In December 1990 I did my first Messiah gig as the tenor soloist. I remember getting the melismatic passages in "Every Valley" in one breath had been one of my challenges in addition to the higher tessitura. It was fun to sing with some of the other Millikin faculty members, particularly Liz Barnabe and Hadi Gibbons. If I recall correctly, I think Keith Levell was a student.
The first show I stage directed was a one-act opera by Douglas Moore called Gallantry. It was fun and a great learning experience.
Somewhere I think I have some more pictures from that summer. I did find another article with a goofy picture of us rehearsing.
Since Millikin had a Bachelor's degree in Musical Theatre and I was one of the faculty who had more experience in that area, I decided for my faculty recital I would do a program of musical theatre songs from the "Golden Age of Musical Theatre" from the 1920s to the 1940s. I asked Maria to accompany me and we had a great time putting this recital together. Also I had started working on tenor repertoire, and even though others had suggested I could be a tenor, I believe this was the first time I billed myself as one.
