By Luna-Bella Galliano-Salinas, Reporter
A small bead of sweat began to form at the nape of his neck as random shivers of anxiety and excitement swept through him. He felt the lights’ warmth shine down as the crowd buzzed around him. He glanced up, and began to sing.
This moment occurred for senior Hugh Davis during a recent singing competition at the University of Washington that was hosted by Miami University. People from all areas of the West Coast travelled to take place in this competition, and to his amazement, Davis took second place. Davis also took first place in both musical theatre and classical performance at the regional auditions hosted by the University of Puget Sound in January.
On top of these achievements, Davis has been accepted to a vocal intensive program hosted by the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He has come a long way from when he was a boy.
As a child, he was inspired by his dad, who would playfully say he had the voice of an opera singer. Funnily enough, Davis at that time was far from a fan of opera and believed that it was “the worst genre.”
This all changed when he heard his father listening to Luciano Pavarotti performing “Nessun Dorma” on the radio. From that moment on, he realized he loved opera and wanted to transform his voice into one as brilliant as Pavarotti’s.
As Davis worked to be the outstanding singer he is today, he drew inspiration from other artists as well. In an interview with the Riptide online on February eighth, he bashfully mentioned a youtuber named JonTron, who sang the same song that was before mentioned in one of his videos. A few of his favorite composers include Handel, Schumann and Vaughan Williams. He enjoys the way the music has its own kind of art.
“‘Silent Noon’ by Ian Bostridge is one of the most emotionally potent songs I’ve ever heard, and I am so happy that I can sing it,” Davis said.
But this talent doesn’t all come naturally; he works hard. He takes lessons every week with Holly Boaz, a vocal instructor from Pacific Lutheran University, to perfect his voice. Despite all this practice, he still struggles with everyday fears when he steps on stage in front of an audience.
“I’ve struggled with performance anxiety and lyric diction more than anything else while singing,” Davis said.
Davis still gets stage fright like any talented artist, but continues to improve. He loves what he is doing: singing and impacting the audience with his performance. He aspires to have a career like opera singer Bryn Terfel, so he can perform the beautiful music he enjoys around the world.
Based on what many can see and hear, this dream may not be too far out of reach.