Word: opera
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...make a living in the opera circuit as a "Verdi Baritone...
...parents didn't have any affinity for opera, though they do a bit now since I sing. It's not clear how got interested. I guess I started listening to classical music on the radio when I was little-- just by chance. I remember coming across vocal music later and finding that more pleasing [than purely instrumental music]. I liked the individual achievement, the idea of one person singing there with an entire orchestra...
...didn't sing outside of my house until I was in ninth grade. By that time, I'd been singing opera around the house for a few years and my parents thought that I had some sort of voice [a worthy voice], so they had me go sing for the school chorus teacher. He had good things to say and I started taking lessons with his father, who was a well-known local voice teacher. I started doing opera productions with the local [Long Island] company, Island Lyric Opera. The first opera I ever did was Bruno's Faust, where...
...There was an episode when I was in 10th grade [with the Island Lyric Opera] and in 2-3 weeks La Boheme was supposed to open up, and the director came up and said 'Lee--do you think you can learn Schaunard in 21/2 weeks. My baritone can't do it, he's cancelled on me.' So I was like, 'yeah sure, why not?' so I learned that role--it's a great role. I was nervous initially, but afterwards I was pretty confident. I got a lot of compliments from the audience...
...want to sing Verdi baritone roles like Rigoletto, Don Carlo--every opera has a baritone role. He was pretty big on that...