Every Tuesday, the D’Angelo Department of Music at Mercyhurst College has a student forum in Walker Recital Hall to announce events happening in the department and give students the chance to perform in front of their peers.

This is a very important learning experience for music majors, who are required to perform on their primary instrument at least once per term.

This week, freshman Alianna Whiteaker-Chudecke performed “My Heart Will Go On” from the movie “Titanic” on the harp.

This was a particularly special performance for the department because there is no harp professor at the college.

Whiteaker-Chudecke is from Dallas and decided to come to Mercyhurst because of the “outstanding faculty and beautiful campus.”

The music department actually recruited Whiteaker-Chudecke from Texas.

Whiteaker-Chudecke is a Vocal Performance major with a concentration in opera. Although the harp is not her primary instrument, Whiteaker-Chudecke has been playing for eight years and “really enjoys it.”

She was introduced to the harp when she went to the Interlochen Camp, which is an instrument exploration camp in Michigan.

She said she “fell in love with the harp” and that is what led her to further pursue the instrument.

Whiteaker-Chudecke is also involved in the world-premier opera “The Day Boy and The Night Girl” to be premiered in New York City this year, and is an active member of the Mercyhurst Concert Choir.

She is planning on joining more ensembles in the future.

Her dreams for the future are to win the Metropolitan Opera’s auditions around the age of 22 and to have principal roles at the Met.

She said, “I will go wherever God wants me to go.”

Whiteaker-Chudecke is just one of the many promising students of Mercyhurst College.

The student forums are open to the entire campus and are held every Tuesday from 3-4 p.m.