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Standing alone under a glimmering spotlight, Carrie Manolakos sang the final note in her Carnegie Hall debut. After the New York Pops orchestra concluded their accompaniment, there was a beat of silence. Then, the crowd began to roar, their cheers reverberating off the decades-old walls.

“It was complete peace,” Manolakos said. “I had hit a peak of hard work not only on my craft but also on myself and my heart.”

Manolakos’s February 2020 performance was the final show at Carnegie Hall before COVID-19 shut down music arenas and stages. Three years and many lifted restrictions later, she found herself back in her hometown of Syracuse on Saturday to perform at the Everson Museum of Art among family, close friends and familiar faces. She credits her success to her hometown.

Her performance kicked off the Everson’s Festival of Trees & Light. The festival consists of two weeks of community building through visual and interactive arts hosted by the museum around the holidays, Everson’s Director of Development Nicolas Gaudreau said.

As a child, Manolakos quickly grew comfortable with her passion for singing and performing to the point that her mother often joked she sang before she talked. Early in her youth, she envisioned herself on Broadway, Manolakos said.

By 10 years old, she’d joined a community theater, participated in Syracuse Stage and eventually traveled internationally with a children’s choir for several years.

“I just got bit by the bug once I started doing theater. I did pretty much any major show a kid could do — ‘Annie,’ ‘Secret Garden,’ ‘(The) Wizard of Oz’ — and I played the leads in all those shows which was such a blast,” Manolakos said.

She then attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and focused her studies on musical theater. She took a leave of absence before graduating to pursue songwriting and act in musicals like “Mamma Mia!” and “Wicked” on Broadway.

“It’s been a wonderful, fruitful and fantastic creative performing journey,” Manolakos said. “I’ve gotten to do what I’ve set out to do. It doesn’t mean I’m done, but it does mean I’m fulfilled and I’m happy.”

Now 39, she said coming to Syracuse this season inspired immense joy and gratitude. She said she is thankful she grew up in a place like Syracuse where the support from her parents, teachers and community were always nearby.

“It was almost like a team effort. Now, it’s really cool to be able to come back, celebrate and be together,” Manolakos said.

Jennifer Neuner, deputy director at the Everson, has known Manolakos for over 20 years. The two initially met and became close friends while Neuner was working at Manlius Pebble Hill School, Manolakos’s alma mater.

Neuner recalled seeing Manolakos perform for the first time at one of the school’s alumni events where she sang in front of students and faculty members. Over the years, the school often hosted events focused on arts and culture, and Neuner and other organizers were always searching for new entertainment. Neuner also had the opportunity to see Manolakos during the singer’s time in the touring production of “Mamma Mia!”

“I was obviously blown away as you are when you see anyone in that kind of Broadway setting,” Neuner said. “Over the last 20 years, I’ve seen her perform at different galas and private events and where the evolution has really happened is when she does so much of her own stuff.”

Manolakos released her first album, “Echo,” in 2012 and her second album, “The 44th Chord,” in 2019. She has also become a vocal coach with organizations like the Syracuse City School District, which she said is an entirely new chapter of her life.

Manolakos said when she helps train young performers, she finds it can be difficult for them to understand the steps to get “from point A to point B.” So, she teaches commitment and challenges her students to keep up with weekly and monthly practices.

In 2021, Neuner left Pebble Hill to join the Everson as its first-ever deputy director. In 2023, Neuner and her colleagues started to plan the year’s Festival of Trees & Light. As they brainstormed acts to host, Neuner recommended inviting Manolakos. She was already going to be home for the holidays in Syracuse, so plans easily fell into place.

This season’s Festival of Trees & Light was Manolakos’s first solo performance at the Everson, where she sold out 250 seats.

“Carrie beginning this festival allows us to have a great two weeks engaging the arts community throughout Central New York,” said Gaudreau, the Everson’s director of development.

For Manolakos, returning to Syracuse meant returning to her community.

“I was thinking yesterday, it’ll feel like a family by seeing so many familiar faces in the audience and people I’d grown up with,” Manolakos said before the show.

Published on December 5, 2023 at 10:43 pm