Matheys back on zoo stage

Dick Mathey (left) and his son, Shawn. (Photo: J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune)

Shawn Mathey has starred in operas around the world.
That career though started close to home growing up on South Grove Street in Bowling Green with the guidance of his chorale director father Richard Mathey.
And what proved to be an important breakthrough happened at the supper table.
His father, an operatic tenor was a favorite of Sam Szor, who conducted the Toledo Concert band at its weekly concerts at the Toledo Zoo.
When he called in the summer of 1991 to see if Richard Mathey was available to sing, the elder Mathey felt it would be old hat to do yet another concert. He suggested that his son Shawn, then in his 20s, join him.
Can he sing? Szor asked.
So the elder Mathey handed the phone to his son, who on cue serenaded the conductor.
The duo was booked, and they were a hit. When Shawn Mathey sang "Nessun Dorma," his father said, "The place came unglued."