama club. Just another step forward on the long road ahead to the red carpet.

So, now that we’ve gotten to know one of ILS’s arguably strongest and most talented performers, I will leave you with some of Coretti’s parting words, what she thought of when she heard how much her song impacted everyone at the congregation on Ash Wednesday:

“When Mr. Cabrera first asked me to sing at Mass, I doubted whether or not to do it because it would’ve been my first time singing a solo at Mass and the song wasn’t within my usual genre of music. However, I’m very thankful to have had the opportunity to do it, and I definitely felt proud and happy after hearing the applause,” she humbly noted.

We’re all looking forward to seeing you perform again soon, Agus!