Tony Griffey certainly understands how important it is for music students to hear professional artists perform live.
When Griffey was a student at Wingate in the late 1980s, he took in a show at the Metropolitan Opera House while on a University-sponsored trip to New York City. From the cheap seats, he turned to Martha Asti, the advisor for the trip, and said, “I’m going to be on a first-name basis with everybody on that stage.”
Wingate did not have an opera program at the time, but Griffey did eventually become an opera star, winning Grammys and performing in the world’s most renowned opera houses.
Next month, Griffey will have an opportunity to inspire the next generation of Wingate music students when he performs in the Batte Center’s McGee Theatre on March 23. The performance, part of the Noel Musical Artist Series, begins at 4 p.m. Admission is free, and the show is open to the public.
Griffey, a 1990 Wingate graduate known professionally as Anthony Dean Griffey, has performed on some of the world’s most renowned opera stages: Paris, Sydney, the Met. A lyric tenor, Griffey specializes in English-language productions, such as “Of Mice and Men,” “Peter Grimes” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
“He’s an acting singer,” says Dr. Jessie Wright Martin, chair of the Wingate music department. “A lot of people really focus on the quality of their sound. While Tony focuses on his sound and is a truly beautiful singer, what I see when I see him sing is he’s really focused on storytelling and communication. Singing just happens to be the vehicle.”
Griffey, who comes from a family of High Point factory workers, initially enrolled at Wingate with more modest goals: He saw himself leading church music worship. His music professors realized his immense talent and began to steer him toward a performance career, especially after seeing him act in “Little Mary Sunshine,” a musical put on by former theater director and communications professor Larry Coleman.
Griffey’s professors encouraged him to go on to graduate school, and he was given a full scholarship to the Eastman School of Music, one of the top music schools in the U.S. (Griffey has taught at Eastman since 2015.) He later studied under the famed classical-music teacher Beverly Johnson at Juilliard. There, he earned a master’s degree (his second) and was accepted into a three-year apprenticeship program.
Griffey went on to a stellar career, beating out Placido Domingo for a pair of Grammys in 2009, for the recording of his performance in “The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny,” alongside Patti Lupone and Audra McDonald. He won two more in 2010 for his work on two Mahler pieces with the San Francisco Symphony.
Griffey’s appearance at Wingate is his first since 2019. He will also conduct a master class on March 24 at 4 p.m., giving students a chance to learn from his decades on the stage and his time teaching at Eastman. The master class is also open to the public and free of charge.
In master classes, Martin has heard Griffey say, “You should never perform to impress. You should always perform to express.”
“There’s a big difference,” Martin says. “Tony is always so authentic in his performances.”
For more information about Griffey’s performance and the Noel Musical Artist Series, email Jessie Martin or call her at 704-233-8308.
