William Diana: Born to Sing
by Eleanor Warrington
“The dunes are
alive with the sound
of music,” proclaimed
Elwin G. Greening
and Bob Kaser, in
“Quality of Life”
written for The NewsDispatch. The rich
musical milieu of this
city fostered many
young talents, including William Diana,
whose illustrious concert and opera career
for over 30 years
came to a close with
William Diana at the peak
his recent passing.
of his career. (Photo by
William Phillip
Jennifer Girard, with permission)
Roland Diana was
born in 1945 in Michigan City to Phillip and Virginia
Diana. “Billy” lived with his siblings, “Sissy” and
“Bobby,” on Highway 20 just a mile east of Franklin.
His parents soon noticed his interest in music and at
age six Santa Claus brought him an accordion. Perhaps his Italian father who loved polka music hoped
he’d become another Lawrence Welk!
After the family acquired a piano, Bill took lessons from a neighborhood teacher, Dot Treshansky.
Excelling at the keyboard with his long slender fingers, he entered numerous competitions. Frances
Schuster, his sister, recollects, “Bill really held
us together as a family
because it was nothing
for us on a Sunday to
put on our best dress
and go to a music recital
and sit there for hours
and listen to everybody
play, but the reason we
were there was to hear
my brother Bill play,
who would memorize
these beautiful pieces
and play them magnifiA budding musician at 12.
cently.”
(Thanks to Marc A. Rose
At Coolspring Elefor digital restoration.)
mentary School, his
first music teacher, Carol Rose-Lewis, discovered his
musical aptitude in a rhythm and pitch test and began
teaching him the viola. Bill played in several orchestras conducted by Mrs. Rose. Louis Timberlake, Elston High School music teacher, remembers Bill as a
very fine viola player in orchestra, often sitting first
chair in the pit for the school musicals. Bill also
played in the Michigan City Symphony Orchestra under Palmer Myran.
From the age of five, Bill had been singing solos
at the First United Methodist Church on 7th Street.
During a Christmas pageant as a singing angel, he
heard a lady exclaim, “It’s too bad Billy’s voice
broke!” Fearing he’d lost his voice, he focused more
on the viola and piano. But later, he found his voice
again and played leads
in Dunes Summer Theater musicals such as
Freddie in My Fair Lady, Woody in Finian’s
Rainbow, and Paul in
Carnival.
Lee Behr
recalls Bill performing
at the Dunes along with
her son, “We were so
happy to have Bill in
our productions.
He
was a lovely young
man, so good-looking.
He had a wonderful
singing voice and was
very convincing in his
roles.”
1964 graduate from
Bill left Michigan
Elston High School
City with a piano schol(Elstonian yearbook)
arship to Chicago Musical College at Roosevelt University and later to American Conservatory of Music. Before long, his exquisite baritone voice emerged as his supreme talent. Bill
started singing professionally with the Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Grant Park Chorus, frequently
as a soloist. Soon he was asked to sing all over, from
the Ravinia Festival to Orchestra Hall, on WFMT live
broadcasts, and with major symphony orchestras.
Going abroad in 1974, Bill performed in West
Germany at the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater for a
number of leading roles sung in German. Following,
he toured with the New York City Opera and the Joffrey Ballet. After his return to Chicago, he was in
much demand for solos with the Rockefeller Chapel
Oratorio Festival, the Apollo Chorus, Music of the
Baroque, St. Louis Bach Society and many others.
Opera houses such as The Opera Factory, Chicago
Opera Theater, Lincoln Opera, Boise Opera, and the
Hawaii Opera Theater booked him for major roles. Bill
also enjoyed singing with the cabaret groups, “The
Opera-Tunists” and “4 to Go.” If that weren’t enough,
the Berman & Diana Vocal Duo sang for over 20 years
at community organizations, celebrations, churches
and temples with a wide variety of music including
pop, musical theater, jazz and opera.
Diana returned frequently to perform in
his home state of Indiana. He had major roles
with the Northwest Indiana Opera Theater
and the Notre Dame
University Opera Theater. Mary Utley, music
writer for the South
Bend Tribune at the
time, described a 1980
concert with the La
Porte County Symphony Orchestra, “William
Diana, whom South
Eileen Berman joined Bill for the Bend music lovers will
remember for his stunBerman & Diana Vocal Duo.
(Photo by Jennifer Girard,
ning performance of
with permission)
Marcello
in
Notre
Dame’s La Boheme, charmed his audience from the
moment he set foot on stage. There is confidence and
bravado in his every move and to a delighted audience
he defined the baritone as having ‘much of the glamour of the tenor and the brains of the bass.’ All of that
would become a hollow letdown if the voice didn’t
live up to the billing, but his is full, rich and resonant,
in good control, and enjoys the full range that takes it
from the depths of dramatic Verdi to the richness of
romantic Mozart. The Don Giovanni ‘Serenade’ accompanied by conductor Adrian Bryttan on the ‘banjolin’ was delightful. In that ‘most difficult of all baritone arias,’ he led
Rossini’s ‘Figaro’
through the devilish
musical maze with
strength, ease and
comic class.”
Bill’s
agent,
Blanche Artis Lewis
of Ovation! Management, was grooming
him for an audition at
the
Metropolitan
Opera when tragically, he contracted a
long-term
illness
which cut short his
brilliant career. FacDonna Sadlicki and William Diana
ing this final stage of
star in
his life courageously,
Adios a la Bohemia, 1990,
a Zarzuela for
he renewed his faith
The
Opera Factory.
in God, declaring, “I (By Jennifer Girard,
with permission)
have nothing to fear,
not even death itself. Jesus is at my side. I know that
whatever happens, heaven is going to be glorious.” William entered heaven at age 59 on December 28, 2004. But
that didn’t stop his singing. As his sister eulogized at the
memorial service, “My brother Bill was always a takecharge person, and I can only envision Bill is up there orchestrating a performance because he would not sit back
and wait to be invited. And
the other thing that I envision is my mother and father are in the audience listening to him.”
Bill’s sister, Frances,
and her husband, Larry
Schuster, live in Cooper
City, Florida, and have
three grown children, Cari
Evans, Richard Evans,
and Lisa and Mark Lye
with their new baby, Lucas. Bill’s brother, Robert, operates Diana’s Auto The consummate artist.
(Photo by Jennifer Giirard)
Repair and U-Haul on
Highway 12 in the Pines.
Contributions Sought for Presentation
William’s solos are available on five CD’s which,
along with an opera video and a pictorial biography,
will be presented to the Michigan City Public Library
in January 2006. A memorial website will be completed in early 2006, www.WilliamDiana.com. Please
contribute memories or information about Mr. Diana
to respond@williamdiana.com. Videos of his memorial service may also be requested by e-mail.