- [Presenter] In partnership with the Curtis Institute of Music, WHYY presents the following program.

(singing in foreign language) - Bravo.

(people applauding) - The man that inspired me to become a singer, not necessarily an opera singer but definitely a singer.

It was kind of surreal meeting and singing for Bocelli.

I got to sing 30 seconds for him, and he was like, "You have such a gift and such a promising career, and I believe if you just continue down this path, everything that you want to do will come to fruition."

And I was like, you know, hearing that from someone like that and an idol of mine was just like, you know, I was just completely flabbergasted.

So it was an amazing night and something I will never forget.

My name is Colin Aikins.

I'm a tenor currently studying with Julia Faulkner in my fourth year at Curtis.

(mellow music) (singing in foreign language) I'm not from a musical family at all.

My grandma was playing Bocelli one day in the car when I was coming home from fourth grade.

And I was like, "Grandma, what's this song?

It's so cool."

And she was like, "Oh, this is Bocelli's "Time to Say Goodbye."

♪ Time to say goodbye ♪ (singing in foreign language) - So I went home, I downloaded the song on iTunes, and I played it like a million times.

And then when everyone left the house, I tried singing along to it, and I was a little boy soprano so I was like la la la, you know.

And I was just like this is so cool.

I fell in love with it.

And I guess you could say I'm more of a closeted singer because I was only doing it when everyone left the house, so nobody knew I even liked it, let alone trying to sing along with it.

And I did that for three years.

I finally mustered up enough courage, and I went to my parents after like, it was like a Sunday dinner.

I was like, "I think I want to take some voice lessons."

And everyone started laughing, like, okay, nice joke.

'Cause I was like the kid, the bad kid, always getting in trouble, joking around.

And now I was like, "No, no, no, I'm serious."

And this was like just when my voice changed, so I had no clue what I was trying to do.

So I put on Pavarotti singing "Nessun dorma," a role that I wouldn't even sing for 20 years from now.

Just belted my little heart out.

I remember my dad, he was like a really macho, your old-school kind of guy.

He started crying and he looks over at my mom and he goes, "What the hell do we even do with you?"

Because nobody in the family is musical.

So that's kind of, and then it just started from there.

So it's been a crazy kind of beginning, I guess you could say.

(vibrant music) (singing in foreign language) I've learned some Spanish pieces this past summer.

I got to sing some of my favorite pieces.

One of them was from the Obradors Spanish songs, his cycle.

And it's a really cute, fun song.

It's basically just like give me 1,000 kisses, and then he's talking about flirting with her and then he's like then do it all again.

So it's just kind of a teasing, a little, really fun song.

It's only about, I think, 50 seconds.

And then I sang "Intima," which is a beautiful piece.

It's just classic tenor, just really romantic, gushy, big ending at the end.

(mellow music) (singing in foreign language) One of my great-uncles passed away from Alzheimer's, and we got involved with a foundation and I sang for that.

And then from there, I volunteered a lot of nursing homes.

And I can't tell you how thankful I am for everyone there who, you know, they don't get much of live entertainment or anything like that.

So they were appreciative for anything, but they just took me in and I went up every month to sing for everyone.

And before you know it, the whole community, there was like hundreds of people every time I showed up.

Felt like a little celebrity.

But it was just amazing to see how much it can touch people.

(pensive music) ♪ Here, a sheer hulk, lies poor Tom Bowling ♪ ♪ The darling of our crew ♪ ♪ No more he'll hear the tempest howling ♪ ♪ For death has broached him to ♪ ♪ His form was of the manliest beauty ♪ ♪ His heart was kind and soft ♪ ♪ Faithful below, Tom did his duty ♪ ♪ And now he's gone aloft ♪ ♪ And now he's gone aloft ♪ ♪ Tom never from his word departed ♪ ♪ His virtues were so rare ♪ ♪ His friends were many and true-hearted ♪ ♪ His Poll was kind and fair ♪ ♪ And then he'd sing so blithe and jolly ♪ ♪ Ah, many's the time and oft ♪ ♪ But mirth is turned to melancholy ♪ ♪ For Tom is gone aloft ♪ ♪ For Tom is gone aloft ♪ ♪ Yet shall poor Tom find pleasant weather ♪ ♪ When he who all commands ♪ ♪ Shall give to call life's crew together ♪ ♪ The word to pipe all hands ♪ ♪ Thus Death, who kings and tars dispatches ♪ ♪ In vain Tom's life hath doffed ♪ ♪ For though his body is under hatches ♪ ♪ His soul is gone aloft ♪ ♪ His soul is gone aloft ♪ I was really, really happy I got to do "Caro elisir," one of the scenes, I guess you could say the drunk duet from "The Elixir of Love."

And I was so, so happy to do it with one of my really, really good friends, Emily Damasco, incredible soprano.

And this is our first time doing a duet with part of a Curtis production.

(singing in foreign language) (light music) (Colin vocalizing) (singing in foreign language) (Colin vocalizing) (Emily singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (Colin vocalizing) (singing in foreign language) (Emily laughs) (Colin vocalizing) (singing in foreign language) One big challenge is realizing that it takes time.

I think in a world today where everything is so fast-paced, I want to do it, I want to get out there, I want to start performing, but it's like I can't even sing one role that's gonna be great for me until I'm at least 24 or stuff like that.

So it's like it sucks because it's, I guess, just being patient is hard.

But I think finally now that I'm sort of calming down here and coming into myself as a singer and an artist, I'm really starting to realize that it's actually not a bad thing.

When you're out there on a world stage, you want to be ready.

(lyrical music) (singing in foreign language) This whole year of doing all these productions online, I mean, it makes performing definitely a lot more stressful.

I'm a perfectionist, and this just kind of forced me to combat that head-on, and it actually helped me as a performer.

(jaunty music) (singing in foreign language)