Elena Skirgaudas Talks Singing at BC’s Pops on the Heights

Raising 12.3 million dollars in a single night, Boston College’s “Pops on The Heights” concert is the largest annual fundraiser for arts programs on campus. And, each year, one BC student is chosen to sing, performing with the legendary conductor, Keith Lockhart, and the Boston Pops Orchestra. 

With over 10,000 people in the audience, a crowd of this magnitude would bring any seasoned soloist to their knees. And yet, Elena Skirgaudas took the nerves in stride. She opened the concert with her beautiful performance of “Art is Calling for Me” from Victor Herbert’s The Enchantress. And then, she remained onstage to lead the University Chorale in a trio opening of “You Will Be Found.” 

Today, I sit with her to discuss what being selected meant to her, the preparation behind such a high-stakes performance, and what she hopes Pops will mean for future soloist winners.

Hey Elena! Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. Would you mind please telling me about your music background and experience?

Yeah. So, I’ve been singing for a very long time. I’ve been taking voice lessons I think since I was 12. God, how long is that now? […] Well, I’ve been singing classical since I was 12. Yeah, that’s more accurate. My grandmother was a classical pianist, so she was always trying to get me to do classical music when I was younger. But I was more into, I guess, musical theater. I feel like it’s the easiest introduction to singing for kids. So, I did some musical theater stuff. I was never lead roles or anything. I was always part of the ensemble. […] I mean, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t… I don’t know. But then I learned my first classical song for my grandmother’s Memorial, and I ended up being like, “Wait, this is actually really cool. I really enjoy this.” 

There’s a little bit more of a musicality, like an instrument in classical singing than there is in musical theater. That’s entirely a personal opinion, but, with classical, so much of it is rooted in these techniques that have been around for so long. For example, you don’t really use a microphone when you sing classical because it’s all about resonance and the space. And then there’s all that different stuff where you look at the human anatomy and how each system works in singing. It’s definitely a little bit of the nerdy, STEM side, which I enjoy. 

So, I got into classical music, and I realized that not only was it cool. I was actually pretty good at it, and that makes it fun. I started then doing competitions and doing well in them in high school. […] I will say, I would make my mom leave the house for the entire time I was filming though. I would not let her hear me sing. During COVID, when I had to do voice lessons at home, I would also do them in the basement. And I’d be like, “You can’t tell me that you heard me. If you tell me you heard me, I won’t be able to do it.” So even though singing was something I did so much of my time, and I wasn’t afraid of performing in front of multiple people; it was the idea of people close to me hearing me sing that would freak me out. […] My dad would have to wear noise canceling headphones. I don’t know, and I feel like I’ve gotten better at it.

I also did a lot of submitting portfolios and stuff to BC., I submitted videos in my music resume, which I think probably, you know, helped me a little. But I ended up, when I got here, being like, “You know what? I actually don’t think I want to study music.” And it’s not because I don’t love music, but it’s because I think that music has a different function in my life than something that I want to monetize. I really like music in the way that it’s a form of personal expression for me, and I think that if it were something that I was doing for work, it would be very stressful. And I am already a very stressed-out person, so yeah. […] But it’s something that I’m able to create that’s entirely my own. There’s something that’s really special about it being entirely from your body.

Yes! Making music is so individual, and I think that’s why it’s so hard sometimes to share it with family. It’s such a personal thing, and your loved ones are the opinions you care about the most. It does make me question, then: how has that fear evolved now, especially when performing in front of your family?

Yeah, I will definitely say that my family are still the hardest people for me to perform in front of, especially my mom and my mom’s side of the family because they’re all musical. My grandmother was a classical pianist, my mom played cello. She played with Yo Yo Ma, when he came to Yale, etc. My aunt is a professional violinist and teacher, my cousin is studying music. So, they do appreciate that I do classical singing, which I think is cool because then it’s not just like a “Oh, this is nice.” They’re genuinely studying it. They’re interested in it. But I do also think that that makes me more scared because when you’re involved in music and classical singing and you’ve played in operas like some of them have, you know what good sounds like and you know what bad sounds like. 

Also, it can be scary because you have to take yourself seriously when you’re doing it. And that’s very vulnerable. To have to be completely in it and completely invested, it’s scary to be so authentic. Even if you know you’re playing a character, you have to come across as that. And then if something goes wrong, it’s in front of other people. Yeah, so if I’m singing downstairs, and, you know, my parents hear me have a voice crack or something, and then I have to come up and eat dinner with them, It’s like “Hey guys…did you hear that? No, you didn’t.”

(Laughs) Yes, it’s really hard! And I think that’s why it’s so impressive that you auditioned for Pops. I mean, it’s the biggest music event we have at BC. So, I’m also curious as to what your thought process was like when auditioning for that and knowing you’d have to be that vulnerable?

So, I mean, I think that there was a part of me that was kind of doing the audition more so to do it out of like practice. And I thought it was a really cool opportunity. I’ve known about it since my freshman year. My mom got an email from BC that was talking about Meg. She was the student performer the year before I got into BC, and she was in Chorale. And my mom wanted me to do Chorale because she’s Finnish and Dr. Rikka [Director] is Finnish. So she was like, “There’s a Finnish director. You have to audition for Chorale.” And I’d never done choir before. But I was like, “Okay, sure. My mom is saying I should do this. I’ll try it.” And I thought it was super cool that, you know, I was in the ensemble with this student performer. I thought she was like a celebrity. You know what I mean? And then I interacted with her my sophomore year or her senior year, and I was like, “Oh, she’s also just a person.”

[…] Often in the past, it’s actually only been musical theater. And then I’m a classical musician. I was like, “You know what, I’m going to audition. I’m going to do my best. But more so it’s good practice for me as a performer to get this audition.” It’s the biggest thing we have here at BC for vocalists. I feel like people come out of the woodwork. You’re sitting there waiting to go in for your audition slot, and you’re like, “Where did you come from? You sing like that? Where have you been?!”

I got the email exactly a month after I auditioned. At least, that’s how it’s been for the past two years. It just said “student performer.” And I called my mom, and I was like, “It says student performer, but I don’t know if they mean the student performer, or if I’m in preshow…” I was shocked. I think it was more so just because I don’t think it had ever really crossed my mind as being an actual reality. I remember talking about it where I was like, “Yeah, no, I get really anxious performing in Chorale concerts, and that’s when I’m literally hidden in a bunch of people wearing the same exact thing.” But I figured that I should audition for it because you miss all the shots you don’t take. And I’m so grateful that I was able to do it and that I did it well. I never thought it was a possibility, especially in my junior year. To get that email my sophomore year was a huge “Oh, my God.” I think it also validated in a way that I might not be pursuing this professionally, but it’s something that I’ve spent a lot of time and put a lot of myself into. I’d never had a solo role or anything like that. So, then all of a sudden it was like, we’re singing in front of 10,000 people just by yourself. That was scary, but it was such a cool and unique opportunity. I got to meet Keith Lockhart and the concert master for the Boston Pops, and I got to work with all these people. It was amazing.

Yeah, oh, 100% it’s an unbelievable gift. And I happened to be there. You were fabulous. I remember they asked Sofia Burke this question before she performed with Pops on the Heights in 2024. They asked, “What does music mean to you?” What will it mean for you moving forward? 

Yeah, I mean music is a very big form of self-expression for me. I’m very into how you present yourself to the world, not in the sense of how other people perceive you, but how you present yourself to be perceived by others. I feel like that’s why I am very into fashion and stuff like that. You get to customize your character to present to the world, and that’s super cool. That’s all very external. But I think that music, in a way, is something that’s a little bit more internal. It’s a form of self-expression where you do end up showing yourself to other people, and other people listen to you. Even if it’s not expressing yourself, it’s kind of thinking of a character or a scenario where you have your song and you have the poem to express. “Who’s singing this song? And who am I in this song?”

That’s really cool, being able to express that to an audience. This Sunday, I’m doing a song in French and a song in Italian with Liederabend [BC’s art song program]. I have taken French for five years, but I don’t speak French. I do not speak any Italian, but that doesn’t really matter. My audience also, probably, doesn’t speak either of those languages. And it doesn’t matter because it’s not that I’m trying to convey to them every single word that’s actually in the text. I’m trying to convey to them what the song means through how I perform it, how I sing it, and how I act it. That’s more important. So, being able to express that, even if it’s not my own story, if it’s somebody else’s like art through your performance, I think that’s amazing. I mean, when you think of how moving orchestral music is, it doesn’t have words, but it still makes you feel something.

I feel like that’s super important, being able to bridge those connections and all that. My grandma, who was the classical pianist, her first language was Finnish, and she spoke English. She didn’t speak great English, but I was still super close with her. I would play cello, and she would accompany me on the piano. And so, I might not have, you know, really known a lot about her per se. But she was still someone who I was incredibly close to, I think, partially, because of how much music we shared.

Yes, music as a mode of connection! That was also a really interesting point you mentioned earlier about music as character and expressing something that’s not necessarily what you’re used to doing. I think you did quite a similar thing with Pops on the Heights. “Art is Calling for Me” presents quite a big character role. It’s also perhaps one that not all the Pops on the Heights audience would know. So, what is that method for connection like? How do you try and deliver that song’s message? 

Yeah. Honestly, I chose “Art is Calling for Me” because I felt like that character was very different. I am a very angry anxious person. I get stressed out very easily. And then you add performing in front of 10,000 people to that, and I mean, yes, I love to sing. But that’s terrifying for anyone.

But the character in “Art is Calling for Me…” she’s a diva. The whole thing is that she’s a prima donna. And so, as long as I embody that fully, I kind of have blinders on. It’s that idea that “No, I’m so full of myself that nothing can go wrong.” Thinking about that character and portraying that I think was a lot easier for me than if I had to portray sadness or anger. I feel like in that instance it would be a lot easier to tell how nervous I was. I remember seeing my mom after and her telling me, “No, you were so poised.” And I was terrified. I was so scared. And she was like, “Yeah, you couldn’t tell it all.” And I was like, “Are you joking?” 

One of the voice teachers I was working with, Pamela Wolf, she told me, “Yeah, some of the people are surprised that you chose this song.” And I was like, “Why?” And she was like, “Because it’s classical.” And I was like, “Yes, why?” And she was like, “Yeah, you know, people have never done classical for Pops on the Heights. It’s just different.” Then I was like, “Oh my God.” In my head, I’m like, “I don’t want to be a trailblazer. Now that adds even more pressure to it.” I mean, I’m already nervous about singing classical in front of my peers. I mean, I say this with so much love… It’s a little dorky. You know? But I feel like this song is a good segue into classical because, yes, it’s in the style of opera, it’s like an operetta. But it’s also silly and it’s lighthearted. It’s not taking itself too seriously. 

Sometimes, I feel like I have to take myself seriously performing. And then I feel not as into it. And that kind of sucks because I feel like you should be able to take yourself seriously. I mean, that’s just something that I feel like a lot of women have to work on in general. It’s so easy to say “Oh, I was joking, like I wasn’t serious, like I wasn’t serious.” Because in case you’re wrong, or in case something doesn’t go as planned, then you don’t have to take full ownership and accountability for that. But if you do, that can be scary. But when performing something that’s so light-hearted, where I’m a diva, a prima donna, the only way that the performance can go wrong is that I don’t act full of myself. So, it felt like something that was a “fake it till you make it” situation. As long as I act like I’m not nervous, then it’ll, you know, come true.

That’s so true. And I could not tell you were nervous at all! Okay, so pertaining to what we’ve talked about concerning character, personality, expression, confidence with women in general… What’s your advice for any future performers or people just wanting to get into this “music thing?” 

Yeah. […] I’m so grateful to have been able to do it, and I recommend it to any performer at BC who thinks that they even might want to audition. Even if you think it’d just be good practice to audition, audition. I mean, I think that why I got it. I wasn’t going into the audition thinking, “Oh, I have to do well, I have to get this.” I was like, “This will be good practice for me.” I mean, you’ve [Katie] seen me in Liederabend. I have a hard time. I’m a pretty awkward person when I walk up. So, you just got to go up there and be like, “Okay, this is my song. Here’s my character.” And then you leave and remove myself from it. I ended up doing very well in the audition because I wasn’t putting a bunch of pressure on it.

I remember that Pam, my voice teacher, would tell me, “You can’t tell yourself that you’re scared because you have to fake it till you make it. You have to know that you can do it.” I think for that reason it was also very good for my confidence and my anxiety overall. If I can sing in front of 10,000 people then I can walk into a classroom and not know anybody, you know? I can do my laundry when there’s other people in the laundry room. It’s something that I can apply to other parts of my life, even if it’s not a direct application. 

So, it’s incredibly rewarding in that sense. Also, just performing is something that I really enjoy. When I auditioned my freshmen year, I did musical theater for my audition, and I didn’t get it. But that’s also because that’s not who I am as a performer. And the next year, I did a classical song and a musical theater song, and then I got selected because classical music is who I am as a performer. So, it was also really good for knowing that I can do scary things as my authentic self. 

But I think that it was really rewarding to know that I was able to do it, and that it was because of my own merit and not because of luck or chance. It was because I deserved it, and it was something that I earned. And I think that whoever gets it, like whoever is the next student performer, they just need to know that they chose you for a reason. They’re not going to just choose people willy nilly. It’s very calculated. I mean, they take an entire month to send out the decision. Yes, of course, I still had doubts, this imposter syndrome. But I needed to remember and want anyone else chosen to remember that you are the person that they chose for a reason, and it’s not because they thought that your audition was subpar. They saw something in you. And then they are there to support you the whole summer. You’re not going to be out on your own. There’s a lot of people rooting for you. Nobody wants you to do bad in this like. Pam would always say, she’d be like, “We’re team Elena.” So, that was so rewarding, and, I mean, I felt so special. 

You should feel special.