The spotlight was on none other than Ariel Salazar, a psychologist major, on Wednesday Oct. 30th at a Cerritos College recital. At an early stage in his life he knew that he wanted to sing.

“Growing up I didn’t have many friends, and I would just listen to the radio and teach myself to sing what I would hear and I would teach myself to know if I was singing it wrong, and that’s where I got my ear. It was the age of 13 when I knew I could do this,” Salazar said.

During his first piece, “Silent Noon” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, he poured out his focus and soul into every note he sang. “The first song he sang was very soothing and inspirational, ”said Auora Castillo, a communications major, who was apart of the audience at the recital.

“I never heard him sing that way before because I have known him for nine years, since middle school. He always told me that he had a voice but he never showed me that side of his voice until today, It got into my heart.”

Even though the whole classroom was filled with eager ears, and even anticipating that whoever was performing would mess up and play on Salazar’s nerves, it never let him. He embraced his surroundings and elegantly proclaimed his high notes on point.

“My confidence has grown throughout the years. My senior year I sang an original piece ‘I think I’m in like with you,’ a very kiddish song but people liked it,” Salazar said.

With the uplifting serenity of his voice, he also sang in a foreign language during the recital. Learning Italian can be very challenging but luckily for Salazar he had the right teacher to ensure he gives “Un’aura amorosa” justice, composed by opera singer Cosi fan tutte.

“Italian is very close to Spanish and I speak fluently in Spanish so I found it easy to learn,” Salazar said. “I just listen to the recording of the song to get the language in my head and usually your teacher knows the foreign language and teaches it to you step-by-step.”

The classroom was definitely filled with positive vibes when Salazar delivered that Italian piece.

“I really loved that type of song it was it was nice. It had a great sound to it. I loved the feeling that the song gave me even though I couldn’t understand the language,” said Jesus Perez, a German language major.

Just by taking voice 1 in the spring semester of this year it has allowed him to audition over the summer to make it into Fall’s Applied Music program. No matter what kind of obstacle came in Ariel Salazar’s way, he knew how to over come them and wanted to deliver a message to all students.

“Always be your self. For me growing up people were always saying you are too much this, you are too much that, you are too big, or you are not good enough. At one point I was like maybe not but I am good enough for me.” Salazar said.