GREENSBURG, Ind. -- Growing up in southeastern Indiana and idolizing the heavy metal hair bands of the '80s, Galen Scott Bower never suspected he would one day be singing before the world's foremost conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.\nAlthough not a boyhood dream, it will be coming true nevertheless for the Verdi baritone this December -- again.\nStanding on stage at the Met, which seats just under 5,000 people, was at first a daunting sight for Bower, who currently lives in Fishers.\n"It's frightening, really," he said. "I walked on stage and was just blown away -- with five or six balcony levels, it was like looking up the inside of a skyscraper."\nThe road toward the famed Manhattan opera house has been long but fruitful for the 29-year-old. Born and raised in Greensburg, Bower's parents were not classical music enthusiasts, and his lullabies were not exactly Mozart.\n"Mom and dad didn't do much more (musically) than just hum around the house," he said. "Both of my older brothers were involved with music and, originally, I was kind of jealous of them. I think when I was 5, I first told my mom I wanted to take piano lessons like my brothers," he said.\nFrom there, the ball kept rolling. Throughout elementary, junior high and then high school, Bower engaged himself in music -- from "concert choir, to the band, to every musical, just everything," he said.\nLois Carol McCormack, a private piano teacher, could see the fire welling up in Bower, her pupil, from a young age.\n"He was extremely musical, very conscientious and a hard worker," said McCormack. "I wouldn't have predicted his pursuing opera, as it's not as common with people in this community, but you knew he was going on to something."\nThese days, McCormack mentions Bower to her students as the archetypal success story. From Greensburg, it was off to Ball State University, where Bower pursued a music education degree, choosing voice as a secondary instrument behind piano.\n"I was fortunate to have a really great teacher and I discovered my voice was stronger than my piano playing," he said.\nBower then left Indiana for Yale University and received his master of music degree in 1997 and his artist diploma in 1998.\nWhile at Yale, Bower sang the roles of the Vicar in "Albert Herring," directed by Colin Graham; Peter in "Hansel und Gretel;" Dr. Falke in "Die Fledermaus;" and Giorgio Germont in "La Traviata."\nYale, both aademically and on the performance end, was of course no song in the park, he said.\n"It was a very challenging school -- out of 60 people during the master's auditions, I believe they took eight," he said.\nIn 1999, Bower entered the Chicago Lyric Opera Center for American Artists and made his debut as the Immigration Officer in the world premier of William Bolcom's "A View from the Bridge."\nIn the next two years, Bower also performed as Morales in "Carmen," and in the Ravinia Festival and the Grant Park Summer Concert Series, along with other notable Chicago appearances.\nThe critics began to take note.\n"I don't normally notice the role of Morales, but Galen Scott Bower's fine voice made me sit up and take notice," said Tom Silverwood of the Chicago Sun Times in March 2000.\nTed Shen, of the Chicago Tribune, was duly impressed. "Baritone Galen Scott Bower made a sturdy Guglielmo, conveying both ardor and exasperation," he said in a July 2000 review of the Grant Park concert.
Bower made his role and company debut as Alfio in "Cavalleria Rusticana" with Pine Mountain Music Festival during the summer of 2001. Other debuts that year included Guglielmo in "Cosi fan tutte" with Sarasota Opera and as Sharpless in "Madam Butterfly" with the Opera Company of Brooklyn.\nAlong the way, Bower has nabbed major awards in the Union League Civic Arts Competition, the competition of the Lee Schanen Foundation, The Richard Tucker Awards, the MacAllister Awards, and the Palm Beach Opera Competition.\nAsked to name his favorite venue, Bower was pleasantly evasive in saying, "not to beat around the bush, but the best place to sing is the place where you're singing at that moment.\n"But if I had to pick, Santa Fe Opera is an absolutely magical place to sing, just unbelievably beautiful," he said.\nBower, in general, favors outdoor venues for their natural, aesthetic value, "especially when it's storming," he said.\nWorking with one of the world's most famous conductors, James Levine, Bower's contract at the Metropolitan Opera begins this October.\n"I've watched him on TV since I was at Ball State," he said of Levine, "and was always thinking how great his work is."\nWhile at the Met, Bower will be covering the Second Watch in Richard Strauss' "Die Frau ohne Schatten," Livitsky in "Boris Gudunov" by Mussorgsky, and will make his debut singing the role of Pompeo in "Benvenuto Cellini" by Hector Berlioz.\nDid Galen Bower, the Greensburg kid with a big voice, ever think he'd be on stage before thousands in New York City?\n"No way, no way -- never even dreamed of it," he said. "I grew up in the '80s, the decade of hair bands, and never really knew what I wanted to be.\n"But I had an ability in music that always kept me busy -- whenever I'd get mad at school, I'd come home and take it out on the piano," he said.\n"All those teenage emotions paid off, made an artist out of me, I guess."\nBower also will be performing closer to home early next year, singing two roles in "Solome" at the Kentucky Opera in Louisville.
