Sherrill Milnes

Sherrill Eustace Milnes Was Born In Downer's Grove Illinois On January 10 1935 To A Dairy Farmer And His Wife. During His Childhood Milnes Developed Strong Musical Talents In Addition To Possessing A Remarkable Voice He Was Proficient On The Piano Violin Viola Double Bass Clarinet And Tuba. Although His Interests Did Not Always Lean Towards Opera He Spent Many Hours Singing To His Father's Cows And Once Was Found On A Tractor Practicing An Operatic Laugh. While In High School Milnes Planned To Be An Anaethesiologist But Later Returned To Music Studying Music Education At Drake University And Northwestern University In Hopes Of Becoming A Teacher. His Career As An Opera Singer Did Not Materialize For Several More Years. He Joined The Boris Goldovsky Opera Company In 1960 He Calls It The "luckiest Possible Beginning" To His Career And Made His First Important Operatic Debut Four Years Later At The New York City Opera As Valentin In Gounod's Faust A Role Which Also Served For His Metropolitan Opera Debut The Same Year . His European Debut Occured Later In 1964 At The Teatro Nuovo In Milan Italy -- He Sang Figaro From Rossini's Il Barbiere Di Siviglia. However It Was His Performance As Miller In Verdi's Louisa Miller In 1968 Which Catapulted Him Into International Fame. Since Then He Has Been Hailed As One Of The Greatest Verdian Baritones Of All Time And Has Been A Favorite In New York Singing Much Of His Repertoire Exclusively At The Met. In The Early 1980s He Experience Severe Vocal Problems But He Has Since Fully Recovered From His Ailments . He Recently Married The Mezzo-Soprano Maria Zouves And Currently Divides His Time Between Singing Conducting And Fathering His Young Son Theo. read less