Join JMU voice professor Dr. Sonya Baker for a one-hour conversation with Ryan Speedo Green, one of the world’s leading opera stars. Green will share insights about his riveting life and career journey from a trailer park in southeastern Virginia and time spent in Virginia’s juvenile facility of last resort to the Metropolitan Opera stage. Green’s story is chronicled in The New York Times best-selling book Sing for Your Life, and Green has been featured on CBS This Morning and 60 Minutes. This event is free. Donations are encouraged and will support student scholarships in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Praised by The New York Times for his “robust voice” and dubbed by The Washington Post as an artist “fully ready for a big career," bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green is quickly establishing himself as an artist of international demand at the world’s leading opera houses. In the 2020-2021 Season, Green makes his house debut as Jake in Porgy and Bess with Theatre an der Wien, his house debut with Palm Beach Opera singing Colline in La bohème and Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte, and his debut with Columbus Opera for a digital broadcast of the stage version of his New York Times best-selling book Sing for Your Life. The book chronicles Green’s personal and artistic journey from a trailer park in southeastern Virginia and time spent in Virginia’s juvenile facility of last resort to the Met stage.

Green was scheduled to return to the Metropolitan Opera in the 2020-2021 Season for four roles, including Ferrando in Il trovatore, Commendatore in a new production of Don Giovanni, and Geisterbote in Die Frau ohne Schatten. Green was also scheduled to sing his house and role debut as Rocco in Frencesca Zambello’s production of Fidelio with Washington National Opera. Orchestral engagements included performances at the Mostly Mozart Festival and Carnegie Hall. In 2019-2020 and Green’s fourth consecutive season at the Met, he made his role debut as Jake in James Robinson’s new production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. At the Weiner Staatsoper, he played Ferrando in Il trovatore, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Banquo in Macbeth. Orchestral engagements included performances at the Tanglewood Music Festival and Ravinia Festival. Full bio

Dr. Sonya G. Baker made her Carnegie Hall debut with renowned conductor Michael Tilson Thomas in 2004, the same year she appeared as soloist on the Yale Alumni Chorus tour to Moscow singing at the Kremlin. Noted for her performances of American music, Baker’s debut recording, SHE SAYS, features art songs of American women composers. Her lecture recital on Marian Anderson's historic 1939 Easter Concert has been presented nationally. She has received numerous academic and vocal awards and is a frequent guest artist and teacher, having taught at Governor's school programs in Kentucky and Virginia. Baker’s past service includes Kentucky State Governor for National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), board member for the Kentucky Arts Council, and university administrative positions. Baker is currently a professor of voice at James Madison University. Along with a Doctor of Music from Florida State University, Baker holds degrees from Indiana and Yale universities. Full bio