DAVID MILLER

 

http://stayoutofschool.com/2010/10/the-artist-interviews-david-miller-tenor/

David Miller fala à entrevistadora Elisabeth King sobre sua educação musical, do incentivo familiar, das escolhas que fez e do que aprendeu a respeito delas, da importância da motivação, da técnica vocal, das barreiras que enfrentou e faz críticas ao sistema educacional, entre outros assuntos. Uma entrevista para refletir. Esta entrevista foi traduzida para o português na página principal : https://luribeiro01.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/david-miller-fala-sobre-sua-educacao-musical-e-os-desafios-que-enfrentou/

The Artist Interviews: David Miller, Tenor

by Elizabeth King on October 16, 2010

David Miller, born in California in 1973 and raised in Colorado, graduated from Oberlin Conservatory with degrees in Vocal Performance and Opera Theatre. While best known for his current work as the American member of the international quartet Il Divo, created by Simon Cowell, David also sang the role of Rodolfo in Baz Luhrmann’s 2002 version of Puccini’s “La Boheme” on Broadway. He has sung in the most renowned opera houses in the world, including the legendary La Scala, and is internationally regarded as one of the brightest and most talented young American opera singers. We’re thrilled to have him share his thoughts about growing as a young artist and arts education here at Stay Out Of School.

Can you start by giving us a description of the work that you do?

Well, I am a singer. I was trained for five years as a classical singer and two years apprenticing as a Young Artist at the Pittsburgh Opera Program. I then spent ten years as an opera singer singing just opera. For the last six years I’ve been with the group Il Divo; we’re four singers from different musical backgrounds. What we do is we bring our different backgrounds together, blending the way the four of us sing all into a single song that we try to give a cross section of techniques. We may start a song is a very pop, raw, emotional way and end with a big operatic finale.

How much of your early music education happened at home and how much happened at school? What was it like being a young musician in a household like yours?
My first experience with music at home was, well, I guess, in the womb. My mom used to play classical music and put the speakers next to her belly! (laughs) But in real life, my first musical experience was the piano— my parents had a piano and they got me a couple piano lessons and I didn’t take to that very well. So they said, “Ok, if you don’t like this, what do you like? Do you like any musical instruments?”

And I said I wanted to play trombone.

So they found a teacher who was willing to teach a nine year old how to play trombone. My teacher eventually found me a youth orchestra to play with and I excelled very rapidly under my parents’ guidance and discipline… not that they played any instruments, but applying the ideal that if you put your heart and your head to something, you can do anything you want to do. So they said, “if this is what you want to do, fine, but you have to learn the basics and you have to learn the theory and you have to learn what music is so that you can function in it.” That’s what this youth orchestra provided every Saturday and my parents kind of required of me… they said “if you’re going to do this, you have to practice at home at least an hour a day”—whether that was working on music theory work books or actually practicing the trombone.

I did that up until about thirteen and then I decided band was entirely too geeky, so I joined choir instead.

That’s like a one-level upgrade from band to chorus…. Like one step up.Yeah, it’s funny considering everyone’s current opinion about glee club from Glee, which I think is a funny show. I don’t really care for the montages, but I think it’s a fun show and I like that it encourages thinking about how music can function in school. I’ve always been a big purport-er that music is just about music—music is a mindset, a search for deeper understanding that might not be tangible, it might be temporary. But it’s learning how to harmonize, learning how to express yourself, learning so many deep, intangible levels of thinking and feeling that are absolutely applicable to any other discipline.

Ok, so can we talk a little bit more about discipline? You were talking about it earlier but did this discipline fuel your passion? Did you wrestle with being disciplined?

For me, I believe that discipline comes in many different forms. Everyone has a different style of learning. Some people, like myself, are audio learners. I can listen to a conversation and repeat it back almost verbatim when I’m really in the moment and paying attention. Other people can’t do that— other people are visceral learners, for example, if they’re learning language. If I’m learning a language, I just have to listen to it over and over and it’s easy for me to repeat back— I’m very parrot-like in that way. Some people need to speak it over and over so as to get it into their muscle memory into the body. Others need to sit down and write it; it really depends on what your predisposition is in your brain.

I think that’s a really important thing to understand about yourself when looking at any type of discipline. If you’re following a passion and you’ve been given a set of instructions on how to be disciplined that don’t function with your style of learning, you’re just going to feel like you’re butting your head up against the wall.

So in a lot of ways, your own discipline can actually fuel your understanding of yourself and your understanding of the work provided that it’s the language you sort of inherently speak as a learner and a thinker.

I think “discipline” is really another word for “dedication.” It comes from an internal place: either you want to do something or you don’t want to do it. If you do want to do it, there are certain constructs that you need to be able to integrate into who into you are. Like, if you want to learn mathematics, if you like math, you’re going to figure out a way that you can do mathematics. You can study it from an esoteric standpoint, you can write the equations over and over, whatever is going to work for you, but you have to figure out what’s going to work with your style of learning so you end up putting in the hours.

You can’t learn anything without putting in the time. You have to have the desire to absorb something in order to actually go after it and then absorb it. I think that’s an encapsulation of what discipline really is.=

I’m very interested in uncovering those moments where your identity as an artist really got its foothold or moments when you felt empowered to take what felt like “big steps” at the time for your own artistic development. Are there key influential people or events that come to mind? Or maybe these might even be moments where you begin to identify yourself as “an artist” rather than just another kid that sings?

Um, I don’t think I’ve found that yet. (Laughs) I don’t look at it in terms of categories, like “this is art” and “this is science,” because I think there’s a science behind the art and there’s an art behind the science. For me, I’m very left-brained, I’m very scientific about my approach to music. For example, learning about the voice, learning about the physical structure of the voice, learning about how breath pressure interacts with your vocal chords that comes to occlusion at a certain weight that provides you with a balance of not-too-breathy, which can create nodes  on your throat and not too much pressure, which can also cause polyps, which is the other side of the coin. It’s about finding your balance in between that.

I’m very physically oriented, interested in understanding the physicality—from an imaginary standpoint because I obviously can’t be looking at my chords all the time. But, I study the charts, I know the anatomy, I understand where all the bones are, all the muscles, all the ligaments, all the cartilage in the entire throat, lung, diagram system…. Even the displaced organs when you take the breath: that all is my mindset about the art. It’s very very rare for me to drop into this place of feeling like, “Oh, this is pure creation! I’m expressing emotion through song!”

I never really get to that point.

I say “OK, here’s the high C coming up, I need to approach it from the E natural, which means I’m going to need a certain amount of openness in the throat so that I  can flip it up on the passaggio, which needs some breath pressure and openness and release and my jaw needs to be this far open.”

It’s kind of freaky, actually. (Laughs)

At this stage in my career, it’s all very scientific and a bit pedantic. It’s really been my crutch for such a long time— it’s been my foundation of understanding that when I get sick I know what the muscles are doing, when I’m too dry from being on a plane, I know what the muscles are doing and how to compensate for it.

That being said, like I said before, I don’t really get to that place where I just let it go and just emote… and that’s not something you can just quantify or break down, or if you can, I haven’t figured it out yet. It’s something that I’m learning to uncover through my scientific understanding. “Yeah, I’ve got that, that’s my foundation. Now I need to uncover the yin of the yan of singing. Singing is a very output, outmode, “doing” kind of activity. But you have to find a yin from which the yan springs.

That’s where I am right now. Would I call myself an artist? Mmmmmmm, maybe? (More laughter)

Oh, that’s funny! I totally identify with that— I’m so self-aware whenever I’m making any kind of work, as well. I’m so calculating in the same ways that you are; I really identify with that. I’m never going to let go (or maybe bite the bullet) and say “I’m having a creative moment!” because I’m constantly aware of the technicalities of whatever it is I’m working on. That’s so interesting to me.

That’s what Baz Luhrmann used to call my “Inner Stage Manager.” He said everybody who is a performer has an inner artist and an inner stage manager and they need to find the balance between both. You can’t so far into your art that you forget where all your prompts are and what your staging is. You can’t go so far as the technician, as the Inner Stage Manager, that you don’t connect with the audience through the art.

There’s balance to be had.

For him  it’s 70/30: seventy percent artist, thirty percent stage management and he used to say that I had it the other way around. That was one of the things that he was trying to help me uncover.

Have you had any moments in your career path where you thought, “Forget this; I’m doing what I want to do. In fact, I have to do this….” (e.g. Going against the suggestion of a teacher/parent/mentor/etc)?

Oh yes! Basically my entire life!

Oh great! Well, what I’m really interested in, as you talk about one or two of those, is what it is that empowered you to be the person that was able, at the end of the day, to bite the bullet and do what you felt like you were led to do.

As I said before, my parents gave me an understanding early on that if you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything… and I find that to be true for all inventors, all artists, all quantum physicists, or Greenpeace! Anything that you want to do, that you put your mind to, that you feel yourself drawn to, is the thing that you’re going to create circumstances by which you find yourself.

For me, I spent a lot of time letting the universe guide me— like for example, I did the trombone for a while, I felt drawn towards that, but when I didn’t feel drawn towards it anymore I put it down. And then I found choir in high school and I was very drawn to that and so I followed it. I just sort of let myself be led by the nose, like “what do I feel like doing? Well, I feel like doing this. OK! The go ahead and do it. How far can you go with it?”

In the middle of all that, my choir teacher took an interest in me and started introducing me to opera and listening with me to different tenors that he thought I would sound like if I were to apply myself. I found that quite exciting to listen to those tenor voices.

It’s an interesting mix of, well, screaming and… you know, Pavarotti used to say that singing opera was like controlled screaming. There’s something about the way in which the tenor approaches things is very visceral, it’s very energized—and I’m a very energetic person [and] …in opera you really have to get in there and it has to come from your balls.

Being an Aries, being a fire sign, and having a joie-de-vivre, opera just became something that I was personally really drawn to. I got encouragement from my parents and from my choir teacher; I went and found a voice teacher and she said, “Definitely! You’re doing the thing that seems to suit you because you’re really making quick progress with this.”

So I went to Oberlin Conservatory and got in with a teacher and that teacher was a little bit more old school, kind of “nobody knows what they’re going to do as a professional singer at age eighteen” and “you can’t know that you’re going to be an opera singer” and “let’s just focus on the exercises, let’s just take it down a notch, you’re getting ahead of yourself.”

And I just said “well, that’s all well and good, the technique is well and good. I know what I’m going to do once this is over, so whatever you think is most appropriate for me to learn right now, but if you happen to be able to gear that towards opera, give me some tips and hints some direction, because the direction I’m pretty sure I want to go…”

He and I butted heads for a while about that. Until Junior Year. When I got the lead in the opera.

And he said “OK. Soooooo, you were right…. let’s continue.”

Really I think the was the only obstacle that reared its ugly head. I really more attribute it the whole “testing of the faith” kind of thing. Like, I feel like the universe puts these “mini tests” in your way, like “you really want to do this? You’re sure you want to do this? OK, you’re sure, right?”

And any time anything came up like that it was always “yes, this is what I want to do!” ….and any time I got a response, be it external or internal, like “yes, you’re on the right path,” then it always gave me space to dig in even deeper.

Again, that I have to attribute to learning how to be disciplined. You can’t really “learn discipline.” You can learn what discipline is, but until you embrace being disciplined, you’re not going to have discipline. Whatever that means for you—it’s that thing that’s going to get you to put in the hours.

Right, right, right! Discipline isn’t something that happens to you, it’s something that you become.

It’s a desire to embrace the fullest expression of whatever it is that is your passion.

Finally, I want to talk about this internal cycle that I think constantly revolves inside the creative brain—I think it’s the part that’s most mysterious and foreign, the part that makes art seem mystical and magical to those on the outside.

For me, I think there is a starting point, and the starting point is desire, and it goes in an infinite cycle, but I do believe that the starting point on any adventure is the desire to go on that adventure. Once you find that desire, whatever that may be, from building rocket ships to taking out the garbage, whatever it is, that’s the fuel for making any change of any kind.

I was thinking about my high school experience— the content that’s expressed in systematized education is sort of arbitrary. It’s like a general cross section of things one might come across. You know? You expose a child to all these different categories, math, science, french, PE, and at some point in the development of a human being you latch on to one of those areas. Sometimes it’s just wanting to be the pretty kid; we have whole industries devoted to being the pretty kid.

We throw all this under the umbrella of “education.” But I think that real education stems from a desire to be educated, to have a working knowledge and understanding of whatever it is you’re attracted to. I think school does a good job of laying the framework, but I don’t think there’s enough encouragement [or emphasis on] “Does this interest you? Do you enjoy being in English class?

[It’s most important to] foster desire in children to want to learn this or that and then, when that desire kicks in, empowering those children to follow that desire.

It sounds like desire is most central to your own internal experience as an artist. Would you say you at this point in your life you are the chief caretaker of your own desire? Are there people who are strategically placed who cultivate it?

I don’t know that I would say that desire is fueled, per se. I think it’s discovered.

Look, you don’t know you’re going to want to play the trombone. But when you see it and you hear and go ‘WOAH!’—and it’s that feeling of “WOAH!”—you kind of stumble on it. Once it’s there, you know, [desire] is all a matter of attitude at that point. If you find [the work] enjoyable, then, easy enough.

If it stops being enjoyable, it’s your duty to ask, “Why?” What’s stopped being fun? Has it changed? Have I changed? Have I simply gotten what I needed from this experience and it’s time for a new experience? Is the practice getting to hard? Am I lazy?
Why aren’t these things energetically easy enough for this to be fun anymore?

[Desire] is something you can go searching for—people spend their whole lives searching for it. It’s like marriages: when the spark leaves the marriage, that doesn’t mean the marriage is over. It just means a new paradigm has occurred and people get to decide….well, this may be controversial, but I believe people get to decide how they feel about things. People have reactions, emotions come up, but you don’t have to compulsively react to those emotions. You get to live with them for a while and decide if you like having that emotion.

Do I like being angry? I don’t really like being angry. Well, if I don’t really like being angry then it is kind of my responsibility to figure out why I’m angry so I can release that. It’s the thing with anything: I enjoy this, so let’s figure out how to continue to make this an enjoyable thing by identifying why it’s enjoyable.

If you tap into why something is enjoyable, it makes it easier to stay within a framework [of working in ways that bring you joy]. If you like roller coasters because of the adrenaline rush and you stop getting the adrenaline rush when you ride them, you’re going to stop riding roller coasters.

That’s something teachers and other educators might really be able to tap into by understanding what gets young artists of any discipline really excited about their work. It sounds like, since so much of teaching is about helping students discover themselves, that much of this is about helping students discover their own paradigm of learning and desire.

Is there anything else you can think of that I may not have touched on regarding cultivating young artists?

I think science and art are the yin and the yan of existence: science, the attention to discovering structures and the art, the attention on stepping back from those structures to see a wider picture. It’s tough to enjoy the smile on the Mona Lisa when you’re examining the flesh-colored paint. But! The paint is still necessary–Bernoulli, the Divine Proportion–it takes study of structures in order to be able to put it together through your heart-center and turn structure intro art.

There’s a jumping off point where structure is so delicately put together it becomes art, and when you can recognize the beauty in a structure you can see the art in everything.

 

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Apresentação de David Miller e Sarah Joy Miller – 02/05/2010

http://www.sundayopera.com/index.htm

Biografias no link:

http://www.sundayopera.com/meetTheArtists.htm

Sarah Joy Miller

Soprano, Sarah Joy Miller, was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where she first began singing at age four. Joy was a vocal performance major at California State University, Northridge, concentrating on opera. While at CSUN, she was a Los Angeles district finalist in the New York Metropolitan Opera Council auditions and a finalist in the Los Angeles Artist of the Future competition. In her last semester of college, Joy was cast as Mimi in the Baz Luhrmann directed La Boheme on Broadway. She later went on to reprise the role of Mimi at The Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles, where she performed opposite Il Divo’s David Miller. Joy has performed other operatic roles including Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte, the title role in Donizetti’s Betly and The Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Magic Flute, and has also performed Poulenc’s Gloria, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, and Carmina Burana under the baton of Maestro Jorge Mester as a soprano soloist.

Web Site: http://www.myspace.com/joykabanuck

David Miller, Tenor (USA)

Studious, intense and driven, 35-year-old American tenor David Miller is probably the most classically trained member of Il Divo. Having discovered his love of music at an early age, David attended Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio, where he graduated with a BA in Vocal Performance and a Masters degree in Opera Theatre. He was artist in residence for 2 years with the Pittsburgh opera, and has sung leading roles with major opera companies all over the Americas, Australia and Europe. In 2002/2003 he appeared on Broadway as Rodolfo in Baz Lurhman’s production of ‘La Boheme’, and was about to make his New York Metropolitan opera debut when he was asked to join Il Divo.

“I think that opera is the pinnacle of vocal expression” says David. “The experience of Lurhman’s ‘La Boheme’, however, had encouraged me to get my head out of the ‘operatic’ box, in order to use my voice in an even more passionate way. Singing traditional operas, I had always worked very technically with teachers, working towards getting everything as close to letter perfect as I could. It was all about making sure the sound was perfect. In fact so much of my brain was taken up with the idea of perfection, that I sometimes lost some of the emotional connection with the other singers, and sometimes with the audience. Baz’s production, in a way, prepared me for being in Il Divo. It helped me to see that technique was not enough to really move people. I began to find a new focus…feeling the music. Now with Il Divo I am connecting to the music through my heart instead of my head. Having a solid classical technique now becomes my vehicle for moving my emotion.”

While his pop colleague Sébastien Izambard had to flex his voice a little more to perform with trained opera singers, David argues that his learning curve has been just as steep. “Sébastien has a very natural technique and has been stepping it up and learning the parts of his voice that were maybe undiscovered. All of the parts of my voice that have already been discovered can’t be undiscovered. Since I can’t ‘untrain’ my voice I actually had to learn a completely new technique to sing pop. It’s a raw sound, but it is very emotive, and Its something that tends to get covered up when you’re singing to the back wall over a 70 piece orchestra like in an opera.”

David visibly rankles at the idea that Il Divo could, in any way, be considered to be defiling the opera. “We don’t sing any opera repertoire. Its just that simple. We lend what we know about the drama and power of the operatic voice to our music, but thats where we draw the line. If anything, we create a gateway for a wider fanbase to become curious about opera. We have created a scenario whereby the mass public no longer believes the stereotype of the operatic voice as some kind of unobtainable, un-listenable thing. It’s all music. So if we can bring those two worlds of ‘opera’ and ‘pop’ closer together, maybe we will inspire a whole new type of musical creativity.”

Far from having turned his back on opera, David still tries to fit operatic engagements into his schedule whenever he can. “It’s like medicine to me,” he says. “But opera will always be there. It’s not going anywhere.”

He is proud of his venture into the world of popular song. “I’ve gained many things from my ‘adventures’ with Il Divo. My voice is four years stronger, I continue to think outside the musical box, I now have much greater control over my instrument, and I look ahead with confidence at a schedule that four years ago might have made me think twice. It really takes a strength of will to move on this fast paced course, and I feel I’ve gained the needed stamina. And I have certainly gained a new respect for cultures! I have had the opportunity to see a very very large cross section of humanity, which is a wonderful gift, in and of itself. But in relation to our music, there seems to be a universality in what we do. There seems to be something about the way we sing that appeals to Koreans, Venezuelans, Russians, United States-ians, Japanese South Africans, Norwegians, Canadians, Chileans, and almost everyone in between. But i think the most important, thing that I’ve learned, is that everyone has a passion. Everyone has an inner music. And finding that and following it, is finding freedom.

Web Site: http://www.encompassarts.com/

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 Broadway Vet Wopat, Il Divo’s Miller and More Added to MCC’s Miscast 2010By Ernio Hernandez
23 Feb 2010

Tom Wopat, David Miller, Jordan Ballard, Jackie Burns, Kelsey Fowler, Alison Horowitz and Anastacia McClesky have joined the starry lineup of MCC Theater’s Miscast 2010 which is set for March 1.

Mo Rocca will host the benefit event — held at The Hammerstein Ballroom — which serves as the annual gala of the not-for-profit Off-Broadway company. Proceeds will go toward the MCC season, literary development and to support MCC’s Youth Company and in-school partnerships that serve New York City public high school students.

Wopat (Catch Me If You Can, A Catered Affair), Miller (original member of Il Divo and Tony Award honoree for Baz Luhrman’s La Bohème), Ballard (Hairspray), Burns (Hair), Fowler (Grey Gardens), Horowitz (Sunday in the Park with George) and McClesky (Tarzan) will join the previously announced stars Raúl Esparza (Company), Sutton Foster (Thoroughly Modern Millie), Ana Gasteyer (Wicked), Montego Glover (Memphis), Cheyenne Jackson (Finian’s Rainbow), Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal) and Marin Mazzie (Kiss Me, Kate).

Miscast 2010 is a musical presentation of Broadway stars singing songs from roles for which they would never be cast (for example, last year Alice Ripley belted Sweeney Todd‘s “My Friend”). The traditionally star-studded event will also honor actor Julianna Margulies (“The Good Wife” and MCC’s Intrigue with Faye) “for her commitment to taking risks as an artist and for her long-standing support of MCC’s mission.”

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IMAGENS DO CASAMENTO DE DAVID E SARAH JOY

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Il Divo’s David Miller and Sarah Joy Kabanuck

Boy oh boy, are you girls in for a treat. Beyond a treat. You are in for one of the most beautiful days we’ve ever had on Style Me Pretty, which says a lot since I try so hard to make every day really beautiful on SMP. The cute, cute, way-too-talented duo over at Belathee sent us today’s featured affair. And when I tell you that it’s gorgeous. Well, that’s kind of like the understatement of the century. Designed by the FABulous Hatch Creative Studio and planned by the equally fabulous Annie Lee of Daughter of Design, this is the wedding of David Miller, one of the voices behind Il Divo, and Sarah Joy Kabanuck, a beautiful singer and stage actor…and it’s pure wedding genius.

Sarah Joy and David met while cast as star-crossed lovers, Mimi and Rodolfo in Baz Luhrman’s Los Angeles production of La Boheme, a tragic opera which defines bohemian romance and Parisian love affairs. Luckily though in real life the stars were aligned for Sarah Joy and David and they were wed last summer in NYC. It was a total no-brainer that the wedding’s theme would be inspired by the bohemian Parisian romance of La Boheme…sans the tragedy and tuberculosis.

SJ and D worked with Bernard Maisner in creating their very dramatic, yet elegant wedding invitations. They choose a thick black card stock with voluptuous, ornate ivory calligraphy. Very Boheme. The envelopes were black but lined with leopard print for that little touch of sexy. We couldn’t find paper sheets of a leopard print we liked so I sourced a wallpaper from Home Depot that was perfect (and actually more cost effective). Bernard used ivory calligraphy on the black envelopes for the addresses and I finished off the look with vintage stamps that not only were in shades of gold/orange that matched the leopard lining but also were music themed. My favorite was the Metropolitan Opera stamp. I almost fainted when I found it.

For the RSVP card, we spelled out Responde S’il Vous Plait, which means “Please respond” in French and where we get R.S.V.P. from. It went with the whole French thing and added a little more formalness to the card. Instead of giving the options will attend/will not attend I thought since they are such a positive and spiritual couple it would be nice to have all guests reply that “I/We will be attending” but they had to indicate whether it was “in body” or “in spirit.” Also a note if you are thinking of doing black invitations sets, that’s all fine and dandy but it’s always best to do your response cards in a lighter color so that people can write with blue and black pens without any issues. Most people don’t have white marker lying around.

Also included in the invitations were the activities card which listed the information for Friday and Saturday. Since the wedding was already set at 632 on Hudson I thought it would be neat if we continued the weekend wedding theme with the word “Hudson.” As a result we chose the Hudson Hotel for their Friday welcome party. Bernard enlarged and emphasized the word “Hudson” on both the Friday and Saturday activities to show the link. I’ve requested that Sarah Joy and David also name their first born, Hudson Miller, cute no?

So much more in a bit!

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Artigo sobre o matrimônio de David e Sarah-Joy Kabanuck

Fonte: http://www.fanpop.com/spots/il-divo/articles/43600/title/sarah-kabanuck-david-miller

Sarah Kabanuck and David Miller Article by Gabys

IN “La Bohème,” the lovers Mimi and Rodolfo are pried apart by disease, poverty, failure of nerve and, ultimately, death. When Sarah Joy Kabanuck and David Miller played the roles on Broadway in 2003, some strange magnetism seemed to be forcing them together.“There was a moment of connection, but it was so intense that we couldn’t be friends,” Ms. Kabanuck, now 30, said of their initial encounters. “Our time together was nothing but awkward.”Like the conflicted characters they played, they faced many obstacles to happy romance. It wasn’t all that operatic (though he did lose a job at one point). She was married and he had a reputation as a womanizer. Yet as Ms. Kabanuck later remarked: “Love doesn’t necessarily make logical sense.”Ms. Kabanuck had been an understudy in the Broadway “Bohème” (which was directed by Baz Luhrmann), playing Mimi more than 30 times. She agreed to be an understudy in the Los Angeles production in 2004, and she and Mr. Miller, now 36, discovered that they were to perform opposite each other for a week and a half. On the first day of rehearsal, as they sang the passionate duet “O soave fanciulla,” their eyes locked — and Mr. Miller forgot the words.“I was out of place and out of time,” he said. “It was enough for me to be late on my entrance. I had all the emotional upheaval of a teenager in love.”He was not the only one who had come unstrung.“There was one special kiss that Mimi and Rodolfo would share, and that kiss was very specific,” Ms. Kabanuck said. “In hindsight, there was nothing romantic about it.”And still, when he kissed her, she momentarily lost her footing. “I was thinking, ‘What was that?’ ” she said. “There was definitely something there.”After the rehearsal, Mr. Miller decided he had to see Ms. Kabanuck outside of work and invented a reason to call. A question about their schedule quickly turned into an invitation to a movie. That evening they went to see “50 First Dates.”“I was so drawn to him immediately and tried to talk myself out of it,” Ms. Kabanuck said. Theirs was a clash of outlooks, if not cultures. He wore red cowboy boots, had earrings in both ears and spiked hair. She had been raised as a Baptist fundamentalist and said she remained devout, describing herself as “a little church girl.”The date led to a few other encounters, but he was about to depart for Piacenza, Italy, for what he expected to be a triumph as the Duke of Mantua in a new production of “Rigoletto.” She drove him to the airport. Neither of them knew what would happen next. She was still married, but very much wanted to be close to him. He later described the experience of looking into her eyes on the first date as “that thunderstruck moment.”“I was in love,” he said, “not just in my heart but in head, my body, my soul. That was it.”The Piacenza “Rigoletto” turned into a disaster for Mr. Miller. The audiences booed him and within days he was fired. Devastated, he called his agent, who found him last-minute work as an understudy for Roberto Alagna at the Opéra Bastille. When he arrived in Paris he sent for Ms. Kabanuck. She was still in California, finishing “La Bohème.” They paid for her flight with their scant savings. Holed up in a hotel in the Latin Quarter for two weeks, they reveled in their own vie bohème. Only in this version, the two lovers began planning his next career move, an audition for the pop-opera quartet, Il Divo, then being put together by Simon Cowell. She scraped together the last of her money to buy him an MP3 player so he could rehearse. The player turned out to be a solid investment. He became a member of Il Divo and now tours the world with the group. Ms. Kabanuck, when she returned from Paris, moved out of the home in New Jersey that she shared with her husband and found an apartment in Manhattan. The decision to leave her marriage and devote herself to Mr. Miller was extraordinarily difficult, she conceded. Still, she added, “from the moment our eyes met through those two weeks of being in Paris and the pain of going through a divorce, I knew that I loved him.” “I fell in love with his fearless appetite for life and his desire to leave no experience un-experienced. He was so passionate in playing Rodolfo, it was infectious. I loved, and still love, his vision of the world and its potential.” In Hawaii last New Year’s Eve, Mr. Miller proposed in a cabana as fireworks rained sparks on the Pacific. On Aug. 8, they were married at 632 on Hudson, a Manhattan event space, amid a garden fantasy of trees hung with crystals and artificial birds. Wearing a strapless sheath with a slender jeweled sash and fluted hem by Michelle Rahn, Ms. Kabanuck entered to a processional composed by Mr. Miller. Aleta St. James, the couple’s life coach, who is also a Universal Life minister, performed the ceremony. Afterward an ebullient Mr. Miller said that his singing has never been better. “Before, I had a pretty good emotional facility, but it was imitation,” he said. “How I sing now is the real deal. I know how the things I’ve being singing about feel. Everything is freer, easier, and my high notes — I don’t have to work for them. Now, they come from my heart.” By KATHRYN SHATTUCK Published: September 5, 2009 LiveJ

Uma interessante enquete em que Miller é elogiado por seu trabalho antes e depois do Il Divo e propõe uma votação se seria o melhor tenor do mundo na atualidade, após a morte de Luciano Pavarotti. A votação também envolve o Il Divo e outros cantores que possuem um trabalho de gênero semelhante,  como Josh Groban e Andrea Bocelli. Veja detalhes: http://www.squidoo.com/davidmiller

David Miller: Tenacious Tenor

David Miller is among the greatest tenors in the world. He was little known outside of the Opera world until he joined Il Divo in 2003. Besides his remarkable voice included with Il Divo, David Miller has performed as Tamino in The Magic Flute, and Romeo in Romeo et Juliette.

David Miller began singing in High School when he played the Rooster in Annie. Miller failed to fulfill his father’s hopes of joining the military. But no matter, David went on to graduate in Opera Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. His career took flight when he began singing at the Pacific Opera, the Los Angeles Opera and the Australian Opera.

In 1998, Miller performed for Bill Clinton in the White House. He also performed with power and flawlessness when he played Baz Luhrmann in La Boheme, 2003.

David Miller: an operatic voice for the masses 

The public has not ever been into Opera, except 200 years when Opera was considered “popular.” It is a shame that opera is not as appreciated as it once was. I think most people, who are used to Britney Spears and Eminem, find it difficult to listen to the heavy vibrato of opera music.

David Miller, with his role in Il Divo, was able to change that perception about Opera music. Il Divo made operatic sounding music popular once again.

David Miller at a Glance 

David Miller, born April 14, 1973, is an American tenor and member of the operatic pop musical quartet Il Divo.

Check out all the Il Divo Albums 

Nella Fantasia (In The St…

Il Divo

Is David Miller the greatest tenor alive? 

Keep in mind, Pavarotti passed away last fall

David Miller. The greatest tenor alive?

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David Miller Videos 

il Divo – Regresa A Mi

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Il Divo – Hallelujah

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Il Divo – Hero

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Il Divo – The Power Of Love

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Il Divo – Hallelujah (Alelujah…

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Il Divo – Amazing Grace

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Andrea Bocelli – Amore

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Romance. Passion. Emotion. These words are synonymous with the voice of Andrea Bocelli. Almost ten years ago he exploded onto the international music scene with Romanza, and has since sold nearly 50 million albums worldwide. Amore–released amongst the glamor of the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy (where he will perform at the closing ceremony) and the romance of Valentine’s Day–finds Bocelli straying from the carefully groomed classical ground in which he is most familiar. The concept of the…0 points

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Il Divo

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“Il Divo have taught me more than I have taught them. I am actually intimidated and slightly in awe of their talent! I am more proud of this album than anything else i’ve ever been involved with, they are going to be huge.” –Simon Cowell0 points

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Closer

Import pressing of the 2003 album from the America more…0 points

Import pressing of the 2003 album from the American singing sensation features one bonus track, ‘She’s Out of My Life’. Produced by David Foster, this sophomore effort elaborates on the poppier side of his debut, smoothes out the edges and is a much stronger offering. Groban’s vocals have grown, allowing him to add power and passion into his delivery without sounding forced or insincere. 14 tracks in all including ‘My Confession’, ‘Caruso’, ‘Broken Vow’ and ‘Never Let Go’, a collaboration with D…0 points

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The Opera Band

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The debut of the young, classically trained international quintet of sopranos Jo Appleby and Tsakane Valentine, tenors David Habbin and Geoff Swell, and basso Nick Garret offers up a familiar take on the crossover formula that has enriched everyone from genre pioneers The Three Tenors to Russell Watson and beyond. While their occasionally electro-pumped rhythms and youth-angled marketing shtick (“The world’s first opera band!”) may borrow a page from Opera Babes and Bond, it still manages to evo…0 points

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Vittorio

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International recording artist Vittorio Grigolo arrives in the U.S. with a stunning self-titled debut album, Vittorio. Released on September 12, 2006, the album was one of the highest classical chart debuts ever for a new artist in the UK, landing him in the Top 10 alongside the likes of Andrea Bocelli. Now, this astounding collection of stirring ballads and powerful love songs establishes the 28-year-old as the next male crossover singer poised for stateside success.Born in Rome but raised in A…0 points

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Sometimes I Dream

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Forget the age of battling boy bands, the era of dueling young tenors is upon us. Hot on the heels of Josh Groban’s dizzyingly successful, Ally McBeal-fueled debut comes this first international release from African-born, Greek-raised tenor Mario Frangoulis. There are some clear parallels between Groban’s debut and this Frangoulis release, but some distinctive differences as well. While Groban coated his slick, David Foster-molded pop sense with a veneer of classical respectability, Frangoulis h…0 points

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regresa ami-il divo

David Miller’s Day – Homenagem outorgada ao divo norte-americano em sua cidade natal.

Não poderia deixar de mencionar aqui um fato notório e certamente muito marcante na vida de David Miller.

Em 13 de Julho de 2009, John Hickenlooper, Prefeito da ciade natal de David, Denver, Colorado, orgulhosamente proclamou  o David Miller’s Day, em reconhecimento ao trabalho que o cantor realizou dentro  e fora dos Estados Unidos. O Prefeito enviou seu representante para dar as boas vindas aos divos que se fizerem presentes na ocasião, bem como conceder à honraria à David. O vídeo que registrou a outorga foi disponibilizado no site oficial.

DAVID, A ESTÁTUA DA LIBERDADE EM CARNE E OSSO

São raras as cenas de ópera na Net.

Este vídeo antigo está disponível no YouTube, em que David interpreta uma ária  da ópera Rigolleto, de Verdi, muito bem por sinal. De lambuja, para esnobar todos os tenores do mundo, ele ainda exibe o seu corpão! Difícil prestar atenção na trama que se desenvolve. Falando sério: poucos cantores no mundo têm a oportunidade de intepretar papéis na ópera como os que fez David. Ele é talentoso mesmo. E ainda tem esta formosura toda. Acho que quando ele foi para o Il Divo os tenores gordinhos respiraram aliviados!

‘Questa o quella’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HCeAMm8Vx4

Aproveito para inserir  o link de um vídeo de uma das minhas árias prediletas- Sempre Libera – interpretada pela mulher de David – Sarah-Joy – da ópera La Traviata , talvez a mais popular obra de  Giuseppe Verdi. (Gravado em Hong Kong em Maio de 2009).Adooooroooo! (E Sarah me mata de inveja com seu rosto e corpinho de Barbie!).

Parabéns ao casal!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16qdnnUeor8

Insiro também um dos inúmeros vídeos montados por fãs, com fotos de David, que demonstram uma personalidade versátil, com um jeito de vestir bem moderno (ele usa brincos, colares, bonés, óculos e outros acessórios – que valorizam seu corpo grande – muito diferentes dos ternos Armani que veste nos shows do IlDivo) . E um detalhe marcante sempre se destaca como sua MARCA REGISTRADA: o SORRISO E A FORMA DE SORRIR (EM QUE NORMALMENTE INCLINA A CABEÇA PARA TRÁS).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy_jKNx1Oyk

DAVID MILLER, O SAMURAI HIGH-TECH

David tinha planos de desenvolver um Website, chamado de Zen Garden.

O mais jovem dos divos surpreende por ser culto, falar várias línguas ( estuda até japonês) e adorar tecnologia (sim, ele é blogueiro de carteirinha!).

David Miller deixou saudades quando desistiu de postar no seu antigo Blog intitulado Another Samurai Short, onde demonstrava um incrível e carismático poder de comunicação, com filmagens e vídeos feitos por ele mesmo dos bastidores das antigas turnês. Lá podemos vê-lo à vontade, num sáfari africano, na NASA, filmando as fãs (sim, uma delas disse – David ,me filme, em inglês – e ele tirou a filmadora da bolsa, acreditem!), digitando na sala vip do aeroporto, acordando com o despertador , filmando dentro do ônibus… Numa cena, ele atende ao celular e fala com a irmã.  E aquele sorriso que é sua marca registrada. Irresístível!

David, torço p vc voltar à Net (tomara que a Sarah-Joy deixe, hehehe!)

Quer saber mais: veja em

http://www.divodavid.com/#

Ele deixou um recado : 

Welcome Back to David’s Website!

This website is currently UNDER CONSTRUCTION and I invite you to check back frequently for new and exciting material to come. Until then, I invite you to click on the blue button to the left to take you back to my movie pages.

Thank you for your constant support and interest in my projects!

Que fofo!!!!!!!!!!

David Miller
David Miller in the Nobel Peace Prize concert on Oslo, Norway.
Background information
Birth name	David Miller
Born	April 14, 1973 (1973-04-14) (age 36) San Diego, California, United States
Genres	Operatic pop
Occupations	Musician, actor
Instruments	Singing, electronic drum
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Sony BMG
Associated acts	Il Divo

David Miller, born April 14, 1973, is an American tenor and member of the operatic pop musical quartet Il Divo.

Early life

He was born in San Diego, California but grew up in Littleton, Colorado; he is a 1991 graduate of Heritage High School.^[1] He starred in high school productions as the Rooster in Annie and Noah in Two by Two. Not interested in his father’s suggestion that he join the military, David went on to Oberlin Conservatory of Music ^[2], where he graduated with excellent grades and degrees in Vocal Performance and Opera Theatre.

He has worked with the top American opera companies on several roles, including Des Grieux in Manon, Romeo in Romeo et Juliette, Werther, Alfredo in La Traviata and Tamino in The Magic Flute with the Opera Pacific.

On May 6, 1998 he performed, along with other opera singers, for President Bill Clinton in the White House.

In 1999, he appeared with the Los Angeles Opera at the prestigious Teatro Municipal de Santiago (Chile) singing Tybalt in Bellini’s production of Capulets and Montagues in the “Fiesta de Savonlinna.”

In 2000, he made his debut, with good critical reviews and much success, with the Australian Opera at La Scala in Milan, singing Tony in West Side Story.

Miller made his debut in the Flemish opera as Cassio in 2001 and 2002. In addition he performed as Trieste in Daniel Oren’s Manon. In the USA, he participated in The Tales of Hoffman in Hartford, Connecticut. He also interpreted the role of Percy in Donizetti’s Anne Boleyn in Pittsburgh with John Mauceri during 2000/2001. During the 2002/2003 season he performed in the world premiere of the opera of Marco Tuttino Vita at La Scala.

His best work to date is considered to be his role as Rodolfo in Baz Luhrmann’s 2002 version of Puccini’s La Boheme.^[3] This theatrical spectacle modernized the opera, in an effort to lure young audiences to Broadway. Luhrmann staged a grand show as he did with Moulin Rouge! and his Romeo et Juliette. Luhrmann’s version of La Bohème premiered in Sydney, Australia ten years before it debuted on Broadway. David was one of 3 Rodolfo’s in the Original Broadway cast.

Other roles he has undertaken have included Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Belmonte in Abduction from the Seraglio and Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress.

Il Divo

In December 2003, he became a member of the international musical quartet Il Divo along with Swiss operatic tenor Urs Bühler, French pop singer Sébastien Izambard, and Spanish baritone Carlos Marín.

Besides their musical experience and prowess, the members of Il Divo are also recognized for their impeccable taste in fashion, dressing almost exclusively in Armani suits, along with their handsome looks. As a result of this, their first album, called Il Divo became a worldwide multiplatinum selling record when released in November 2004, entering Billboard at number four and selling five million copies worldwide in less than a year and knocking Robbie Williams from the number one spot in the charts. Their second album, Ancora, was released on November 7, 2005 in the United Kingdom. Il Divo’s third album, Siempre, was released on November 21, 2006 in the United States and on November 27, 2006 internationally. Their latest album, The Promise, was released on November 10, 2008 (world) & November 18, 2008 (US), and shot straight to number 1 in the UK.

Outside of Il Divo

In December 2007, while Il Divo was taking a break from their world tour, David made a return to the classical opera stage. He performed in recital with the Chicago Pops Orchestra, singing a variety of tenor arias as well as some show tunes and Christmas favourites. Additionally, Miller performed the duet Time to Say Goodbye along with his then girlfriend (now wife), soprano Joy Kabanuck.

Private life

David dated soprano and member of U.S.popera group Three Graces, Joy “Sarah-Joy” Kabanuck, for 6 years before being married on August 8, 2009 in New York City.^[4]

Discography

• Baz Luhrmann’s La Bohème – Highlights from the 2002 Original Broadway Cast
• Il Divo (as member of Il Divo, 2004)
• Ancora (as member of Il Divo, 2005)
• The Christmas Collection (as member of Il Divo, 2005)
• Voices from the FIFA World Cup (as member of Il Divo, 2006)
• Siempre (as member of Il Divo, 2006)
• The Promise (as member of Il Divo, 2008).

Performances

• Il Divo Live Concert. Recorded at the Teatro Clásico in Mérida, Spain. For the “Encore” DVD, 2005.
• Il Divo World Tour Concert 2006
• Il Divo World Tour Concert 2007
• Il Divo World Tour Concert 2009: “An Evening With Il Divo”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia