{"id":4113,"date":"2011-06-17T14:42:39","date_gmt":"2011-06-17T18:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=4113"},"modified":"2014-06-02T14:54:57","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T18:54:57","slug":"diamonds-are-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2011\/06\/17\/diamonds-are-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"Diamonds are Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"img_diamond\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Some people are precocious musical prodigies from the moment of birth. For Mark Diamond (\u201910), his leap from musical novice to musical sensation occurred instead during his junior year at Georgia Southern, under the cultivation, tutelage and encouragement of faculty.
\nThe 23-year-old\u2019s rich, baritone voice is stunning audiences, earning accolades and receiving rave reviews from The New York Times and Opera News. Not bad for someone who originally aspired to become a chorus teacher for students in grades K-12. Diamond didn\u2019t even begin formal voice lessons until he arrived at the University. <\/p>\n

Diamond\u2019s former professor, Allen Henderson, provided the encouragement that the young singer needed to catapult his career to the next level by persuading him to audition for the Aspen Music Festival. \u201cSometimes it takes a professor to help open doors or guide a student toward that \u2018light bulb\u2019 moment,\u201d said Henderson. After auditioning with thousands of other singers nationwide, Diamond\u2019s \u2018light bulb\u2019 moment turned out to be winning one of the coveted 75 spots in the nine-week festival, which included performances of three operas.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Henderson is the reason why I auditioned,\u201d he admitted. \u201cThat summer I grew so much, and I had never been good enough before to say to myself, \u2018I can do this\u2019 until then. That\u2019s when my voice really started to take off,\u201d he said, realizing that his talent and ability compared favorably to singers from some of the country\u2019s top voice programs. Last summer, Diamond performed the leading role of Top in \u201cThe Tender Land\u201d during Glimmerglass Opera, a prestigious music festival held annually in Cooperstown, N.Y. The program also provided him with the opportunity to work with renowned singers and voice coaches from the Juilliard School and the Metropolitan Opera.\n<\/p>\n

While the rising star could claim exceptional talent for his success, instead, he credits the faculty, voice lessons and challenging course of study within the University\u2019s Department of Music. \u201cStudents are nurtured at Georgia Southern. You get a lot of attention here that you might not get at other schools,\u201d said Diamond.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a team approach to helping students progress,\u201d said Henderson. \u201cOur opera director, Dr. Arikka Gregory, contributes significantly to the development of students\u2019 skills on stage and their ability to craft believable characters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, Diamond began his studies at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music to earn a Master of Music in vocal performance. In January, he captured first place at the Houston (Tx.) Grand Opera\u2019s Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, defeating 700 other singers entered in the national competition. After performing the title role of Figaro in \u201cThe Barber of Seville,\u201d with the San Francisco Opera\u2019s Merola Program for young artists this summer, he will return to Texas to perform with the Houston Grand Opera for their 2011-12 season.<\/p>\n

Henderson believes that the career potential of this gifted young artist is limitless. \u201cWhen I talk to those who hear Mark in auditions, they are quite impressed with his command of voice, his stage presence, and his interpretation of the arias he performs. The world will be hearing from Mark for a long time.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

~ Mary Beth Spence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Major Opera Companies Taking Notice of Alumnus Mark Diamond<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4114,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-4113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-summer-2011"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}