Aug. 3 concert will further singer's operatic aspirations

In March, Sikeston, Mo., native Neal Boyd sang for the second time at Carnegie Hall in New York City and for the first time at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The occasion was the performance of Act I from "Corps of Discovery," a musical Boyd's alma mater, the University of Missouri, has commissioned for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.

Boyd plays the role of York, William Clark's slave on the expedition to open the American West. York gets to sing a show-stopping aria.

"The audience was in tears," he recalled.

In May 2003, he will be in the cast when "Corps of Discovery" receives its premiere at the Missouri Theatre in Columbia, Mo.

Boyd spent the past year teaching music appreciation as assistant director of three vocal ensembles in the Sikeston schools, a break he says he needed before beginning graduate school in the fall at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Before departing, he will give a concert for the hometown folks Aug. 3 at the First United Methodist Church in Sikeston. Tim DePriest, who has played the piano for many productions at Southeast in the past, will accompany Boyd.

The concert is being organized by Sikeston lawyer Dan Norton and some of his friends, who wanted to help with Boyd's expenses. The scholarship Boyd receives pays for his schooling but not for room and board.

The cliché of the struggling artist holds true for opera singers. "I'm always broke," Boyd admits.

'He's so genuine'

Norton says it's time the citizens of Sikeston did something to help the young man, who has gotten this far mainly on talent and determination.

They also want to help simply because they like him. "He's so genuine," Norton says.

Being poor as a child was a powerful motivation to use his abilities as a singer, Boyd says.

"How easy it is to want to lay down and give up and have this selfish idea this has been laid on you. I had that when I was a kid."

But he also had a talent for singing. "When I did finally realize what talent was, I realized this could get me into college," he said.

Boyd graduated from the University of Missouri and Southeast Missouri State University in 2001 with bachelor's degrees in music and speech communication, respectively.

He credits his mother, Esther Boyd, with supporting his aspirations wholeheartedly and recalls looking at her in the audience while singing at Carnegie Hall. Until then, he wasn't sure she understood where the path he is on could lead. "That was really the first time she heard me sing like that," he said. "She said, 'Oh, I get it.'"

His Southeast vocal teacher, Dr. Christopher Goeke, also has been important, Boyd said. "He taught me technique and shaped my talent. He showed me that top notes were more than screaming your head off."

At the University of Missouri, Boyd studied with Ann Harrell, a professor who taught him about the physical and psychological intensity required to be an opera singer.

Passed on Yale

Now 26, Boyd had decided to accept a scholarship offered by Yale University until he visited the New England Conservatory and saw the quality of the facilities. "There's no comparison," he says. "For two years I didn't think of life outside of New Haven, but a block from my school is the Boston Pops."

The New England Conservatory of Music is known for solidifying the techniques of young opera singers to the point many are ready for regional companies when they graduate. "He should be able to compete well with other singers his age," Goeke says.

Living in Boston should be a big advantage, Goeke says. "The best education is doing these things, when you can go to a major metropolitan area and perhaps singing in a church where you have to come up with a new solo every week."

The competition with other good singers will help, Goeke said. "It pushes you to reach your best."

Boyd will be working with a new teacher and hoping to be cast in the school's productions. "I can't take anything for granted," he said. "If nothing else I'll be singing the next two years."

Boyd's first appearance at Carnegie Hall, in March 2001, was arranged by the University of Missouri after he won the 2000 Music Teachers National Association collegiate vocal championship. Since then he also has performed at Gov. Mel Carnahan's memorial service, at a pre-inaugural event for Gov. Bob Holden and sang the national anthem before a Cardinals baseball game.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182