When my children were growing up and they didn’t like some new food or vegetable, they would tell me, “I don’t need to like it now mom. Our taste buds change every seven years, so I will like it some day.” Whether that’s true or not, I can attest to the fact that our tastes in music certainly do change over time with exposure, experience and influence. As a teen and young adult, whenever the opera came on the radio, I would quickly turn it off or change the station. I had grown up listening to Andy Williams, Bing Crosby, Perry Como and other crooners of the day. And like so many of my generation, we grew up hearing all those voices on The Lawence Welk Show. But opera was a different beast all together!
Time passed, I became a voice major and was exposed to arias, oratorios, art songs, spirituals, major choral works and so much more. Fast forward to joining public radio and my exposure to all kinds of music and artists – vocal and instrumental, rapidly influenced my musical tastes. I gained a whole new appreciation for a variety of voices – and before I knew it, developed an appreciation for the operatic voice.
One of the voices to which I have been recently introduced, is that of baritone Kenneth Overton, who I heard, and had the joy of meeting, at the recent William Warfield Scholarship Concert in Kilbourn Hall in January 2025. I instantly melted like butter on a freshly grilled steak! Overton’s voice is (as described in his bio), “lauded for blending his opulent baritone with magnetic, varied portrayals that seemingly ‘emanate from deep within body and soul.’”
This could not be a more accurate description of the voice you will hear on his 2013 CD Been In de Storm So Long: Songs My Fathers Taught Me, an homage to the spiritual tradition that has been formative in his artistic life, and produced by The American Spiritual Ensemble. This solo album contains 19 spirituals for solo voice, with pianist Kevin Miller. Kenneth’s interpretations will move you from “deep within [his] body and soul” to your own.
Selections include:
The Lord's Prayer
Been in de Storm so Long
Breathe on Me Breath of God
Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho
…and one of my favorites, God Is a God
Overton’s rich baritone voice has taken him around the world performing operas, musical theater and solo recitals, and earned him a 2020 Grammy for his performance in the title role of Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by JoAnn Falletta. In 2021 Kenneth made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Lawyer Frazier in Porgy and Bess. Kenneth is a champion of new works, such as John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West, but his versatility makes him equally comfortable with musical theater, oratorio, and even rhythm and blues. Learn more about Kenneth Overton and his recent CD releases.
