PERSONALITIES: Singing Oscar Hammerstein pays off

Jun. 4—GLASTONBURY — A local University of Connecticut student, Elizabeth Stassen, is a finalist for the second annual Hammerstein International Youth Solo Contest.

The 20-year-old who has just finished her sophomore year of college said she discovered the competition through Facebook theater groups.

"It was pure luck," she said. "During COVID I joined a bunch of them."

After discovering the competition, Stassen said she consulted with a teacher and submitted a video in the college age category.

The song she chose was "The Sound of Music," the title song to Oscar Hammerstein II and long-time colleague Richard Rogers' 1959 musical that starred Mary Martin on Broadway and Julie Andrews in the 1965 film adaptation.

Elizabeth Stassen

ACCOMPLISHMENT: Finalist in international competition that celebrates the lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II.

ENTRY SONG: Title song from "The Sound of Music."

HOMETOWN: Glastonbury.

EDUCATION: Student at University of Connecticut; plans to concentrate on business management in music.

BACKGROUND: Summer intern at Playhouse on Park, a professional regional theater in West Hartford. Sang in high school choir; studied dance for 15 years; was in musical theater and drama club in middle and high school.

"That's my childhood right there," Stassen said. "That's one of the first musicals I ever remember watching on video. I remember singing the songs from that all the time.

"I think it's the story of 'The Sound of Music' that's always spoken to me," she said. "Thinking about every other musical that (Hammerstein's) been part of, I honestly haven't had much exposure until the last few years. Every song that I've heard I've loved. There's nothing overly complicated.

"I think when I try to sing them, whether it be in a professional sense or just for fun, I think the lyrics speak to the soul.

"Sometimes the simplest things create the most beauty in that music."

Though thrilled to be a finalist, she said it's weird as well.

"I think as musicians, we're very critical of ourselves all the time," she said. "Then sometimes my reality check in the mirror is like, 'I'm a finalist.' I don't try to fill my head with so much air that I'm always on my cloud nine, but sometimes when I'm feeling down about one aspect of my life, remember this is where you are."

Stassen was born in China and adopted at the age of 1, during the height of the SARS outbreak in 2003.

"No one got sick during that whole process," she said. "I have two older siblings that are biological to my parents. My mom started seeing things about international adoptions and that's where I came in."

Stassen said she has no memory of her biological family, but had a nice, idyllic childhood in Glastonbury.

"My parents were great," she said. "My siblings were great."

Stassen said she has had an ear for music since early childhood.

"I remember singing in the car," she said. "My mom quotes me when I was two or whatever. I'd be in the backseat being like, 'Mommy don't sing. It does not sound good, stop.'"

In first grade Stassen started studying piano, which she sidelined when vocal performance became more of a focus in high school, singing in choir.

"I would love to get back to it," she said of the piano. "It set the foundation for everything I know about music, solfège, reading music; I can read treble and bass clef because of that."

Stassen also has taken dance for 15 years at Glastonbury Dance Center and throughout middle school and high school did musical theater and the drama club.

"The decision to keep pursuing music in college was kind of like, I'm not ready to give it up yet, so let's see how long I can keep it going and see what I can make out of it," she said.

Performance, though, is not the path Stassen is working toward.

"I left high school thinking I want to be a chemistry major," she said. "That didn't stick around very long. I switched to math, which I still kind of am doing, but I'm actually planning on applying to the school of business. I felt that was an easier real world approach."

At the UConn School of Business, she said, she hopes to focus on business management in music.

There is one more phase of elimination in the Hammerstein competition, Stassen said. The winners will be announced via a live Facebook broadcast on Friday, June 10.

The winner will receive a $250 cash prize, a voice lesson with "American Idol" season 1 runner-up Justin Guarini, and will be invited to visit Hammerstein's home in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, where they will get the opportunity to sing for a gala event for The Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center, Jaime Rogers, museum board member and contest director, said.

"That would be insane," Stassen said. "That would be amazing. I'd be over the moon."

This summer, she said, she will be an intern at Playhouse on Park, a professional regional theater in West Hartford.

"I'm looking forward to that," she said. "That'll be in business and development. Hopefully that will speak to what I want to do within the school of business at UConn." 'll keep going after things like that to see what really speaks to me and what I enjoy doing."

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