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Main Menu Home About Us Contact Us MHS eNewsletter Composers Conductors Instrumentalists Vocalists Featured Artists & Groups Reviews Donors Search Site for... Links Newsflash Fun Stuff Hot Topic! Bibliography Events Myrtle on the Web Guestbook Finding the truth is not enough. What we also have to find is justice.                                ~Rigoberta Menchu Grant Park Music Festival 2008 - Conversation with the soloists Part 2 Sunday, 10 August 2008 Bass-baritone Darren K. Stokes' early resume doesn’t exactly read musically. From an impoverished family, he worked hard enough to earn his Bachelor of Science degree from Norfolk State University, Virginia, and worked as a chemist for 8 years before turning to a career in music. Stokes started singing (read: winning auditions) in February 2004 without a formal music background or music education. In a recent interview, he recalled that his college roommate was a voice major; therefore, he said, he listened to a lot of music and supported his friend during concerts. While hanging out with some musical friends at school, he joked around doing a vocalise to some music. “I didn’t know what a ‘vocalise’ was at that time, but now I know that’s what it’s called,” he remarked. His friends were impressed and suggested that he audition for one of the school opera productions. “I thought that sounds like fun,” Stokes reminisced. “I did it just to be fun.” To ensure his success, he enrolled in a voice class as a senior year elective. With the help of the vocal coach, he won the audition. MHS note: Vocalise - The art of composing a lyric and singing it in the same manner as the recorded instrumental solos. “[After graduation,] I moved to New York in 1996. In 1999, my mother called to tell me to do something in the arts. I took voice lesson for $75 an hour, but I stopped after 4 or 5 months.” The lessons didn’t seem worth taking without a goal. But by 2002, opera called to him again. “I got an itch,” he says about singing. Although gainfully employed as a chemist in a New York refinery, he just could not shake the urge to exercise his vocal chords. “I Googled ‘opera chorus.’ The idea was to sing opera for free on the side because my full time job as a chemist paid the bills. Still, I knew nothing about opera.” Google worked for him. “I got a leave of absence to do the Natchez Opera Festival in Mississippi for 6 weeks.” By the time he got back, he knew he’d never be the same. The signs were present: his job started to become stressful and he hated it. “I prayed about it,” he says and God came through. A few month’s later, he was laid off from the refinery, a job he’d held for 8 years. After trying unsuccessfully to find work as a chemist, a colleague suggested that he audition for operas again. “So I did. I was laid off on January 31, 2004. I received a retirement package and won the audition. My opera contract began February 1, 2004!” Starting out may be easy, but what happens after college? What are the necessary skills for attaining those coveted positions? This 4-part series continues Sunday, August 17 and every Sunday thereafter.    < Prev   Next > [ Back ]       © 2012 myrtlehart.org Joomla! is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.

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