WIU Music Alumni Performing in Opera Around the World
August 26, 2022
Excerpts from Liszt’s Faust Symphony by the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Budapest.
Macomb, Illinois – When graduate Ric Furman enrolled at Western Illinois University in the 1990s, he was already determined to become an engineer. Now a world-famous opera singer, he performed in several musical ensembles at Macomb High School, primarily to spend time with friends, but as a freshman in 1993 he enrolled at WIU. and declared a pre-engineering major.
Prior to that, WIU Music Professor Emeritus Brian Leaper chaperoneed a high school choir field trip to the University of Illinois to sing with other choirs and conductors. of voice students in his studio.
“I was interested in the idea because I had a scholarship, so I decided to minor in music. I was taking classes and lessons. I was there,” Fuhrman said. “But it was so much fun that I ended up changing my major to music.”
A year later, Leaper retired and Fuhrman joined a committee assembled to find a new vocal teacher for the WIU. Each faculty candidate was asked to teach music lessons to a student as part of an interview, and that student happened to be Furman.These interviews were the first time Furman met her WIU professor emeritus, Lynne Thompson. It was a time.
“Students were involved in the recruitment process, asked questions in interviews, participated in mock lessons in front of faculty, and talked about what they observed,” he said. Later, I told the committee that if I hired him, I would go to his studio.He made a great first impression on me.It was his involvement in performances. Something about it told me that I wanted to know more about it.
After Thompson was hired to teach at WIU, Furman became the first student to enroll in his studio. Thompson retired in May and Furman performed at his retirement ceremony earlier this month while visiting family. He said he was very honored.
Thompson said, “One of the true joys of my teaching life at WIU has been watching Ric Furman’s career grow and blossom. He was a curious student, always trying new ideas.On several occasions Rick and I went to the Lyric Opera in Chicago, where he performed professional operas with world-class singers. His post-performance comments were always insightful and showed a genuine passion for the art form that ultimately led to his successful singing career.”
It was Thompson who led Fuhrman to the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where a retired WIU vocal professor earned his Ph.D. Fuhrman auditioned for a spot in the conservatory’s master’s degree program along with 430 other potential students of his. He was one of his 24 graduate students accepted. Fuhrman graduated from WIU in 1998 after also studying acting and stage techniques, which are integral to his performances.
“Opera is a combination of all art forms,” he said. “Painting, design, costume, makeup, lighting, orchestra, dance, acting and voice, videography and graphics.
After graduating from CCM with a master’s degree, Fuhrman performed at the Cincinnati and Dayton Operas and transitioned from baritone to tenor.
“My first job was tenor, that’s where my voice leaned,” he said. “After that, my career took off like a rocket, but then slowly and steadily declined over the years. I was working at a less stimulating level.”
Between 2007 and 2008 Fuhrman had several contracts, and in 2010 he auditioned in New York and Europe. was dropped.
His first audition was an informational for his former agent. His second audition was for Speight Jenkins, whom Furman calls “one of the greatest impresarios of our time.”
“We talked and I sang. Then he asked for a second piece and we talked some more,” Fuhrman said. He shook my hand and gave me my first contract, and I haven’t stopped working since.”
Fuhrman performed in the US, including Carnegie Hall, but he and his wife eventually settled in Wiesbaden, Germany. , said that most other places where he plays can be reached by train.
“Competition for jobs is so fierce it’s the biggest obstacle to endurance,” he said. “If you can beat the competition, you will succeed.”
Fuhrman was once told that 17,000 students across the country graduate each year hoping to become professional singers, and that the US market can only support about 400. He added that the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the industry hard as it closed theaters around the world.
Ironically, Fuhrman took 12 months of paternity leave after the birth of his second son. After that she mainly does radio and concert activities.
“We were mostly rehearsing for a show that we would never put on,” he said.
Fuhrman is proud to be a Leatherneck alumnus and said the opportunities the college offered to MHS students fueled his interest in opera.
“The first opera I saw was the WIU Outreach,” Fuhrman said. “It was Puccini’s performance. Gianni Schicki, and the WIU brought it to the MHS choir class. It was then that I understood the idea of what opera is. ”
He also performed with the WIU Orchestra during the 2017 Winter Concert while in Macomb for a visit.
Fuhrmann, now a Holdentenor, continues to live in Germany with his wife and two sons. His father, Professor Emeritus Dwayne Fuhrman, retired from McComb after teaching at WIU’s College of Education and Welfare. Fuhrman’s mother, Janet, was a graduate of her WIU and received a BA in Home Economics in 1974. Furman’s younger brother Stan attended his WIU for his two years, and his younger brother Tom earned his two bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Marketing from his WIU. , both he received his PhD in 1996 and his Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 2004.
For more information on Furman’s career, visit ricfurman.com.
Contributor: Jodi Pospeschil (JK-Pospeschil@wiu.edu)
University Communication and Marketing Office
