Former University of Colorado Fullback Keith Miller Becomes an Opera

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Keith Miller rehearses his role in "Florencia en el Amazonas" at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Miller is a former CU football player. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

They're the same drill really, football and opera. You make the team, put in the practice, and when the whistle blows you perform like your life depended on it.

Still, they don't overlap much among fans. Chances are that half the people who read this story — it is about a football star who became a world-class opera singer — wouldn't know which NFL team has won the most Super Bowls. The other half couldn't tell you who wrote "Madame Butterfly."

The answers, for the clueless and the clueless, are Pittsburgh and Puccini, and it's a safe bet that

Keith Miller would get both. He's the former University of Colorado fullback who found a new TOP ENTERTAINMENT STORIES life as a bass-baritone. These days, he performs at concert halls across the country, though he All about Yves Saint Laurent: Denver Art Museum still has the swagger of an athlete, and the triceps. When he talks about his fledgling career, it's retrospective silhouettes designer's passion for the female form all about conditioning, getting ready for the big play. 50 years after debut, Bob Dylan still fascinates Ostrow: Change is in the air as "Mad Men" opens And there's no downtime for an athlete in training, not even between gigs at The Metropolitan Season 5 with 2-hour show Opera House and Carnegie Hall, or here in Denver, where he makes his debut Saturday night Tallis Scholars bring Renaissance songs alive with Opera Colorado. Denver-area spring jazz concerts worth catching Oprah Winfrey's OWN network axes 'The Rosie Show' "You can take the preseason off and play it safe, or you can put the work in," said Miller, who at 38 is just getting to the place where many baritones start to do their best singing.

A player stays focused.

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"I know what's in front of me," he says. "I know what I need to do to be my best." Recent Activity

It's a story with the sort of wide turns Rossini might compose a score for (he wrote "The Barber Broncos' chances of signing Peyton Manning better than most think - The of Seville," football fans). And it starts in the little town of Ovid, Colo., where Miller was raised. Denver Post His dad worked for John Deere, his mother was a school teacher. Of course, there was a family 144 people recommend this.

farm, and Miller was up at 5 a.m. helping with sugar beets, tending to cattle. Initiative to legalize marijuana makes ballot in Colorado - The Denver Post He knew early on he wanted something different. He worked hard, stayed out of the kind of 994 people recommend this. trouble rural kids can get into, earned a 3.8 GPA. Obama joins in assailing Limbaugh slur of student - The Denver Post 70 people recommend this. "I didn't even

drink until I was 24," he says. "I knew if I didn't do it clean and the right way, I'd never get out of Facebook social plugin there."

Football got him out. He was tough and fast, and his school made it to the state championships. He won a scholarship to CU. He remembers going to the school early on and watching the Buffaloes practice. He dreamed of making "one play, just one play" with the team.

It turned out better. Miller was on the team from 1992 to 1996, lettering the last two years. He played on three bowl teams, including the 1994 team that finished in the top 10. It won the Cotton Bowl and Holiday Bowl the next two years, points out Larry Zimmer, the longtime, and legendary, KOA radio announcer known as POPULAR TALKERS RECOMMENDED YEAR AGO

the "Voice of the Buffaloes." Photos: NBA Cheerleaders Photos: The Broncos cheerleaders calendar "That era was probably the best that CU football The benefits of fasting: more energy, a longer life has ever been," said Zimmer. "If you add up the Keith Miller, right, rehearses his role with Opera A Colorado hot-spring soak is so much sweeter in private numbers, in the years Keith played, they were 31 Colorado's "Florencia en el Amazonas" with director Jos Maria Condemi. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver No gym, no weights? No excuses: This physical and 5." Post) trainer adapts his program Top 10 things to do in Colorado before you die Miller was there for the famous 64-yard "hail Mary" pass of '94, when the Buffs miraculously Potato box yields scads of spuds A home for Indians' beloved fry bread beat Michigan in the final seconds of a big game. (That, opera fans, is one of the greatest college The psychology of clutter football plays of all time.) Strange Brewing standing out

A semblance of a pro play followed, five years with the European and Arena football leagues. He may or may not have developed an NFL career — he was working out with teams, including the Subscribe to our Broncos, but another interest lured him away. Afternoon Newsletter Email Address Classic moves Subscribe Miller had become enchanted with opera in college. It started with a date to see "Phantom of the Opera." It grew into afternoons listening to recordings of truer works, such as Mozart's "Don » See a sample afternoon newsletter here Giovanni." He sang along, taught himself the lyrics. He threw caution to the wind, tried out at an open audition for the Pine Mountain Music Festival in Michigan. He got the gig, and an agent, and sang his way into Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts.

Then a funny thing happened. He tried out for The Metropolitan Opera Company's Young Artist Development Program, and instead of getting in, he got offered a real job. Since then, he's been in scores of productions, performing such roles as the King in "Aida," Count Monterone in "Rigoletto" and Zuniga in "Carmen."

Over the past few years, in addition to concert gigs, he's performed at the Washington National Opera (as The Bonze in "Madame Butterfly"), the Seattle Opera (Sarastro in "The Magic Flute") and at the well-regarded Florida Grand Opera (Figaro in "The Marriage of Figaro").

Opera is a medium of stories, and it helps that Miller has a unique one. He didn't grow up

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learning languages, or playing an instrument, like other singers. He came late to the game. And he took a risk on music "when he clearly had potential" as a football player, said Opera Colorado general director Greg Carpenter.

Miller's deep and versatile voice has "great size and depth," Carpenter says, "a good, solid top and the kind of bottom you want to see in a bass-baritone."

"He has a sizable instrument at a time when we are seeing less of that," said Carpenter.

Opera Colorado was looking for a production that would allow it to showcase Miller's varied talents. They found it in Mexican composer Daniel Catán's 1996 "Florencia en el Amazonas," a rare Spanish-language opera with doses of magical realism. Miller plays Riolobo, a character with mystical traits who disappears into the sea and returns as a sort of spiritual superhero.

It's a physical part that even has Miller flying above the stage on ropes — a good fit for a singer who happens to be in very good shape. He brings a confident athleticism to the gravity-defying moments that you wouldn't think imaginable from a guy like Pavarotti.

Opera Colorado insists Miller was hired for his voice, not his potential to bring a new set of fans to Ellie Caulkins Opera House. And conductor Ramon Tebar, who hails from Spain, didn't even know Miller was a former football player ("He played soccer? Hmm.")

But a few additional ticket buyers wouldn't hurt, and Miller's background gets its mentions in promo materials. "Florencia" has a lush and easy-to-like score, but the title isn't familiar to most opera- goers. "We want as many people as possible to see what we do, and that means having every seat filled," said Carpenter.

Working overtime

Miller isn't oblivious, or resistant, to the marketing efforts that play up his past over his singing ability, or that bring him more attention than the star of the show, in this case Pamela Armstrong, who sings the colorful role of Florencia (opera fans need to know she's a skilled soprano, football fans that she's hot in that voluptuous diva way).

But he knows a good back story isn't everything in a competitive field. Opera singers need to keep egos in check and do the hard work. A lot of singers, he said, are "so good, so impenetrable. Like athletes, they get a sense of self-worth that's not really there."

A few things are keeping him humble. He has to fight to stay in the kind of shape that keeps the good roles coming. That means running 4 miles a day, working out. It's hard in a career that takes you from place to place. Last year, he took on roles in 10 cities over nine months.

He's also helping other artists. In conjunction with work at the Crested Butte Music Festival, he has created something called "Puissance Training," which gets singers into the kind of physical shape that will help sustain long careers.

"I'm 38 now. I'm on a career path that will take me to 70. But the question for me is, 'What do I need to do to allow that,' " Miller said.

Most humbling of all: He and his wife, Sage, have a new baby, Josephine, who helps "keep it real." With a daughter in the mix, "I know I can be nothing but an example of the best for the rest of my life."

If his voice holds up, the possibilities are vast. From Denver, he goes on to "Billy Budd" at The Met. After that, he'll sing a staged piece with the New York Philharmonic at the Park Avenue Armory.

"To survive is the most important thing because not everybody does," he said.

In football, it would have been over by now.

Ray Mark Rinaldi: 303-954-1540 or [email protected]

"FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS." Opera. Daniel Catan, composer. Brad Trexell, director.

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Starring Pamela Armstrong, Inna Dukach, Beth Clayton, Hector Vasquez, Kevin Langan, Greg Fedderly and Keith Miller. In Spanish with English subtitles. Four performances at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 27, March 30, and April 1. $20-$150. operacolorado.org or 303-468-2030

This story has been corrected in this online archive. Due to a source error, Keith Miller's wife's name was incorrect. Her name is Sage.

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GP H a day ago

This is a very good story. I read the same story 1 year ago on these pages. Glad he is still at it.

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