6A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2003
KU Psychology Club Wednesday, April 30th Fraser 547 at 6pm
Ice Cream Social and Officer Elections!!
ALL ARE WELCOME!!
Fric Breem/Kansan
Ryan Keller, St. Charles, Mo., junior, works on his voice with Gonaro Mendez, assistant professor of music and dance, during a weekly private lesson. Keller is president of the Men's Glee Club and is performing in Kansas City, Mo., next weekend.
Student intune with his goals
By Megan Hickerson
mhickerson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Ryan Keller was unaware of his natural singing talent until he enrolled in choir during high school. Keller is now president of the University of Kansas Men's Glee Club and is performing next weekend at the Lyric Opera in Kansas City, Mo.
"I just enrolled in a chair class for fun," the St. Charles, Mo., junior said. "I had no idea that I was any good until I was selected to be in the All-State choir my junior year of high school. It was obviously natural talent."
Perhaps Keller's natural talent is genetic — his dad was in high school choir and Keller's mom was involved in band.
The Men's Glee Club practices twice a week in Murphy Hall. It has performed classical music and pieces from musicals such as South Pacific and West Side
"It's amazing how many guys want to be involved in an all-
men's choir."
Hugo Vera KU Men's Glee Club director
Story. Although Keller is majoring in vocal performance, 80 percent of the club members are not music majors.
"All of these guys really want to be here," Vera said. "It's amazing how many guys want to be involved in an all-men's choir."
Hugo Vera, director of the club, enjoys working with the members because of their passion for music.
Aside from classroom training, Keller also has private voice lessons weekly.
Keller is dividing his time between his music classes and performing in the Lyric Opera's
Rigoletto this weekend. Keller has an opportunity to learn from professional singers while earning $90 per performance.
"It's a bit intimidating working with the pros," Keller said. "I'm learning so much working with these huge voices."
Although Keller often performs classic music, he has a wide range of musical interests.
"It's not like I drive around and listen to classical music all the time," he said. "I listen to lots of pop rock in my free time."
After Keller graduates, he plans on becoming a professional opera singer. Vera, the club's director, has confidence that Keller will achieve his goals.
"He'll go as far as he wants to because of his talent and determination," Vera said. "He has a real passion for performance, and that's what you need to do well in this business."
Edited by Anne Mantey