The CAP21 conservatory has produced many reputable actors such as Lady Gaga, Javier Muñoz, Kristen Bell, will be taking on a new student in Matthew

Mantenuto, who committed to the conservatory for vocal arts.

According to Mantenuto, CAP21 is a vocal conservatory that focuses on voice, while other schools focus on instruments.

“There you really focus on that and nothing else, like at conservatories you do less of the general education requirements, like English and math classes, a lot less than the other liberal arts schools I applied to,” Mantenuto said.

Collaborative Arts Project   21, commonly referred to as CAP21, is a musical theater program connected to Molloy College in Manhattan. CAP21 was formerly a part of New York University until 2013 when it joined forces with Molloy.

Mantenuto is committing to CAP21 for because of their extremely reputable musical theater program.

“When I went to shadow the classes, they had a very strong department in dance, acting, and voice. Aside from having their daily voice training, they take a vocal techniques class, which talks a lot about how the voice works and the muscles behind that, and you don’t get that at a lot of other schools,” Mantenuto said.

Mantenuto also chose the school because of its extensive reach into the musical theater community.

“The two schools I ended up being between at the end of the process were the school I’m committed to and Long Island University. Long Island University is a Liberal Arts school compared to a conserv-

atory, so you have more of the general education class work. When I went there, I didn’t feel as at home, as connected to the classes as I did at CAP21,” Mantenuto said.

Mantenuto’s chorus teacher, Karen St. George, believes that he has the passion and talent to have a successful career in music.

“I think that, with anything, the work you put into it pays off, and I think that Matt is capable of putting in a lot of work to get wherever he wants to be with music, whether that’s performing on stage or whether that changes during his time at the conservatory, I think that he will be able to identify that,” St. George said.