Article by Marcia Darnell
Music – April 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
TINY CRESTONE Isn’t the kind of place you’d expect to find opera singers in residence, but Sue Vaughan and Meryl Ennis help their community reach the high notes.
Vaughan has been in Crestone for eight years, after having spent 20 in New York “at the Met.” She sang in the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera for two decades before retiring to her native Colorado, and now works with the choir of the Methodist Church in Monte Vista in addition to giving private lessons.
Meryl Ennis, one of her students, has been in Crestone since 1997. A former traveling salesperson, she had a childhood dream of becoming an opera singer. She sang choral music as a teen, then classical at Illinois State University and DePaul University.
“I’d go from a voice lesson straight into the blues bars in Chicago,” Ennis says. “I can do the blues growl followed by ‘Unchained Melody.'”
Locally, Ennis was one of the founders of the Crestone Music Festival and sits on the board of Neighbors Helping Neighbors, a group serving folks in the Crestone-Moffat area. She met Vaughan through the Crestone Community Choir.
“It took five years to persuade her to train for the opera,” Vaughan says.
Before studying with Vaughan, Ennis sang with CB Jazz. She has performed solo and with others throughout the San Luis Valley and on the Front Range.
A trip to India in 1999 “was a changing point in my life,” Ennis remembers. A spiritual awakening led to her CD, “Dancing with the Divine,” in 2000. The CD is a compilation of original songs, featuring Ennis’s voice and guitar with many other San Luis Valley artists. Don Richmond (profiled in the July, 2002, edition of Colorado Central) recorded the CD at his Howlin’ Dog studio, contributed instrumentals and offered many creative suggestions. Other artists pitching in include Kailash, Dennis Neuhaus, Art Patience and Dale Smith.
Vaughan and Ennis will perform together on June 19 at the Hazlerig Music House in Crestone. The program will include selections from Italian, Russian and American opera, as well as Italian and German art songs, and contemporary English and American songs. Ennis may also perform an opera aria she has composed.
Ennis is busy learning to sing Italian for her operatic efforts. She is also growing a new CD, one of standard love songs adapted to spiritual worship
”’Someone to Watch Over Me’ is a beautiful song from a woman to a man,” she says, “but it can be a song asking the Divine to watch over us.”
Ennis is also collaborating with pianist Laura Schwartz, with whom she sang at the Salida Steam Plant last fall. “It’s a really nice venue,” she says, “a wonderful place to play.”
Ennis has also sung on the KSBV Front Street Music radio show, and she performs the cantorial solos at the Jewish High Holidays in the San Luis Valley.
“Music is a form of devotion to one another and the Divinity,” Ennis says. “When we sing, it’s many voices becoming one.”
In addition to performances with Ennis, Vaughan plans to continue teaching, or as she puts it, introducing people to the voice they actually have. “It’s always better than the one they think they should have,” she says, laughing.
Sue Vaughan is accepting new students. She can be reached at 719-256-4915. For more information on Meryl Ennis’s scheduled performances or to order her CD, call 719/256-4890, or contact meryl@fone.net. The CD is also available on Amazon.com or by sending $12 to P.O. Box 426, Crestone 81131.
Marcia Darnell lives in the San Luis Valley and only sings when she’s alone, so as not to frighten people, dogs and horses.
