Timothy Miller received his first powerful taste of opera while a teenager growing up in Augusta. He had tagged along as his mom and lots of other local folk packed inside the Paine College auditorium to hear Jessye Norman. The internationally acclaimed opera singer had returned home to Augusta for a riveting performance.

“It was just kind of an ‘Oh my God, how can a human being make this kind of a sound?’” Miller recalls of hearing Norman for the first time some 20 years ago. “To not be using a microphone and just fill up a room with just your voice, it was pretty amazing.”

That moment stuck with Miller as he gradually shifted from singing gospel at the church his dad pastored to exercising his vocal range as a tenor singing opera. At 33, he has made a name for himself in the industry and shares his gift with students, some hoping for the same kind of success. Miller is an adjunct vocal instructor at his alma mater Morehouse and at Georgia Perimeter College.

“What I love about Tim as a teacher is he’s the kind of person who’s very passionate about understanding how the voice works,” says Brian Bonin, GPC Vocal Music Program coordinator and professor. “When he’s working with students, you can really see that passion.”

Miller has performed internationally and also domestically at Gov. Nathan Deal’s two inaugurations and at the funeral for Coretta Scott King, but it’s his foray into sports that perhaps has garnered the most attention.

Five years ago, clad in a tuxedo, he walked onto the Atlanta Braves baseball field at the bottom of the 7th inning and delivered a power-packed operatic version of “God Bless America.” He has been doing that ever since—at each home game that falls on a Sunday or a holiday.

This patriotic nod to American ideals married baseball just after the 9/11 tragedy when the Yankees thought it would be a good idea to include the song as part of its game. Miller became the voice for the Braves after beating out seven other singers recommended by the Atlanta Opera.

Baseball aficionados will get a double dose of Miller this weekend, as he sings “God Bless America” during Saturday’s Fourth of July home game and then again on Sunday, July 5.

“It’s very demanding; it takes a great deal of concentration and focus,” Miller says of the reasons he enjoys singing opera.”

He and his wife Iuyana have two small children and met while singing in the chorus at Paine College, where Miller attended for a year before heading to Morehouse.

“She says that she gave [singing] up when she met me,” he laughs. “She let me take over the singing duties.”

His advice to Georgia Perimeter students or anyone else interested in music as a career is to go for it.

“This really applies to someone wanting to become an opera singer or a surgeon … if you have a passion for something and you’re lucky enough to find out what that passion is, then you have to pursue it with all of your being.”