Bach presentation March 2 at First Methodist

Below are backgrounds on the professionals scheduled to light up the stage during the Heritage Chorale and Orchestra’s debut performance of Cantata No. 140, Sleepers, Wake by Johann Sebastian Bach at the First United Methodist Church Saturday, March 2.

Keith Miller – Bass singer

“Keith Miller’s story is that of the local kid who made good,” said Jordan Ball, the director of Saturday’s performance.

Miller grew up in a town 10 miles south of Chappell, Neb. in the small town of Ovid, Colo. With football being his initial passion he played star fullback at the University of Colorado and participated in many different college bowl games such as the Fiesta Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Aloha Bowl and Independence Bowl.

During his college years he became fascinated with opera after viewing Phantom of the Opera one night at school.

Miller then continued on to play 5 years of professional football in arena and European football leagues.

His mind wasn’t solely on football during this time however.

“He began to study opera scores as well as football plays,” said Ball.

In 2006 Miller tried out for the Metropolitan Opera Young Artists Development Program and that is where he took his leap into the opera world.

The young singer was offered a full season singing with the program and his first production was Madam Butterfly.

He has since then become a resident performer there, performing in different operas such as Carmen, Tosca, War and Peace, MacBeth, Faust, Rigolletto, Eugene Onegin and Gianni Schicchi.

Miller has sung in over 200 opera performances and appeared in numerous broadcast productions in movie theaters across 46 countries.

Kara Guggenmos –

Soprano singer

Guggenmos received a master’s of music degree in vocal performance from the University of Colorado in 2001.

A year later she found herself winning the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition and landed herself a solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall in 2003, said Ball.

Guggenmos didn’t stop there. She was also a finalist of the Metropolitan Opera Regional and a Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition finalist. She was the Metropolitan Opera Colorado/Wyoming District winner in both 1999 and 2002.

As a resident artist with Colorado Opera she has landed leading roles in operas such as The Marriage of Figaro, Merry Widow and Hansel and Gretel.

She has also been a soloist in the Longmont, Littleton and Grand Junction Symphonies, as well as the Colorado Springs Philharmonic.

Guggenmos teaches private voice and piano lessons alongside giving recitals and teaching college master classes, said Ball.

Tim Williams – Tenor singer

Williams, a Sidney High School grad, attended Nebraska Wesleyan University where he was a soloist in the university choir. He has also sung solos in recitals and other venues including the university’s opera. After graduating college Williams returned to Sidney and he now works at Cabela’s. He still clings to his musical background however and has appeared in all recent musical productions by the Way Out West Community Theater.

Sean Anders – Violin soloist

Anders graduated from high school in Pleasant Valley, Iowa and attended Hastings College to receive his bachelor’s degree in music. In college he played for the Hastings Symphony.

Anders has performed different genres of music including bluegrass, country, rock and classical. He now works for Cabela’s and plays with a local band, Aspen County.

Gina Johnson – Oboe soloist

Johnson received her bachelor’s degree in music performance from the University of Northern Colorado.

“She is presently the principal oboe in the Cheyenne County Symphony Orchestra and the second oboe and English horn in the Fort Collins Symphony,” said Ball.

She performed as a member of the Creation Orchestra in Sidney in 1998 and is a featured oboe player throughout the region.

Johnson will be performing the Strauss Oboe Concerto with the Cheyenne Symphony next symphony season, said Ball.

Director, Jordan Ball

Ball served as the Sidney High and Junior High School vocal music instructor for 4 years after earning his master’s degree in music education from the University of Northern Colorado.

He said that he then took a break from teaching music to attend the University of Nebraska Law School where he received a juris doctor degree in 1975 and then he returned to Sidney in 1979.

Ball then served as the Cheyenne County Attorney, City of Sidney Prosecutor and City of Sidney Attorney. He has spent 33 years in law to date.

While his law career is nothing but excellent, that is not all that he has achieved in the past 30 years. He was also choir director at the First United Methodist Church for 25 years, an assistant director of the Fort Sidney Colonels, and he also founded the West Nebraska Masterworks Chorale in 1997.

With the chorale he was the choirmaster for productions of Messiah, Creation, Mozart Requiem, Vivaldi Gloria, Rutter Gloria and Mass of the Children – to name a few.

Ball has sang in the Cheyenne, Fort Collins and Long Beach Symphonies, as well as with the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra.

He has sung at Avery Fischer Hall and at Carnegie Hall in N.Y. Ball presently sings with the Larimer Chorale in Fort Collins, Co.