From a young age, singing has been a central part of Serafina Shin-von Nordenflycht ’25’s identity, rooted in her family’s deep musical heritage. On campus, Shin-von Nordenflycht is a member of the Academy Chorus and Fidelio Chamber Society, and she serves as the Co-Head of the student a cappella group Downbeat.
“Music has always been a part of my household. My grandmother’s a piano teacher, and my mother’s brother plays harpsichord professionally, so growing up my mother always instilled value in playing in ensembles and singing. When I was little, I always wanted to be like her, she has the most beautiful voice. She writes her own songs, and I really admire her for that,” said Shin-von Nordenflycht.
According to Sebastian Lemberger ’25, a member of Fidelio, one of Shin-von Nordenflycht’s key qualities is her enthusiasm for her music. He noted how she is inspirational and genuine, highlighting her optimism in the face of any obstacles.
“She generally seems very interested in singing, which is an odd thing to say, but I feel that with many people any sense of investment that they have in something often appears to be performative, but this is not the case with Serafina. I feel that when she cares about something she cares about it very genuinely. Her lack of cynicism and general investment and passion in the things she cares about is very inspirational to me,” said Lemberger.
Although Shin-von Nordenflycht has played traditional musical instruments, such as violin, piano, and guitar, she has found a uniquely profound relationship with singing. To her, voice offers a greater freedom for self-expression.
“Something I find amazing about singing is that it just comes from a person. In every instrument, every person will sound different, but in some ways, everyone’s voice is so much more different than any instrument would be from another of its kind. Singing is so personal and so unique to every person, and you can see into someone,” said Shin-von Nordenflycht.
In her journey with singing, Shin-von Nordenflycht has inevitably faced challenges, such as finding and building confidence in her vocal abilities. She reflected on her progress and improvement with singing over the years.
“I was so bad, almost tone-deaf, but I just loved singing. I could just tune out, and still sing but be elsewhere, and I just kept getting better and better through hard work… I have [had] an on-and-off relationship with my voice because I struggled to sing when I was younger. It’s something that I’m very proud of, but also very vulnerable of… There are a lot of people who are born with fantastic voices, and they sound amazing, and some people just have the assumption that that’s how it is, and I wish people understood more,” said Shin-von Nordenflycht.
Shin-von Nordenflycht hopes to continue using her voice in the future, whether it be for a career or just as a hobby.
“My dream is to be Amanda Seyfried, she’s an actor. She was in the film versions of ‘Mamma Mia!’ and ‘Les Misérables,’ and so my dream would be to sing in movies. Maybe I would try Broadway, but I’m not sure if I love the idea of singing every night. Films are like the big [dream], but the smaller one would be to pull out a guitar at a family gathering and start singing,” said Shin-von Nordenflycht.
