| 12/25/2006 |
| Making a name for himself |
| By PATRICIA DANNATT , The North Platte Telegraph |
Earlier this year the former Bayard resident, James Anest, released his second album, “My November Guest.” The second and most recent success is being selected to sing a Disney song, “Destino,” for a documentary on the making of “Destino.” Destino, a 6-minute animated cartoon, was a collaboration of famed Spanish artist Salvadore Dali and Walt Disney back in 1945. Several problems ended up shelving the project. Then 58 years later, in 1999, the project was resurrected. The short has little dialogue but features a backdrop of opera-style music. The documentary is scheduled to be released in 2007. Anest’s CD includes “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron and “My November Guest” and “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, set to the romantic melodies of composer Jon Naples. Nast also accompanies Anest on piano and classical guitar. Anest, an international opera and musical theater performer, has also gained acclaim across the country as “Gaston” in the Disney musical “Beauty and the Beast.” Anest probably has the most unlikely list of skills of any other opera singer. Growing up on the family farm, Anest rode horses, calved cows at all hours of the day and night and drove tractors in the fields. That hardly seems like the training arena for an opera singer. In fact, singing professionally was not even on the radar screen as Anest grew up. He planned to study agriculture in college. He did sing in swing choir at Bayard High School, as did practically every kid in the school. “The program had 125 kids in the choir. Considering that there were only 140 kids in the entire school, grades 7 to 12, that was simply amazing,” Anest said. “It was ‘cool’ to be in music. All the athletes (me included) found it a place to compete and excel,” he said. The first to recommend voice lessons to Anest was mentor, Bill French, head of the music department at Nebraska Western College at Scottsbluff. “I was a freshman in college when voice lessons were first mentioned. It took me almost another year before I ever took a vocal lesson,” Anest said. Anest took his senior year at California State University Northridge, working with David Scott, head of the opera department. “He was the most influential person in my musical development,” Anest said. “He immediately took me under his wing and I started my intense vocal training. Dr. Scott taught me how to be a ‘singer.’ He was the first one who was able to lasso this raw talent and direct it in a constructive way. My five years there were invaluable to my development.” Anest returns to his home state every few years when his schedule allows. He tries to talk to the young people when he makes it home. “The kids need inspiration. They need to see there are many avenues to achieving self-fulfillment. “The arts are important and they should not be neglected,” Anest said. “Listen to all kinds of music, read poetry. Feed your mind.” Anest’s CD “My November Guest” is available on his Web site at www.jamesanest.com, along with his first release, “Calvary Street,” featuring 14 hymns. “My November Guest” is also available locally at A to Z Books at 507 N. Jeffers. | ||||||
