April 7, 2001: Sikeston 'Song-Boyd' makes Carnegie debut

Growing up in Sikeston, Mo., Neal Boyd liked to sing nursery rhymes and themes from cartoon shows on TV.

His mother, Esther, says he was particularly fond of the Smurfs. In eighth grade, the bulky football tackle amused his friends by parodying opera singers. Then the choir director overheard him in the cafeteria.

Last month, 11 years and a lot of practice later, Neal Boyd debuted at Carnegie Hall.

The 25-year-old lyric tenor will perform the same program at 8 tonight in a free concert at Old St. Vincent's Church. Southeast Missouri State University, which Boyd attended for four years, invited him back to celebrate his accomplishments. Besides the Carnegie Hall concert, those include winning the 2000 Music Teachers National Association collegiate vocal championship, the honor of being chosen to solo at Gov. Mel Carnahan's memorial service, and receiving an honorable mention at the Sorantin International Vocal competition.

Boyd is dedicating the concert to the Southeast music faculty in thanks for their support. "This is like a homecoming," he says.

At Southeast, he studied voice under Dr. Christopher Goeke, performed in numerous musical productions and was named to the 1996 Missouri All-Collegiate Choir. A solo recital at Carnegie Hall is a significant event in a singer's career, Goeke says.

"This is important to anybody looking at him with a potential of hiring him. It says he has reached a certain level, that he has certain abilities."

Boyd had an unusually mature tenor voice as a Sikeston High School senior auditioning to get into the music program at Southeast in the mid-1990s, Goeke said. "A few years later we realized he really had serious career potential as a professional singer."

In 1999, Boyd transferred to the University of Missouri to study with associate professor Ann Harrell. He had noticed that when he was defeated at a vocal competition, the winner often was a Harrell student. He also had a Sikeston friend, Justin Tanner, whose talent grew tremendously studying with Harrell.

"I had to know what the secret was," Boyd said. "The secret is that she is intense."

A real test

As hard as he'd worked at Southeast, he encountered a regimen at Missouri that tested him physically and improved his psychological approach to singing.

"She made me understand that most of my limitations were in my head," he said. "I just had to get out of my own way."

The University of Missouri pursued getting a spot for Boyd at Carnegie Hall after he won the collegiate voice championship. Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall was two-thirds full for the concert he calls "the most incredible experience of my life to date."

He knows a Carnegie Hall debut gives someone who wants to become an opera singer priceless credibility.

Besides possessing a wonderful voice, Goeke says, Boyd also has the advantage of likeability. "He sells himself on stage very well. He's very confident and poised. Those things also will help him get a position as he moves on."

Boyd will graduate from Southeast May 5 with a degree in speech communication. His minors are music and political science. He is scheduled to sing during the commencement exercises. The same month, he will graduate from the University of Missouri with a bachelor's degree in music.

Tonight's performance

Tonight, he will sing Umberto Giordano's "Amor ti vieta" from "Fedora" and "Der Gang zum Liebchen," "Am Sonntag Morgen" and "O liebliche Wange" by Johannes Brahms. Prior to intermission he will sing Ernest Charles' "My Lady Walks in Loveliness," "When I Have Sung My Songs" and "Night."

The second half will feature Donizetti's "Una furtive lagima" from "l'Elisir d'amore" and Ravel's "Cinq Melodies Populaires Grecques." He will conclude with Verdi's "Ingemisco" from "Requiem."

Boyd will be accompanied by Dr. Patrice Ewoldt, the staff accompanist for the Southeast department of music.

He has been accepted into the graduate programs at both the Eastman School of Music and Yale University. He thinks he will be in New Haven come fall.

"I want to be an opera singer for as long as people want to hear me sing," he says.