Television
Former CU football player now an opera singer
Former University of Colorado fullback Keith Miller has made the transition from the gridiron to the theater stage. Hema Mullur reports. April 4, 2012.Click here to watch »
Colorado man goes from football star to opera singer.
Keith Miller interviewed on KUSA-TV Channel 9, Colorado, with Kirk Montgomery. 03/26/12Click here to watch »
ABC Eyewitness News with Lauren Glassberg
Keith Miller interviewed on ABC Eyewitness News with Lauren GlassbergClick here to watch »
NY1 Arts Report with Stephanie Simon
Keith Miller interviewed on NY1's Arts Report with Stephanie SimonClick here to watch »
CBS TV's Eye on New York with Dana Tyler
Keith Miller interviewed on CBS TV's Eye on New York with Dana TylerClick here to watch »
Radio
Keith Miller Interviewed on 1010 Wins Lincoln Center
The Leonard Lopate Show: Keith Miller on "Anna Bolena"Keith Miller is the only opera singer performing today who was a former football player. He discusses his transition from football to opera, his meteoric rise in the opera world, and his role in Donizetti's "Anna Bolena" at the Metropolitan Opera
» Listen to the interview now
Keith Miller Interviewed on 1010 Wins Lincoln Center
Alice Stockton-Rossini Interviews Keith Miller"Eight years he was playing pro football, before that he was a starting fullback at the University of Colorado. Now he's playing Zuniga in Carmen at the Met. What are the chances of that, Keith Miller?"
» Listen to the interview now
Keith Miller Interviewed on NPR Music
Football Star Finds New Calling At The OperaKeith Miller was a star fullback at the University of Colorado and had a shot at the NFL. But Miller decided to follow another voice — his own — and it led him straight to opera. The bass-baritone has nearly 200 performances under his belt with the Washington Metropolitan Opera.
» Listen to the interview now
Keith Miller Interviewed on Westwood One Radio
Selections from Keith Miller's Westwood One radio interview.Keith talks about his early interests in Opera, his time at the academy of Vocal Arts, how football has played a part in his training and more.
» Listen to the interview now
Interview with Met Opera Radio Channel on SirusXM Radio
Interview with Met Opera Radio channel on SirusXM Radio» Listen to the interview now
Articles
'Carmen' returns to Met Opera in mixed revival
Associated Press — October 2012
Former football player Keith Miller was a sexy Zuniga, Jose's military superior — you wondered why Carmen didn't run off with him rather than Escamillo.read more…
Florencia en al Amazonas
Opera News — March 2012
Nearly stealing the show was the mystical (and similarly sketchy) Riolobo of Keith Miller — a former college football player from nearby Boulder who's carving a nice career at the Met and elsewhere. His baritone is imposing and multi-hued, his acting clearly delineated.read more…
Former University of Colorado fullback KeithMiller becomes an opera singer
The Denver Post — March 2012
They're the same drill really, football and opera. You make the team, put in the practice, and when the whistle blows you perform like your life depended on it.Still, they don't overlap much among fans. Chances are that half the people who read this story — it is about a football star who became a world-class opera singer — wouldn't know which NFL team has won the most Super Bowls. The other half couldn't tell you who wrote "Madame Butterfly."
read more…
Stravinsky's Travels, Recounted in Melody
New York Times — January 2012
There has been much debate about the Russian-ness of Stravinsky, who lived and worked away from his native country for most of his life. In a program called "Stravinsky Outside Russia," on Friday evening at Carnegie Hall, the conductor Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra offered selections that reflected both Stravinsky's Russian heritage and the aesthetics of his adopted homelands.read more…
Gridder's 'Met'amorphosis to opera star
New York Post — September 2011
He once bulldozed defenders for the University of Colorado and dreamed of the NFL. But when his big chance came with the hometown Denver Broncos in 2001, Keith Miller chose the stage over a stadium, opting to pursue his other dream: becoming an opera star.read more…
Football to Figaro
Crested Butte News — July 2011
Beneath a polished and soft-spoken exterior, Keith Miller, a fullback turned bass-baritone at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, is a man of extremes. Now in his eighth year with the Crested Butte Music Festival, he's helping young students learn through a breadth of experience that has taken him from wearing eye-black to blush.read more…
Ex-fullback becomes an opera star [ story & video ]
The Seattle Times — May 2011
Former football player Keith Miller, performing during the final dress rehearsal for "The Magic Flute" at McCaw Hall, taught himself to read music just nine years ago. Two bags were packed as Keith Miller waited for the phone call from the Denver Broncos. If they invited him to training camp in Greeley, Colo., Miller was taking one bag and heading west.read more…
Star football player turns opera singer
Summit Daily News — March 2011
Just as Keith Miller's professional football career was on the rise, he had to choose between his successful history — and promising future — as a fullback and his new-found passion for opera — a world he knew nothing about.read more…
Football star turned opera star Keith Miller comes to UCF festival
Orlando Sentinal — March 2011
When University of Colorado football player Keith Miller took his girlfriend to see "The Phantom of the Opera," he left under the phantom's spell. "The lights, the chandelier pulling up all the audience, it was everything combined," Miller says. "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, this is so cool.' I had no idea this stuff went on."read more…
Savannah Children's Choir to celebrate 5th anniversary with concert
Savannah Morning News — March 2011
It all started over coffee at church five years ago. Cuffy Sullivan, the mother of three young daughters, and Roger Moss, an accomplished local singer, lamented the fact that Savannah didn't have an organized choral program for children.read more…
Sound Bites: Keith Miller
Opera News — December 2010
Keith Miller, who sings Ashby in this month's Met radio broadcast and Live in HD transmission of La Fanciulla del West, got "blown away" by opera when he was a college football player and took a date to a performance of Phantom of the Opera. The thirty-six-year-old native of Ovid, Colorado (pop. 350), put aside a promising career as a fullback — he played for the University of Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl and the Cotton Bowl and carried the Olympic torch for the 1996 Atlanta Games…read more…
First Down: Keith Miller
Classical Singer Magazine — June 2010
The former fullback may have switched coaches, but he hasn't lost sight of the goal. While growing up in a small town in Colorado, Keith Miller pursued athletics with all his might. He saw it as his way out and up. Little did he know that a fateful night in a theater would not only open his eyes to a whole new world, but also change his life—and his career path—forever.read more…
Fullbacking an Aria
Coloradan — December 2009
Former football player pursues opera career — It was one of those crossroads moments that defines a life. Former University of Colorado fullback Keith Miller (Art ex'96) faced two divergent paths in 2001. He had been offered a spot as a bass/baritone in Michigan's Pine Mountain Music Festival, but he had just finished a good workout with the Denver Broncos.read more…
Former Buffalo singing a new song
Denver Post - August 2009
Miller, a fullback in the mid-1990s, finds his true calling as an opera star for the Met. — Former Colorado football player Keith Miller first fell in love with opera after attending "Phantom of the Opera. (Jennifer Taylor, The New York Times). He has learned the music but not the lingo. Keith Miller is perhaps the only opera singer who can talk about "running an aria" the way a fullback talks about running for daylight — as he used to do, before he called an audible on his football career.read more…
For an Ex-Fullback, Big Plays in a New Game
The New York Times — July 2009
He has learned the music but not the lingo. Keith Miller is perhaps the only opera singer who can talk about "running an aria" the way a fullback talks about running for daylight — as he used to do, before he called an audible on his football career.read more…
Football Player Tackles The Art Of Opera
NY1 — July 2009
Opera singer Keith Miller believes to belt it out, you have to be strong -- really strong. So whether he's training at the New York Sports Club or with his vocal coach, the former football player tackles opera and physical fitness with the same passion and dedication. Miller was a hard nose playing football for the University of Colorado when he discovered he had a soft spot for opera.read more…
Keith Miller: From the backfield to center stage
Savannah Now — May 2009
Keith Miller's former and current careers have one thing in common. Tickets are required for each performance. Miller, a professional football player turned opera singer, is in town this week as Savannah Children's Choir's 2009 Artist in Residence. Miller was set to work not only with the community children's choir, but also with local school groups, helping them hone their skills and sharing his experiences from football to music.read more…
Pigskin and Pagliacci
Connect Savannah — May 2009
Athlete-turned-opera star Keith Miller sings in Savannah — Bass baritone Keith Miller joined the Metropolitan Opera's permanent roster three years ago. These days, the handsome, square-jawed 35-year-old vocalist is in demand, a Grammy winner who's paid his dues with Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro and Madama Butterfly and sings with regularity in the toniest opera houses around the world.read more…
Better Know a Singer: Keith Miller
wweek.com — May 2009
Interview with Ben Waterhouse — WW: Is this your first time singing in Aida? Keith: Yes it is. WW: And you've sung in Portland before, right? Keith: Yes, I did Madam Butterfly about three, four years ago. WW: How did you get into opera?Keith: Keith Miller: Well, it was about 1996, '95-'96 and I took a girlfriend to Phantom of the Opera and while I was sitting there, I just kind of fell in love…read more…
