New Bigfork resident has a passion for singing

Opera singer Lawrence Munday is ready for the easy life. After several visits to the Flathead Valley Munday decided it was time to move. He packed up and drove from New York to Bigfork, to take up residence in a home along the Swan River.

“When I come here, I feel like I come home,” Munday said. “I am very inspired when I come here, I can relax and unwind.”

Munday’s younger years were exciting. Filled with celebrity encounters, and hours on stage gifting audiences with his powerful tenor voice.

Munday was born in Whistable, Kent, England and began singing as early as he can remember.

His father had seven brothers, all with great voices, and loved listening to Mario Lanza, a famous tenor from the 1950s. When the other boys his age would be outside playing, Munday was inside singing along to Lanza.

Though he always loved singing, Munday’s voice really didn’t begin to develop until he was in his early teens. He worked with a vocal coach, and at 17, won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied for four years.

He then went on to sing at the Royal Academy Opera in London, The Opera Eire in Dublin, Ireland, the Eltham Theater in London, the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the Royal Festival Hall in London and the National Lyric Opera in Washington D.C. He travelled to Italy to sing, a place he still returns to, and where he will spend the summer.

Though Munday has performed many places, it is a 1,000 year-old castle in Tuscany, Italy, that is his favorite. The castle looks across the vista of the valley and to the mountains. A stage set up in front of the castle provides acoustics. And the setting in Italy, with the history and the people, Munday said makes for an amazing experience.

“There are some things you can’t really explain,” he said. “I’m a passionate person, especially about music. When I’m in that environment I’m more fired up than anything else.”

Singing is very much a passion for Munday, who said the way singing makes him feel is why he does it. 

“It’s very physical, but very soulful at the same time,” he said. “I feel when singing, the power of my body comes into my singing. It’s a very physically uplifting experience. You just have this feeling of nature and god and your soul all coordinated. It makes me feel like king of the world or something.”

And though he is now semi-retired, he can’t imagine a life where he doesn’t sing.

“I’ll probably drop dead singing,” he said. “If I bring smiles to people’s faces it makes me feel like it’s something I should be doing all the time.”

The highlight, Munday said, of his singing career was the chance to study under his boyhood idol Franco Corelli, an Italian tenor who was well known in the operatic world between 1950 and 1970.

Though Corelli was a private man Munday managed to used some connections to gain a chance to meet with his idol. Munday said the first time they met in person, Corelli, who couldn’t play the piano, hit one note and told Munday to start singing. He did, and studied under Corelli for six months. “It was a very exciting experience,” he said.

Munday has memorized over 60 operas and is sow working to perfect Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello, a four act opera based on Shakespeare’s Othello.

“It’s the pinnacle of a tenor’s career to sing this role,” Munday said.

The piece requires a heavy Italian tenor voice, which Munday thinks he has.

And though he’s semi-retired he feels he’s singing better than ever.

“There’s a lot more involved in singing than having a great voice,” he said. “If you have a great voice and you have the heart and passion, you’re gold.”

Though singing is his main passion, Munday has tried his hand at other things, and worked other jobs that led to special experiences.

In his 20s, after graduating from the Royal Academy of Music Munday was into boxing. It was at that time Muhammad Ali visited his gym, and Munday, among others, got to joke around and practice for a bit with the boxing legend.

Years later in New York City Munday was working at a high-end hotel, where he met many celebrities, and Munday met Ali again. He reminded Ali of the time he was in London and by the time the conversation ended an old Ali was playfully sparring with Munday once again.

“I’ve had an interesting life, really,” Munday said. But now he’s ready for things to quiet down for a while and to take it easy in Bigfork.

“I’ve had enough excitement,” he said.

Munday came upon Bigfork after visiting a friend in Missoula. He drove around the whole area and made some friends in Bigfork. He visited them over the last few years and decided Bigfork was a place he wanted to be.

“I got lucky and got this beautiful place,” he said. “There’s a lot of artistic people and entertainment people. I can’t think of a more beautiful place. I’m pretty much sold on the west now.”

Munday will be doing some free performances in Bigfork.

He will be featured Saturday, Feb 28, at Rising Mountains Assisted Living at 1 p.m. as part of their “Getting to Know You” series. He will also sing April 10, at Bethany Lutheran.