Why opera?

God’s blessed me with two gifts that are essential to pursue a career in opera: passion and a voice.  Of course, there are more aspects that create a great singer, but those two traits are the main mechanisms in my life.  However, I didn’t know I had these traits until I was fifteen.  Especially the fact that I would love opera!  If someone told me in middle school I would be studying classical voice at Manhattan School of Music, I would have assumed they were crazy.  I look at how I got here and it still shocks me.  The main person I have to thank for finding this passion is my high school orchestra and choir director, Mr. Mosley.

         In my freshman year of high school, I started out as one of his worst violinists.  Mr. Mosley was failing me and I worked my butt off to get better.  Surprisingly, he was thrilled about my drastic improvement!!!!!  He brought me to all of his other classes (wind ensemble, choir, jazz orchestra) and told them how I used to suck and then I became a decent violinist during his class.    What a crazy guy!!!!!  Yet, this is also how he became one of my favorite teachers.  Whether it was his best or worst student, he noticed each musician's work ethic and cared about all of them.  I never had a teacher that cared this much about a last stand, hide in the back of the orchestra, violinist.  So, I started hanging out in the music room often just to try to figure this dude out.  And one day at the end of class, he said opera singers were the greatest singers.  

         Now, my only experience with an opera at the time was a Live at the Met movie production of Hansel and Gretel.  I hated it!!!!!!    It was sooooo weird!!!!  They were eating a cake off a walking tongue, shouting “let’s be quiet”, and Hansel and Gretel looked like senior citizens dressing as children for halloween!  Homey don’t play that!!!!!!!   So, I looked Mr. Mosley right in the eyes and told him I hated opera.  Next thing I knew, he dragged me into his office and I was forced to listen to opera for two hours.  I still didn’t care for it while I was listening, but after I got home I thought, “Here’s a guy who knows and teaches all types of music, and he says opera singing is the best.  Maybe I'm just being closed minded."  So, for the next few months, I played opera for a couple minutes everyday.  Gradually, I began to love listening it and out of nowhere I decided I wanted to be an opera singer.  It still confuses me how this high school teacher got me into opera and how on earth I decided I wanted to make this my career!  That’s why I don’t doubt these events were God guided, because not in a billion possibilities would I have chosen to pursue classical singing.  Yet, no other fate would have been so much fun!