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Brian Keith Johnson grew up in Warren, graduating from Warren G. Harding High School in 1984 and going on to study opera at University of Akron and abroad in Italy and Austria.
But he didn't have an opportunity to share his baritone with local audiences in a full-scale production until Opera Western Reserve made its debut in Youngstown in 2004 with Ruggero Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci."
He sang the role of Tonio, the opera's villain, 22 years ago, and he will sing the role of Silvio, the heroine's secret lover, when OWR stages "Pagliacci" at Powers Auditorium on Saturday.
Johnson remembered his excitement when he first heard about OWR's formation.
"That meant, if I was in a production, that my family could come," he said. "It would only be 20 minutes away, so my high school classmates and all my friends from Warren could come. That was the most exciting part ... I did a couple of performances with the Warren Philharmonic (Orchestra), but no operas, no real acting (locally) until Opera Western Reserve."
That 2004 production was Johnson's first opportunity to sing the role of Tonio, a part he's now played with several other opera companies.
"I think he is the most fun character in the show to play – the hunchback and the mean guy who tries to express his love for Nedda, but then gets turned away," Johnson said. "It’s always fun being a bad guy, especially when your real-life character is nothing like that. You get to really act, test your acting chops. I thought that was especially fun because I got to sing one of the most famous songs from the opera, the Prologue, and then I got to be kind of a comedic actor as well as being the true villain."
Johnson estimated that he's appeared in at least 15 OWR productions since the company started. He listed "The Barber of Seville" as his favorite because he got to sing with Lawrence Brownlee, an internationally acclaimed tenor from Youngstown.
"I was six weeks removed from gastric bypass surgery, and they were like, 'No, you shouldn’t do that.' I said, 'Wait, it’s Lawrence Brownlee. We’ve known each other for years, and I’m not going to pass up an opportunity to sing with him.' It ended up going great. Gastric bypass surgery is such a serious surgery, they redo your entire plumbing, so I had to relearn how to breathe, relearn how to eat, relearn how to sing, but I was determined to get through that and to make it the best performance I could. I was very proud of that performance. It went very well."
Johnson's parents, Cliff and Lillie Johnson, both were educators and passionate advocates for the arts when they were alive. They exposed him to opera and classical music and influenced his career path, both as a singer and as a teacher. He retired last spring after more than 30 years teaching in Akron Public Schools.
He also credited his teachers in Warren City Schools, particularly choir teacher Dennis Girton, for their encouragement. Seeing the movie "The Sound of Music" as a child also made an impact.
"When I saw how Julie Andrews affected those kids (and) the idea that music could change lives and change a whole family, I said that's what I want to do," Johnson said. "That's my favorite movie of all time. I do a 'Sound of Music' lesson every year because I think every kid should know that movie. All my kids can do the 'Do-Re-Mi' hand signals and everything. That movie really changed my life."
And he believes having access to full scale operatic productions like the ones staged by OWR annually also can make a difference in the lives of today's children.
"When we come in to do shows and talk to the kids, we can talk about the neighborhoods that they know, because we’re from the same neighborhood," he said. "Opera Western Reserve does a program where kids can come for free, and busloads of kids can come and see the show, which I think is absolutely incredible."