Amalea update: living her dream
By John Gregory
Amalea Ribeiro is a student from Scripps Ranch who attends the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, an independent college of contemporary music. She was outside standing on a city sidewalk and using crutches on the day of this interview following a knee injury suffered in her yoga class. The sounds of the city were loud: automobiles, sirens, random voices. Not only was she injured, but the elevator to her eighth story apartment was out of order and she had to hobble to another location for her next class within about 30 minutes in another part of the city. Her crutches slid to the ground at one point. Still, none of this fazed her.
As stated in a story posted on ScrippsRanchNews.com in 2017, “Those who know Amalea Ribeiro realize she marches to a different drummer. They also know she can sing to any drum beat and hit any note.”
She is truly a free spirit and amazing talent.
In 2017 she was a 12-year-old musical phenomenon who happened to attend Marshall Middle School. But she was also performing in public, in competitions, on the radio and in a recording studio. Ribeiro was so talented that she was featured on the cover of the third print edition of Scripps Ranch News in February 2018.
She has since performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston and at the Rady Shell in San Diego. Ribeiro has sung the National Anthem at numerous sports events. She has performed all over the country in a professional a cappella group, which has been flown out to sing in cities such as San Francisco and Chicago.
Ribeiro attended high school at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts where she studied musical theater. Today, she is immersed in her journey attending Berklee College of Music, perfecting her craft of singing, performing and song writing.
“Berklee was my dream school since I was little,” she said. “Everyone is super talented. … I’m very honored to have gotten in here.”
Berklee is located in the middle of the metropolitan Boston area and classes are held in buildings scattered throughout the city. Ribeiro said it took some time to adjust to city life.
“The weather is definitely a big change. It’s definitely a faster pace than Scripps, but I definitely really enjoy it. It’s really beautiful … It’s really cool to see all the historical buildings,” she said.
“The amount of people was a big culture shock. I’m used to the sidewalks being empty at night, but there are people out here until 4 o’clock in the morning,” she added. “I like getting to see all the different kinds of musicians come together, especially where I live. … You’ll see someone practicing their guitar on the street or busking. It’s really great to see.”
Ribeiro has also adjusted to studies at her college.
“You learn a lot of things that maybe you wouldn’t want to apply to your personal music, but you end up finding it’s really helpful. For example, right now I’m learning how to conduct a full symphony orchestra,” she said.
Ribeiro recently completed her second year and changed from a performance major to a song writing major, although she still wants to be a performer.
“Even though I still have a lot more to learn about performing, I feel like I have even more to learn about song writing and I’m really passionate about it,” she said.
Her college experience has included a semester abroad at the Berklee campus in Valencia, Spain. Ribeiro said travelling around Europe was a highlight. She visited London, Scotland, Paris and Greece.
“I just really enjoyed my time there. I really love Europe,” she said.
Her education is allowing her to consider all kinds of options for her future career.
“I definitely want to be able to release my own music and that’s how I would ideally like to make a living. But honestly, I just want to be a part of the music industry in any capacity. But the main goal is to be a singer-songwriter-recording artist as well as an actress,” Ribeiro said. “I see myself living in L.A. I think since I want to pursue music and an acting career, I definitely think that’s the best place for me to be.”