A Northern Illinois University student won a voice award that he says has boosted his confidence.
Daniel Chukwunyem is from Lagos, Nigeria. He sings bass with a focus on opera and is pursuing his Master of Music degree at NIU. He says he used to think that his talent wasn’t enough. Winning the Advanced Classical Tenor, Bass, and Baritone Voice Category at this year’s National Association of Teachers of Singing convention changed those thoughts.
“Since I'm able to win this,” he explained. “I can you know try to do other things and try to you know do greater things. And I'm very confident in my art, in my voice, in myself now.”
Chukwunyem stared out playing the trumpet. It wasn’t working out for him, so he changed his focus to voice. Opera and classical music fascinated him.
“I used to watch, you know, opera performances back home in Nigeria,” he said, “A couple of them. And I enjoyed the fact that you were able to sing, (and) one is able to, you know, perform and act.”
With first place in the competition, he won money and now has access to renowned singers. Chukwunyem aspires to sing at big opera houses like the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
