Athlete-turned-opera-singer
to perform at Texas State
Lawrence Harris
Pro football player-turned-opera singer Lawrence Harris, who received his musical training at Texas State, will be performing at the university on Wednesday.
Harris, accompanied by his wife Renee Guerrero, will sing selections by Paolo Tosti at 6 p.m. in the Music Building Recital Hall. Admission is $3 for students and senior citizens, $5 for everyone else.
The baritone played high school football in Sherman and then attended Oklahoma State on a scholarship. He was with the Houston Oilers and the Buffalo Bills in the National Football League and the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League.
Once his football career was over, Harris enrolled in the opera program at Texas State and was a student of Lenore Sergi. Guerrero, a student of Tim Woolsey, also attended Texas State and earned a master’s degree in piano performance at the Manhattan School of Music.
The couple met at the university and wound up moving to New York City to pursue careers in music.
One critic called Harris a “major voice,” and he has been called “an important Verdi baritone with incredible dramatic intensity and enormous versatility.” He won the 2008 Altamura/Caruso International Voice competition with his performance of Te Deum from Puccini’s opera Tosca.
He has performed with the Hawaii Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, Opera Company of Brooklyn, New Rochelle Opera, San Antonio Opera, Fort Worth Opera and Opera East Texas.
The story of his transformation from football player to opera has been made into a documentary film (see the trailer here) and he has a fan page on Facebook.
It was GREAT to be back at our alma mater. What a wonderful time we had at TSU. Thanks for the article David.