Dale Duesing (born September 26, 1947) is an American baritone . As an opera singer, he has had an international career spanning five decades. Duesing grew up in Milwaukee , Wisconsin. He studied piano throughout childhood, and enrolled at Lawrence University , majoring in piano performance. He switched to vocal performance while in college, and won the Metropolitan Opera Competition in his final year of study. After traveling to Europe with a Fulbright Scholarship , Duesing made a name for himself there. Duesing has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera , Lyric Opera of Chicago , La Scala , Vienna State Opera , Paris Opera , and Covent Garden , among others. In 1993, Duesing received a Grammy Award for his recording of Samuel Barber 's The Lovers with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and was named the Singer of the Year by Opernwelt magazine in 1994. Duesing made his debut as director at Frankfurt Opera with Il viaggio a Reims .