UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 11, Page 4                       
November 12, 1992                                      
Alum, Met Opera winner in campus choral concert        
                                                       
     Steven Combs, a graduate of the University of Delaware's
Department of Music, will make his first Newark appearance since
winning the 1990 Metropolitan Opera auditions and premiering at the
Met in 1991.                                                 
     Combs, a baritone, will be the featured artist in a St. Cecilia's
Day Celebration Concert at 3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 22, in the Loudis 
Recital Hall of the Amy E. du Pont Music Building.           
     St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music. Combs will perform two
sets of songs and arias accompanied by pianist Betsy Kent, who was his
pianist through much of his undergraduate study.  He will then be 
joined by the University of Delaware Choral Union, directed by Andrew
Cottle, for Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Aaron
Copland's Old American Songs.                                
     The Choral Union also will present a short group of sacred and
secular selections.                                          
     Accompanying at the organ will be Larry Peterson, associate
professor of music at the University and director of music at the 
First Presbyterian Church in Newark.                         
     Tickets are $5.50 for the general public and $4 for University
faculty and staff.  Advance tickets are available in Room 209 of the
Amy E. du Pont Music Building. For more information, call 831-2577.
     One of only 10 1990 Metropolitan Opera National Council winners,
Combs burst upon the music scene with vigor, charm and a voice of 
warmth and clarity.  Despite his youth, he has performed with several
major arts organizations throughout the United States.       
     In December 1991, Combs made his Metropolitan Opera debut under
the baton of music director James Levine, in the world premier of John
Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles.                       
     Also during the l991-92 Metropolitan Opera season, Combs covered
the role of Larkens in a new production of Puccini's La Fanciulla del
West.                                                        
     In the spring of 1992, he appeared with the Florentine Opera of 
Milwaukee in the role of Gregorio in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette.
     In April and May 1992, he debuted at Opera Theatre of St. Louis
in the roles of Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Demetrius
in Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream.                        
     His 1993 season includes a return to the Metropolitan Opera in
February and March and a debut with the Boston Lyric Opera in
December.                                                    
     Combs graduated magna cum laude from the University of Delaware
with a bachelor's degree in music in 1988. He earned his master's of
music degree from the University of Minnesota.