September 17, 2019 – Mexican-American operatic soprano Bárbara Padilla, who was runner-up on Season Four of “America’s Got Talent,” will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019, in the Fine Arts Hall at Santa Fe College. The concert is a fundraiser for the Climb for Cancer Foundation and part of the SF Fine Arts Department’s Master Artist Series that brings professional performers to campus to mentor students.
Tickets are $150 for VIP seating and reception; $50 for adults; $40 for people on active military duty and seniors 65 and over; $25 for students with ID; and $15 for children under 12. For more information or to buy tickets, call the SF Fine Arts Hall Box Office at 352-395-4181 or visit sfcollege.edu/finearts.
Padilla’s performance of Charles Gounod’s “Ave Maria” prompted judge Piers Morgan to declare, “It was the greatest single vocal performance we’ve ever had on ‘America’s Got Talent.’”
In her role as visiting Master Artist at Santa Fe College, Padilla will teach a master class for SF students and invited students from the University of Florida. She will also invite two singers to perform with her in the afternoon concert.
Padilla was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she studied music, acting and dance. With a repertoire that now includes arias from the operas “La Boheme,” “Turandot,” “Tosca,” “Madame Butterfly” and “La Traviata,” she overcame severe hardships on her path to success. Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma while in college, Padilla was told by doctors that she might never be able to sing again after undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment. She refused to give up her dream and completed her master’s degree in music on a full scholarship at the University of Houston while she battled her cancer and even came close to dying. Now in remission, Padilla lives in Texas with her husband and daughter.
“The aim of the Climb for Cancer Foundation is to make tangible positive impacts on the lives of people who are fighting this disease,” said Dianne Farb, who created the foundation with her husband, Ron, in 2003. Located in Gainesville, the foundation works to improve the wellbeing of cancer patients, survivors and caretakers by funding enrichment programs that involve arts, nature, sports and medicine. “Climb for Cancer helps to ‘fill in the cracks’ left by organizations that make larger gifts,” Dianne Farb explained.
The concert is sponsored by the Climb for Cancer Foundation and the Santa Fe College Fine Arts Department and sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
For more information about the Climb for Cancer Foundation, visit climbforcancerfoundation.org.
For more information about the Santa Fe College Master Artist Series, call Fine Arts Department Chairperson Alora Haynes at 352-395-5296.
For more information about tickets to Padilla’s concert, call the Santa Fe College Fine Arts Hall Box Office at 352-395-4181.