SIKESTON MAN WINS NATIONAL COMPETITION WITH OPERA VOICE

COLUMBIA -- Neal Boyd of Sikeston, Mo. had no idea a school hallway Pavarotti parody would someday lead not only to a genuine appreciation for the Italian singer, but a national championship as an opera singer himself.

A lyric tenor and recent graduate from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Boyd captured first place at the National Collegiate Artist Voice Competition of the Music Teachers National Association in Minneapolis, Minn., with a 40-minute program featuring 12 selections.

"I got to pick the first piece and they picked the other 11," said Boyd.

"It's been a long trip," he said, explaining the competition began for him in November when he competed and won at the state level.

From there, he went on to win the divisional round in January, making him eligible for the national event.

Boyd described the competitions as a series of "stamina" type events for a singer -- the equivalent of a series of track meets for a runner.

Crediting his mother for first recognizing and encouraging his talent, Boyd participated in junior high choir, but decided not to audition for the choir his freshman year in high school due to a growing interest in popular music.

Then fate stepped in and grabbed him by the shoulder in the form of William T. Grega, a music teacher at Sikeston Senior High School.

"I was just goofing off, just playing around," said Boyd, but his satiric operetta in the hall attracted the attention of Grega, who promptly drug him to a piano and auditioned him on the spot.

Graduating from Sikeston high school in 1994, Boyd was studying music at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau when he visited a friend and fellow vocalist from Sikeston, Justin Tanner, at the University of Missouri.

Boyd was amazed by the progress his friend had made since they parted. "His voice had just flourished." He decided to transfer to Columbia, Mo. and study under Tanner's music teacher, Ann Harrell.

Boyd said Harrell helps her students with more than just vocal ability. "She taught me how to 'sell' a piece to the audience," said Boyd.

It was the performance coaching, as well as the vocal technique instruction, that made the difference at the competitions in the eyes of the judges, according to Boyd. "The ability to make them feel what I was feeling with every song." Somewhere along the way, Boyd has developed a genuine love for the operatic music he performs. "I started learning there was beauty in a big sound," said Boyd. "It's just more than the lady on the stage with the horns screaming."

He is trying to decide upon a graduate school: Yale appears to be the likely choice.