LHS student to sing national anthem at New England Revolution's game

April 24, 2019 | Carling Willis
carling@thereminder.com

Longmeadow High School senior Shelby Moccio will be singing the National Anthem for the New England Revivalists soccer team at their Aug. 24 home game, following winning a singing contest to do so. Above pose grammy–nominated artist Ashley Jordan with Moccio.
Photo Credit: Kim Moccio

LONGMEADOW – Performing live in front of a stadium of people is an opportunity many can only dream of, but for Shelby Moccio of Longmeadow, that dream will turn into a reality this summer while she sings the National Anthem for the New England Revivalists soccer team.

Moccio is a senior at Longmeadow High School (LHS) but her interest in singing and performing dates back to when she was much younger.

“We always knew she was talented, she started singing when she was very young,” said Moccio’ s mother, Kim.

Moccio started performing when she was eight years old in local theater groups. When she was 10, her family took a trip to Disney where Moccio auditioned for the American Idol Experience, which was a theme park attraction at Hollywood Studios. Out of 500 participants in the experience, Moccio was chosen as one of the five winners that day. This successful experience is what told Moccio and her family that they should pursue her talents in singing and performing.

After their trip to Disney, Moccio started working with a local voice coach named Peter Thompson. Along with voice lessons, Moccio continued on with her passion for theater as well, performing for plays in multiple theater groups.

Most recently, Moccio was cast as the lead roll of Belle in LHS performance of Beauty and the Beast. She has also been the “go-to-girl” to sing the national anthem at an array of town events and high school sports.

Moccio discovered the opportunity to sing the National Anthem for the New England Revolutions soccer team at Gillette Stadium, and submitted a video of her singing the National Anthem to the online contest.

She was selected out of 11 contestants to go to Lansdowne Pub in Boston to perform for the pub and a panel of judges. This panel was made up of two players from the Revolutions and Country singer Ashley Jordan. The auditions began with the 11 contestants singing one minute of acapella from any song they wished. The judges then selected six out of the 11 contestants to continue on to the next round of the contest and sing the National Anthem. After the six contestants sang The National Anthem, they chose their three winners – Moccio being one of them.

Moccio will be singing at their home game on Aug. 24.

Moccio shared with Reminder Publishing that when preparing to sing in front of a big audience she focuses on being positive and only anticipates a positive outcome.

“I love enjoying the moment, I love letting the words speak to me and help to make a story out of the music,” Moccio said.

Moccio will be attending Assumption College in the fall to pursue a major in math and plans to eventually become a math teacher. At Assumption, she was awarded a scholarship to sing in the chorus group on campus. Additionally, she will also participate in Assumptions’ theater group.

“I’m really looking forward to continuing my passion for music in this next chapter of my life. “ Moccio commented.

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