Former Harding student to sing for The Metropolitan Opera in New York City

From the Harding choir to The Metropolitan Opera: Marion native Dylan Davis will join the chorus of the Wagner opera "Lohengrin" in January.

Born and raised in Marion, Davis now travels around the country performing with different opera companies. He is currently working in Shreveport, Louisiana as a resident artist of the Shreveport Opera and will move to New York City this winter to perform with the best in the business.

“At the Met, if you’re an opera singer it’s where you want to be,” Davis said.

He explained that though he has held many other leading roles, his upcoming role in the chorus with the Met will open doors to being the top of his field.

“I’ll be onstage. I’ll get to work with the top people in our industry, and it’s just a stepping stone to get in the door there, but the hope is this will be just the first step and there’s going to be a lot more to come there,” he later continued.

His passion for opera and the arts began during his time at Harding High School, participating in choir and musicals under the direction of High School Choir Director Jami Rawlins. Davis graduated from Harding in 2013.

From there, he studied vocal performance at Otterbein University and went on to The Ohio State University for a master's degree in music. He said he owes much of his success to being patient with the process of growth and putting in a lot of hard work.

“Patience, not just with whatever craft is that you’re working on or your profession, and this is in anything, not just singing, whatever you do – engineering, business, you want to be a lawyer, you want to be a doctor, you have to be patient with yourself, and you have to be patient with the process of getting to where you want to be," he said.

"You really can’t rush anything in this world and if you try to rush it, there’s just so many things that can go wrong with it. You can learn how to do it the wrong way, because you’re trying to do it too quickly."

Reflecting on the past few years and his rise to success, Davis said what felt like the biggest accomplishment was the return to a full-sized audience in March of 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live performances.

"It was like it’s been so long since we’ve done this and that’s what we live for and that’s what we work for is those moments, so that was definitely a highlight," he recalled.

As he prepares to conclude his time in Shreveport and move to New York City, Davis will return to Marion for the holiday season. He said he is looking forward to performing at the Palace Theatre in the tenor part of its presentation of Handel's Messiah as he does each year.

He is also coordinating with Rawlins to hopefully be able to visit some of her classes and talk about his journey to success in the performance world. He said his biggest message is that anyone can do it.

“Sitting in that choir room that I spent years in, I want to be able to look at them and be like, ‘I sat where you guys are, and I’m going where I’m going, just to tell you it is possible,’” he said.

Rawlins said she hasn't been surprised to watch Davis grow in his success, explaining he always had a beautiful voice, and she got to watch as he went through the audition process for college music programs when he was a senior in high school.

"Dylan was always a worker, had a passion for opera that is so rare at high school age, and there were a lot of people in this community that were able to just make an imprint I think musically on his life,” she said.

Still trying to work through the details of his potential visit, Rawlins said she hopes Davis can come speak to her current students to inspire them to chase their dreams and learn about the practical steps they would need to take to be successful.

“We often deter kids from pursuing careers like this, because it is hard to be accomplished and to make a living, but I’m so proud that he’s representing so many people that do make a living off of music," Rawlins said.

"I’m proud that I can say that to my students, ‘cause often we deter kids from following those paths, and I’m just proud that we can say there are some people that really do make it."

Through Davis' success, he noted he hopes to always be a good person first, choosing to live by the mantra: "be somebody your coworkers want to go get a beer with after work."

“No matter where you’re from, whether you’re from the corn fields of Marion County or Franklin County, the city center, you can do this. You don’t have to be from somewhere specific, but you do have to do it. You have to put in the work,” he said.

Story by: Sophia Veneziano (740) 564 - 5243 ∣ sveneziano@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Former Harding student to sing for The Metropolitan Opera in NYC