International Ballet Competition patrons will recognize emcee. See who it is.

Many patrons attending the 12th USA International Ballet Competition June 10-24 in Jackson will recognize a familiar, sonorous voice behind the microphone this year.

The voice belongs to Mississippi native William Fulton, a renowned New-York based actor, multi-lingual language instructor and classical music lover who for more than 20 years served as an announcer and later director of Public Radio in Mississippi.

This will be Fulton’s second consecutive round as Master of Ceremonies at the IBC, but his history with the competition dates back much further to the 1980s.

Holding a Bachelor of Arts degree in German and Slavic Languages from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fulton was first hired to serve as a translator for Polish jurors. It was during this time he got to know IBC founder Thalia Mara who shared her love for ballet with him.

“We became good friends. Thalia was such a wonderful person. She was one of the most graceful people I ever met,” Fulton said. “She not only had extraordinary talent herself, she had the gift of recognizing talent in other people.”

A native of Starkville who moved with his family to Louisville when he was less than a year old, Fulton credits his mother, a violinist, with instilling a love for music in him at a young age.

“My parents bought me records. I remember one in particular called ‘Children’s Introduction to Classical Music,’ that really captured my imagination,” Fulton said.

So while many of his friends took the more familiar route of enjoying pop music, Fulton began enjoying the sounds of Wagner and Beethoven.

“It was much better to my ears and made me more of an individual,” he said.

Fulton's interest in music was further piqued in the seventh grade when a school band director in Louisville, Dan Cameron, encouraged him to take up playing the tuba.

“I owe a high debt of gratitude to Dan — he really fostered and helped guide me,” Fulton said.

By the eighth grade, however, Fulton moved with his family to Florida where his dad, a geologist, took a job with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Army Corps of Engineers.

There he attended Gainesville High School and later graduated from the University of Florida.

He didn’t return to Mississippi until 1984 when he was hired as one of the first announcers for the newly formed Public Radio in Mississippi network. There he distinguished himself as a producer of such programs as “The Opera Bill” and “Mississippi Concert Hall,” which took him throughout the state to record local symphonies for rebroadcast on the network.

Over the next several years Fulton also became heavily involved in the community, serving for a time as President of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters and a frequent instructor of languages and music appreciation through the Millsaps College Enrichment Program.

He became director of the PRM network in 1990 where he stayed until 2005 before taking a radio job for a brief time in Dallas.

Then in 2006, it was Thalia Mara’s niece, Leanne Mahoney, who convinced Fulton to come to New York where he has continued his teaching career at the Berlitz Language Center and works as an actor with the Metropolitan Opera, among other endeavors.

Of his planned visit back South, Fulton said, “I am delighted to come back to Mississippi.”

Having lived in Jackson for much of his life, he said he looks forward to seeing “so many friends and extended family,” as well as “working with the wonderful people of the IBC again.”

“I love having him back,” said IBC Executive Director Mona Nicholas. “William is a very high quality master of ceremonies. He knows all the music and all the pronunciations. He really makes us look good,” she said.

The USA IBC brings approximately 100 competitors from throughout the world for two weeks of world-class classical and contemporary ballet. For tickets or more information please visit usaibc.com.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: A familiar voice will serve as Master of Ceremonies for IBC this year