The prayers of Riverside native and CBU adjunct voice teacher Sarah Horn, 26, were answered Friday night at the Hollywood Bowl when she was pulled out of the audience to sing a duet with Tony award-winning singer and actress Kristin Chenoweth . (Terry Pierson, Staff Photographer)
This article was originally published on the front page of The Press-Enterprise on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2014. See the A1 presentation and the jump.
BY VANESSA FRANKO
STAFF WRITER
Riverside native Sarah Horn has performed on dozens of stages, but on Friday, Aug. 23, she sang on one of the most famous — the Hollywood Bowl. After volunteering from the audience for that unexpected, impromptu duet with Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth, the world has become her stage.
By Monday afternoon, the video of the vocal instructor performing “For Good” from “Wicked” — posted by pal Mike Kestler, who filmed her performance on his cell phone — had racked up 1.7 million views on YouTube and Horn was barraged by interview requests.
“I had been saying, ‘This isn’t happening; this isn’t real,’ ” Horn, 26, said during a Monday interview.
Friday’s performance sparked a standing ovation. On Sunday, Horn started fielding congratulatory calls – from people she didn’t know. Her Facebook inbox was filled with messages from around the world. On Monday, “Inside Edition” sent a car for Horn and Kestler for a TV taping. And the congratulatory chorus isn’t over yet.
“I started to realize it was going to be big when immediately after the show people started mobbing Sarah,” Kestler said.
Horn has a magnetic smile, but described herself as an introvert when not on stage. The 2005 Riverside Poly grad said God brought her back to town when, after earning a degree in commercial music at Nashville’s Belmont University, she enrolled at California Baptist University. She graduated in May 2012 with a master’s degrees in vocal performance and conducting.
She was hired as an adjunct voice teacher at Cal Baptist in the fall of 2012. She currently has 24 students and is also the conductor of the Chamber Singers.
MUSICAL LIFE
Sarah’s parents, Gary and Kay Horn, both brought music to her life.
She said her theater-loving dad has been a season ticketholder since he was 20 years old for a variety of theater troupes. Her mom is a pianist.
Sarah started voice lessons when she was 6 years old and it wasn’t because of a love of music. She had developed nodules on her vocal cords due to a dairy allergy and the clearing of her throat. The doctor sent her first to a voice therapist. After six months, the therapist recommended voice lessons.
Her first public performance was at age 8 at her church. And she was terrified.
“I put the mic back where it belonged and I ran back to my seat,” she said.
Growing up, she performed in Riverside Youth Theatre. Her first named role was as the nasty Miss Hannigan in “Annie Jr.”
“She had a lovely voice as a young child,” said Debbie Wolgemuth, director of the Riverside Youth Theatre, who once taught Sarah Horn and now works alongside Horn, the group’s resident musical director since 2010.
Wolgemuth said Sarah Horn put in the hard work to develop her voice even further, but said as the singer’s voice got stronger, she didn’t develop a diva attitude to match its power.
“Sarah’s always had a very gentle spirit and humility,” Wolgemuth said.
Sarah Horn (Terry Pierson, Staff Photographer)
THE DUET
Sarah, her parents and Kestler had been counting down to Chenoweth’s show for months. They originally had seats in the benches, but Gary Horn surprised them with box seats at the show.
Then, they switched boxes with another group and ended up in the front, where Sarah Horn became a volunteer when Chenoweth came into the audience. The star asked a woman in front of the Horn party if she knew “For Good.”
She didn’t, and Sarah Horn volunteered to sing the song she had sung more than 100 times in her bedroom. Chenoweth talked to her for a bit before advancing to another audience member.
“Then the impossible happened. I got to sing a duet with Kristin Chenoweth,” Sarah Horn said.
Kestler, who is Horn’s accompanist at CBU, filmed video of the performance juggling his camera while pumping his fist into the air at times.
“When she was up there, my thought was, ‘It’s about time,’ because I’ve seen her dedication and I’ve seen just how hard she pushes herself,” he said.
During the performance, Chenoweth was impressed with Horn’s harmony.
“Note to self: don’t have anyone better than you,” Chenoweth joked after the song was over.
“That was so inspiring, girl,” Chenoweth continued a few moments later from the stage.
After the show, Kestler uploaded the video to YouTube. It took all night to post and finally went up Saturday morning.
“Honestly, I was a little skeptical. I thought maybe just our friends and some of the people at the Bowl would look it up,” Kestler said.
By the time Horn went to bed early on Saturday night, the video had 5,000 views. On Sunday morning, it was up to 80,000. The video screened at her church, Relevant, which meets in the movie theater at Riverside Plaza.
“Oh, I’m part of the opening announcements, I must have made it big,” Sarah Horn said.
She still seemed incredulous when informed that the views on the video were upwards of 1.5 million Monday afternoon.
“The knees went a little weak there. I’m glad people like it,” she said.
And Sarah Horn hopes it’s not her last chance to perform with Chenoweth.
“I would really, really hope to sing another duet with Kristin, but have a little more warning,” Sarah Horn said with a smile.
Visit www.facebook.com/sarahhornmusic for more on Sarah Horn.