When Jennifer F. Muccioli was a teenager, she was told she could not sing. If she had listened to those words, she may not be headed in the direction she is today - to Italy to perform with the Rome Festival Opera for the summer.

Recently chosen for the honor by competitive national audition, the 20-year-old local resident is bringing pride not only to her teachers at Molloy College, but also to her family, friends and neighbors in Farmingdale.

Of the 500 singers worldwide to audition for the Rome Festival Opera, Muccioli is the youngest of 19 chosen. The soprano is the only Long Islander in the elite group, and one of only two from New York state. She will be alongside instrumentalists and singers from nine different countries, performing major works at a concert site about 900 meters from the world-famous Colosseum.

At the festival, Muccioli will perform in Donizett's L'Elisir d'amore. She will also study with European master artist-teachers as part of the Rome Festival's Summer Institute, which is sponsored by Rome Festival Orchestra, Ltd., an equal-opportunity American educational charity.

Muccioli is a veteran of the stage. Her musical performance debut came at Albany Avenue Elementary School in Farmingdale, where she said, she was encouraged by faculty. She has also studied piano for more than 15 years. However, it was not until she reached the college level of her education that she began to develop what she calls her "hidden" talent - her voice.

The turning point came at an audition for a music scholarship to Molloy. After playing the piano, she was asked to sing, impressed the judge more with her voice than her piano, and was offered a four-year half-tuition scholarship for voice.

"It's like a hidden-found talent, I guess," she said during a recent interview. "But I've been encouraged all along by family, by friends, by teachers, especially the teachers at Molloy - I owe them everything."

Muccioli's most recent professor at Molloy is Jeanine Pardey, one of those to whom she expresses deep appreciation. In addition, she said, "The first person to introduce me to music was a teacher at Albany Avenue." That teacher was Althea F. Wendell, who is now the director of symphonic band at Farmingdale High School. Maria Aquilina, former director of music for Farmingdale Schools, also inspired her. "Miss Aquilina told me just to go for it," she said. "But I guess I was always shy, but now I'm not shy - I'm totally the opposite."

During her tenure at Molloy, Muccioli has performed with several local chamber music ensembles. Her devotion to song reveals much about her personal philosophy on the art. "I enjoy singing, because I enjoy telling stories and being with other people," she said, adding "I enjoy the overwhelming feeling of making people happy...Everybody has a song to sing, and I can't wait 'til everybody sings it."

A testament to her outgoing personality, Muccioli is also president of the student body at Molloy, where she is a senior, double-majoring in music performance and psychology, and is on her way to receiving a baccalaureate degree.

She describes her goals as "just to be happy and healthy, and to have my family and friends with me, and to be successful." Muccioli is striving to become a sports psychologist, and although she acknowledges the highly competitive nature of show business, she does not plan to give up her vocal aspirations. "I would love to be on Broadway. Every time I see a show, I get chills up and down my spine," she said, noting that she would also jump at a chance to sing for Walt Disney's animated films.

The audition for the Rome Festival Opera, her first audition since trying for the Molloy Scholarship, serves as an indication of Muccioli's potential, as noted by Maestro Fritz Maraffi, musical director of the Rome Festival Orchestra and Opera. "Ms. Muccioli will uphold the high standard of singing that Italian music lovers, tourists, and critics have come to expect from the Rome Festival Opera," he said upon her acceptance into the performance.