Hello and thank you for visiting my web page.  The first several pages of my web site are my professional resume, this, is a personal note from my heart.  If you are really interested, I'll try to tell you a little bit about my family and myself. 

I grew up outside of Kansas City, Missouri, the son of a Baptist minister.  From an early age I was deeply involved in church and the  teaching of the Bible. Like all children I learned early on the Bible verse: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life". As a child I believed that scripture and became a Christian. As I grew up I realized that decisions I made needed to be guided by the understanding that I belong to God and should bring worship to Him with the use of my God-given abilities. Since I was always involved in church, my first inclination was to be a Church music minister.  I did that for several years in a few churches and it was very exciting and meaningful. As time went on I found that directing the choir, the orchestra and leading the worship services, took a toll on my primary gift: my voice. Time passed on and after many voice lessons and training I wondered if I was to head down another career path. 

The year of 1993 was the turning point. I had never seen an opera in my life and only knew about five or six arias. I would listen to my CD of Pavarotti and pick the arias I liked to learn. My voice teacher insisted I enter a Chicago competition for singing called Bel Canto. I did, but I must confess not too enthusiastically. First prize was six weeks at Northwestern University with other winners from around the country and Giorgio Tozzi leading an opera seminar and master classes. The good news was that second prize was $1,000, third prize $750 and fourth prize was $500. I felt I had a good shot at some cash! To make a long story short, I won! That first day of class I was terrified, people talking in Italian and singers from Julliard, Manhattan School of Music, Indiana and Northwestern University. That day I was selected to sing first for the Maestro. After the class he pulled me aside and said, "I don’t know what you are doing for a living, but you should consider pursuing this field". Well after several months of praying and thinking about it, my wife and I decided that this was the direction God had been leading us in all these years. In November of 1993 I began studying with Margaret Harshaw in Chicago. She said to me, "Give me two years of your life and I’ll make you an opera singer". She was a gift from God and was true to her word.