On His Way

 

John Humphrey

Tenor John Humphrey "took a liking to singing" when he was five or six years old, he said.
   "I remember going to parties as a child, whether it was family or church gatherings, and I always loved to volunteer to sing.  I enjoyed singing hymns.  I learned a lot from my grandmother on my father's side, Marie Humphrey.  She was one of my biggest inspirations.  She was not a singer.  I don't come from a musical family.
   "I was very close with my grandmother, Marie Humphrey. I would go over to her house to visit and have dinner with her and when she would do dishes, she would be singing her favorite church hymns.  I remember listening to her and thinking, that is one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard.
   "The beautiful honesty in her voice was reflecting outward and into my deepest being.  I could feel how her singing could affect people because at a very young age, I was exposed to it.  I decided that I wanted to keep doing it."
   And then there was sports.
   "I played basketball, baseball and football. I was a bit of a jock.I actually have had three concussions in my life.  I'm not allowed to play football anymore."  It didn't affect his singing in any way, he said.  "I didn't allow it to."

   Singing was always "just a pastime, a kind of hobby of mine.  I really didn't start thinking about it or really take it seriously until I was in high school.  I was in the  choir and my choir director came up to me and said "have you ever taken voice lessons before?  I thought 'voice lessons.'  I didn't know someone could be taught to sing.  I thought it was something you either know how to do or you don't.  She recommended that I study with someone local."
   Humphrey's first voice teacher was Teresa Tierney.  "She's in the St. Paul area.  Incredible singer.  I was a junior in high school, probably 15, 16 years old."  He didn't develop any real technique, he said, until he started voice lessons, he said.  "That opened a Pandora's box of what there was to learn and what I had not already learned."
   With every singer it's "different," Humphrey said. "Some people are great at breathing.   Breathing always came naturally to me.  For me, it was several other technical things that I needed to adjust and tune.  I am still doing it today.  You can never stop."
   Humphrey, who stands six feet one inches tall, didn't know what he was planning to do with his voice, he said.  "I didn't know that you could be a professional singer.  I thought that opera was a joke.  I thought it was something that was only in Looney Tunes and Bugs Bunny." 

    Humphrey did sing in musicals, however.."   I had the most fun I've ever had.  I thought 'Oh performing, how fun."

Singing was always "just a pastime, a kind of hobby of mine.  I really didn't start thinking about it or really take it seriously until I was in high school.  I was in the  choir and my choir director came up to me and said "have you ever taken voice lessons before?  I thought 'voice lessons.'  I didn't know someone could be taught to sing.  I thought it was something you either know how to do or you don't.  She recommended that I study with someone local."
   Humphrey's first voice teacher was Teresa Tierney.  "She's in the St. Paul area.  Incredible singer.  I was a junior in high school, probably 15, 16 years old."  He didn't develop any real technique, he said, until he started voice lessons, he said.  "That opened a Pandora's box of what there was to learn and what I had not already learned."

Humphrey did sing in musicals, however.."   I had the most fun I've ever had.  I thought 'Oh performing, how fun."

   With every singer it's "different," Humphrey said. "Some people are great at breathing.   Breathing always came naturally to me.  For me, it was several other technical things that I needed to adjust and tune.  I am still doing it today.  You can never stop."
   Humphrey, who stands six feet one inches tall, didn't know what he was planning to do with his voice, he said.  "I didn't know that you could be a professional singer.  I thought that opera was a joke.  I thought it was something that was only in Looney Tunes and Bugs Bunny." 

    Humphrey did sing in musicals, however.."   I had the most fun I've ever had.  I thought 'oh performing, how fun."

    What he really wanted to do was to be a pediatrician and “help children.  I started off as a double major, biology and pre-med.  But I was always in rehearsals and performing.  I had to decide.”

   One of his mentors at Simpson was Robert Larsen, founder of Des Moines Metro Opera.  “He gave up a career conducting at the Metropolitan Opera to start his own opera company.  He wanted to bring opera to the Midwest.  Now it is Des Moines Opera.”  Larsen inspired him, Humphrey said.   “He was the perfect master of the arts.  Wisdom just poured from him.  I learned most things from him and we still maintain a close relationship. 

    “My voice teacher at Simpson was Kimberly Roberts, an incredible singer who assisted me in continuing my development.  Then there was Michael Eagle, the current artistic director of Des Moines Opera.  I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t met him.  He has remained very supportive of my endeavors.  I was very lucky.”

Conservatory of Music for his master’s degree.  “It is one of the top programs in America and the world.  I wanted to take the leap.  It’s funny.  When I came to audition here, it was in the middle of the polar vortex.  I was stuck in North Carolina.  Because of the storm, I was without food for 18 hours before my audition.  I started my audition completely exhausted.  I Humphrey came to the University of Cincinnati College-was nervous.  I was upset and I didn’t know what I was going to happen.  They were well aware of my situation and I ended up giving a wonderful audition.  I was accepted into the program in 2014 and graduated in 2016.

   “ I was with two teachers.  Both equally contributed to the wonderful success I have had, vocally, artistically and personally.  I studied with Bill McGraw and my second year with Ken Shaw, both wonderful teachers.” 

   Humphrey’s professional debut was with Cedar Rapids Opera in 2011, performing the role of Candide in “Candide.”

    This will be Humphrey’s third season with the Cincinnati Opera Chorus. “I’ve performed several shows with them, “Turandot,” “Die Fledermaus,” “Tosca” and several others.”  He has also performed with Cincinnati Chamber Opera.  He goes to Berlin in June to audition for the Berlin Opera Academy.  He will come back to do Cincinnati to do Cincinnati Opera, then return to Berlin in the fall.

   “In Berlin, I will contract with one of three opera companies in the area, Komische Opera, Deutche Oper and also in Munich.”

   “The response is still “pending,” he said, “but that’s what I’m hoping for.  “I would have to learn German.  My German is not so great now, but I’m looking forward to the opportunity to be fully immersed in the culture.  I think that is the necessary next step in my development as a young artist.  There so many opportunities – I say ‘operatunities’ – I’m ready to take.  To do that you need to go where opera was born.

   “Music calms the heart,” Humphrey said. “That is the power and purpose of music.”