Ellinwood native Trent Green’s robust tenor voice has taken him all the way to Spoleto, Italy, where he performed with opera greats Luciano Pavarotti, Renée Fleming, Plácido Domingo, and composer Gian Carlo Menotti. Saturday evening, his voice will bring him home to sing during the Jack Kilby Sculpture Lighting Ceremony, scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. in downtown Great Bend.
Currently Green is singing with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and is also the assistant music director and cantor for St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Mo.
He will perform three songs during Saturday’s ceremony in the courthouse square, accompanied by retired master teacher Jenny Allford. Midway through the program, Green will sing “Bring Him Home” from the musical “Les Misérables.” Later he’ll sing “America the Beautiful,” and Green will close the ceremony by singing “God Bless America” a cappella, as lighting is turned on to illuminate Great Bend artist Chet Cale’s sculptures, “The Gift.”
Green studied under Michael Cousins at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where he earned a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance. He earned an Associate Degree of Fine Arts from Barton Community College and graduated from Fort Hays State University with a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance and a Bachelor of Music Education.
Allford was named to the Great Bend High School Hall of Fame in 2010 for her 25-year career as a music educator in Great Bend. She came to Great Bend in 1969 to as the vocal music instructor at Roosevelt Junior High School. In 1978 she moved to Great Bend High School, where she continued to teach vocal music until her retirement in 1994. She currently serves as the Chancel Choir accompanist at the First United Methodist Church. Allford has been the rehearsal and performance accompanist for the Great Bend Community Theater and rehearsal accompanist for the Barton County Community Choir. She also has been accompanist for the Barton County Choral Society and the Lyric Singers Community Chorus.