Page 39 - Classical Singer magazine 2019 Fall University Issue

I think that had I done ‘traditional’ repertoire, I probably wouldn’t still be singing today.”
Gri ey maintains a busy performing schedule with a healthy balance of recitals, concert work and, of course,
opera. He recently starred in premieres of both Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life at Houston Grand Opera and Nico Muhly’s Marnie at the Met.
The experience of returning to the exalted stage at Lincoln Center was profoundly satisfying for Gri ey. “It’s more fun now because I’m of a certain age,” he says. “My voice is still healthy, but I’m not starting as a frightened young 27-year-old artist and trying to gure out who I am and what I have to o er artistically.”
Certainly, Gri ey’s career has
taken him a long way from his humble beginnings in industrial North Carolina. Because nances in his family were perpetually tenuous, he was unable to audition for any pay-to-sing summer programs. He opted instead
to work for seven years at a camp for children and adults with special needs. Individuals with physical, mental, and emotional challenges have always been
(L to R): Donnie Ray Albert, Patti LuPone, Griffey, Audra McDonald, Catherine Ireland, and Robert Wörle as Trinity Moses, Leocadia Begbick, Jimmy MacIntyre, Jenny Smith, A maiden of Mahagonny, and Fatty the Bookkeeper in LA Opera’s production of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, 2007
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Douglas Ahlstedt — Tenor Jennifer Aylmer — Soprano Sari Gruber — Soprano
Mildred Miller Posvar — Mezzo-Soprano Maria Spacagna — Soprano
Daniel Teadt — Tenor
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photo by George Hixson