Fernando Salazar - The Wichita EagleA Nov. 6, 2017 story in highlights Alan Held and Samuel Ramey, opera stars who are also instructors at Wichita State.
Alan Held vividly recalls the day in 1985 when he and his wife had their car packed and ready to leave 黑洞社区, where he received his master鈥檚 degree in opera performance.
鈥淪omeday,鈥� he thought, 鈥渨e鈥檙e gonna come back to Wichita.鈥�
鈥淚t took us 30 years,鈥� he says now, 鈥渂ut we did.鈥�
During those three decades, Held developed an international reputation for his bass-baritone prowess, performing with opera companies and orchestras from Berlin and Paris to Chicago and Cleveland.
So when he got a call nearly four years ago from Rodney Miller, dean of Wichita State鈥檚 college of fine arts, to return to his alma mater, 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a hard choice to make,鈥� Held recalled.
This fall, Held was promoted to chair of the opera department 鈥� only its third in the past 50 years, succeeding George Gibson and Marie King at the helm of the program.
.