ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 14, 1996 TAG: 9605140021
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
CHRISTIANSBURG FANS were there to cheer on< Robert Chafin during the tenor's first performance at New York's Carnegie Hall.
Tenor Robert Chafin didn't disappoint his hometown fans from Christiansburg at his Carnegie Hall opera debut last month. Now they're looking forward to a New River Valley performance in July.
Chafin, 32, has been performing throughout Europe - where opera plays a larger role in the culture - in recent years.
At the famous New York City concert hall, Chafin performed the role of Goffredo, a major part in Gioacchino Rossini's "Armida."
"When he got that standing ovation at the end of the first act we all were just goo-goo eyed and almost in tears," said Helen Sowder, who organized the group of 43 people, most of whom were from St. Paul's United Methodist Church. The group chartered its own bus for the three-day trip.
The show's playbill ran a picture of Chafin, who is back in Europe now, and described him as a leading resident tenor at the Staatsoper in Hannover, Germany. It said he has future performances planned throughout Europe, and he has recorded for radio and television. Chafin received the award for excellence from the Seth I. Weissman Young Artists Fund.
"I've known Robert all of his life, since he was in Cub Scouts in fact," Sowder said. "He has always just struck me as an unusually gifted fellow."
Chafin is scheduled to visit the United States in July, and his friends and family are trying to organize a performance, possibly in Virginia Tech's Burruss Hall. The performance would benefit Christiansburg's visual enhancement committee, a group trying to improve the appearance of downtown.
Ed Sherman, a member of the group, said Chafin may try to make a go of it in the American opera scene when his European contract runs out next year.
Chafin's mother, Peggy Chafin, lives in Christiansburg and works for the Montgomery County School Board. She is taking her son's success in stride (her favorite music now is opera), though not everyone else does - at least on the other side of the Atlantic. "The people in Europe treat opera stars like we treat pop stars here in the states," she said. Her son is fluent in German, and passable in Italian and French.
Chafin said the visit from the Christiansburg entourage was a treat. "He was appreciative to have all those hometown people with him," she said.
Robert Chafin was a premed student at Virginia Tech, but joined several university choral groups, and music became his first love. He won a scholarship to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where he completed his degree and went on to earn a master's degree. Then he started performing in Europe.
The Christiansburg contingent enjoyed the show, though it was sung in Italian and the plot was at times a little obscure. "Armida" is the story of a group of soldiers vying for the affections of their superior, who is a woman.
Chafin's Goffredo comes out on the short end of the straw, alas. (Sorry to spoil the ending.)
Aside from a big time at Carnegie Hall, the group had a big night on the town: After the show, the travelers met Chafin at a restaurant and did not get back to their rooms until 3 a.m.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Robert Chafin bear-hugs Helen Sowder at a New Yorkby CNBrestaurant after his Carnegie Hall opera debut last month. Sowder
organized 43 Christiansburg residents who chartered a bus and
traveled to the Big Apple for the show.| KEYWORDS: OPERA