By Ellen Smith, Contributing Writer
Alli Villines, a Houston-based singer was featured for a guest-artist recital at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 2 in Stretansky Concert Hall.
The recital was sponsored by the department of music. Villines was accompanied by Susquehanna music professor Jamie Namminga on piano.
Villines is a singer and actress, ukulelist, voice teacher and puppeteer. She is currently co-writing, co-producing and acting in a rock-opera about Ann Richards. Namminga was able to give a lot of insight on Villines’ background as well as on their experience playing together.
Namminga discussed how she initially met Villines and what it was like perform with her at Susquehanna. “I met and worked extensively with Alli in recital work during graduate school at Arizona State University from 2013 to 2015, and it was a joy to perform with her here at SU,” Namminga said.
Namminga also touched on the preparation that goes into a guest-artist recital, like Villines’, at Susquehanna. “For me personally, rehearsing for a recital is always just as rewarding if not more so than the actual performance, and particularly a situation such as this, where the artist comes in for a day and we have one rehearsal to put it all together,” Namminga said.
Namminga expressed that she performed a few of the songs previously at Arizona State with Villines, so the performance they did was more of, “refreshing our memories.” The only difference was that several of the songs they played were new. She also said that musical theatre is an area of specialty for both her and Villines which allows for a good stylistic understanding.
Both Villines and Namminga said they thoroughly enjoyed the performance and believed the audience did as well. Much of this is due to how versatile Villines is as a performer. According to Namminga, Villines always has, “something for everyone.” She said that Villines will perform pieces that make the audience laugh, cry and be challenged to think on a different level than maybe they have before, that when she sings, it is never just another pretty voice.
Villines also presented a master class while she was on campus and worked with several students in the music department. Namminga said that the students enjoyed her teaching and learned a lot from Villines’ expertise in musical theatre.
Villines first album “Christmas with Christina and Alli,” featuring Christina Wells was released in 2018 and is available on Spotify and Amazon.