When Errin Brooks lifted his powerful baritone voice to sing "Ol’ Man River" Tuesday the song
made every inch of the Wood County Library vibrate.
The tune from "Showboat" comes from a deep place within Brooks. The song, the young opera
singer said in an interview a couple days after the show, is one of his mother’s favorites, and it was
hearing the legendary African-American performer and activist Paul Robeson sing it that set Brooks onto
his musical course.
"When I first heard Paul Robeson in ‘Showboat’ that let me know that black people can do this,
too," he said.
Now in his second year as a graduate student in vocal performance at Bowling Green State University,
Brooks is doing his part to let other young African-Americans know the possibilities that can await
them, as well as spreading the message of opera to young people of all ages.
Brooks is currently touring with the Toledo Opera’s Opera on Wheels troupe, which takes performances to
schools throughout southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio, including Perrysburg April 27 and 28 and May 2
and 3.
Brooks is also a member of LEVAS – Lift Every Voice and Sing, an ensemble directed by Myra Merritt, of
the BGSU faculty, devoted to spreading the gospel of African-American music.
"We need to educate our children as far as culture is concerned," he said. "We need to
keep opera, to keep culture alive, in America."
"A lot of friends I grew up with don’t even know what opera is," the performer said.
A native of Detroit, Brooks first started singing in his Baptist church when he was 5. His mother first
noticed his interest in music when he was very young. Whenever she would turn the radio on, he would
stop whatever he was doing and listen intently.
When he started high school, his mother made sure he signed up for choir. It was her call, he said, not
his. He wanted instead to be able to get home in time to watch his favorite television show.
It took a month, Brooks said, before he began to enjoy choir. He continued to sing throughout his high
school career.
In his sophomore year the choir traveled to Ghana, the first of several foreign adventures music has made
possible. In college he traveled to France with the choir and in 2010, with the help of a Pro Musica
grant, he did a summer residency in Rome.
"Music has taken me a lot of places," Brooks said.
When he graduated in 2003, his intention was to join the Marines.
A defensive tackle in high school he was frustrated by his inability to play football in college – he was
deemed too short. His grandfather had served in the Marines during World War II and his father had
served during Vietnam.
But his best friend encouraged him to apply to Madonna University in Livonia. Mich.
He took his first voice lesson in his second semester there and ended up graduating in 2008 with a major
in vocal performance and a minor in business, after taking a year off because of the death of his father
and grandmother.
On the recommendation of his teacher Allen Schrott at Madonna, he came to BGSU to do graduate work. He
now studies with Christopher Scholl.
He’s well satisfied with his choice and with the voice faculty. "They’re hard on you," he said.
"They want what’s best for you, and they’re very nice. It’s rare you find that combination."

While at Madonna most of his work was in musicals, including as the Wolf and a prince in "Into the
Woods," Jesus in "Godspell" as well as roles in "West Side Story" and
"Phantom of the Opera."
At BGSU he’s appeared in three disparate opera productions – "Patience" by Gilbert and
Sullivan, Gaetano Donizetti’s "The Elixir of Love" and most important last fall as Count
Almaviva in Mozart’s "Marriage of Figaro."
Later this month he will appear as the priest in Handel’s "Hercules" on March 30. In 2010 he
won the graduate division of the Dr. Marjorie Conrad Peatee Art Song Competition.
He has also appeared with the Michigan Opera Theatre, including Richard Danielpour’s "Margaret
Garner," about a woman who flees from slavery.
Brooks’ plan is to be a professional opera singer. He will perform in Toledo Opera’s production of
Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" as Masetto next fall. He will also audition for roles with the
Michigan Opera Theatre and the Dayton Opera.
For now he’s playing the evil troll Alberich in the Opera on Wheels version of Richard Wagner’s
"Ring Cycle." The production condenses 18 hours of music from four operas into a kid-friendly
40-minute production.
Brooks said he loves opera and finds it mirrors real life. "It’s soap opera set to music. It’s full
of drama, love, betrayal," he said. "It’s fun to perform on stage."
Though living in Bowling Green, he said he tries to return to his home church in Detroit, though he
admits it’s not as often as he’d like.
He believes young males need strong male role models. "I try to be that for all my younger male
cousins and the younger kids in my church," he said. "I want them to see that they can make
it. They don’t have to succumb to the streets."