James Anest is a pretty complicated guy. He is equally comfortable in a wide range of musical styles, including opera, musical theatre, liturgical music and modern standards. He fits in just as easily at a concert hall in Europe as a rock concert on the Sunset Strip. He is proficient in French, German and Italian, as one would expect from an opera singer, but he is also fluent in Modern Greek, the native language of his mother. He works hard to maintain his classical good looks, but he is also a deeply spiritual person who does not shy away from big philosophical questions. His career is rooted in the somewhat elitist world of classical music, yet you would be hard pressed to find somebody more friendly and down to earth. To understand where James Anest is coming from, you have to go way back. And in this case, way back starts in Nebraska.
James was born in a very small town on the western edge of the American prairie, where he grew up farming and ranching. His work included farming and caring for cattle in the family feedlot and managing a small herd of his own. He rode his Appaloosa horse, named Domino, dug irrigation ditches, and drove tractors. (He would later joke that he is probably the only opera singer around who could adjust a cultivator.) There were less than 200 people in his entire high school. It was not, to put it mildly, the most auspicious starting place for a career in the performing arts; and James did not, in fact, grow up with aspirations of stardom. He played trumpet in his high school band, sang in both the church and swing choir, and danced with a Greek folk ensemble, but he never saw music as a career. (more...)
