On May 24 at the Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose, the graduating seniors in the Harker Conservatory certificate program performed selections from their senior portfolios at the 2013 Harker Conservatory Senior Showcase to an appreciative crowd of more than 500.

All 27 graduates of the program put on a diverse array of performances, from instrumental pieces to dance routines to reenactments of scenes from plays. The students have spent the previous four years in the program honing their talents in one of six fields offered by the certificate program.

Renee Tam, Apricot Tang and Michelle Christine Douglas, backed up by five friends, got the evening crowd going with their energetic dance performance to the Allstar Weekend song “Wanna Dance with Somebody.”

The show included several dramatic reenactments, including Alice Tsui’s performance of a monologue from Jessie McCormack’s comedy “Spine,” and Apurva Tandon delivering Lady Macbeth’s chilling “Out, out damned spot” speech from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”

As always, the musical talents of Harker’s Conservatory students were a treat, including vocalist Rebecca Liu’s stirring version of “Ave Maria” and Payal Modi singing the Kelly Clarkson hit “A Moment Like This,” in addition to the many great instrumental pieces from musicians such as Nayeon Kim, Katherine Woodruff and Albert Chen. Cecilia Lang-Ree’s jazzy number from the Broadway hit “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” came complete with backup dancers. Jazz, classical, pop and Broadway were all well-represented by this versatile group.

After the performances had concluded, the graduates lined up on stage and were called forward to receive their engraved plaques signaling successful completion of this intense arts program.

Congratulations to this year’s Conservatory graduates!

Instrumental Music: Tara Sheida Rezvani, Nayeon Kim, Katherine Woodruff, Albert Y. Chen, Wendy Shwe, Pooja Shah, Patricia Huang

Musical Theater: Indulaxmi Seeni, Cecilia Lang-Ree, Cristina Jerney

Vocal Music: Rebecca Liu, Nina Sabharwal, Payal Modi, Rohan Chandra

Theater: Alice Tsui, Apurva Tandon, Hannah Frances Prutton, Lori Jane Berenberg

Dance: Molly Wolfe, Renee Tam, Apricot Tang, Michelle Christine Douglas, Ria Desai, Rahul Nalamasu, Michaela Kastelman, Tiphaine Delepine

Technical Theater: Simon Orr