DANVERS -- The toughest performance of Fred C. VanNess's career wasn't on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, or touring New England with his one-man show "When I Think of Home . . ." but singing the Our Father at his grandfather's funeral Mass.

"It was one of those moments where I had to really concentrate on the music," VanNess said. "I'm not one of those people that can cry and sing at the same time. I cannot do it."

He had to keep himself grounded and not get overwhelmed by the emotion of the music or the moment. He has to do that every time he sings, whether he is at Mass or on the opera stage. The funerals are always the hardest and the most rewarding. He's gotten cards from families telling him how much his music meant to them.

"Whether you know them or you don't know them, it's very tough, because the family is oftentimes right in the front row," he said. "So, what I try to do, I go into it very, very prayerful, and I try to hopefully have my voice be some sort of comfort for them during their time of bereavement."

VanNess has been a cantor at his home parish of St. Mary of the Annunciation in Danvers for 10 years. At the same time, he has sung at the Met and the Boston Lyric Opera.

"We like having a celebrity" singing at Mass, joked Father Michael Doyle, pastor of St. Mary's.

VanNess also sings customized "operagram" greetings that people can send their loved ones. Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley called him one of "Boston's three Black Catholic tenors," along with Byron Watree and Meyer Chambers.

"I was given this gift for a reason, and hopefully I'm doing all I can to share my gift with the world, whether that's either in church or on the operatic stage or if I give a concert," VanNess said.

At Mass, he doesn't think of himself as a performer or an entertainer. He's not playing a character; he's just Fred.

"I'm coming to church fully as me, as who I am," he said.

He currently divides his time between Boston and New York, where he's in rehearsals for the Met's productions of "Porgy and Bess" and "Andrea Chenier." He is the understudy for Peter the honeyman and Nelson in Gershwin's iconic opera. He said that time management and staying hydrated keep him from getting too stressed. He also says a prayer before every performance. It keeps him close to God when he's on stage, and "shuts out the noise" of New York.

VanNess was born in Houston and split his childhood between there and Kinder, Louisiana, a small town of about 2,000 people. In Texas, he attended a Baptist church, but when he settled in Louisiana at age 10, his "extremely Catholic" grandmother made sure he received First Communion. He was the oldest and tallest communicant in his group. He has sung in Protestant churches, "but there's something about the Catholic Mass" that has always attracted him.

"I like the ritualistic aspect of it," he said. "It's what I grew up with."

His faith was affirmed during confirmation classes in high school.

"I thoroughly enjoyed coming and participating in the Mass," he said.

His family home was deep in the country, five miles from the nearest gas station. He had no formal vocal training. Classical music was something that only existed in movies and TV commercials. That changed when he was studying communications at McNeese State University in Louisiana, and a friend invited him to watch her voice class.

"I fell in love with it," he said.

He signed up for as many music electives as he could. His teacher told him he had "a natural, classical" voice, and encouraged him to change his major to music.

"And so I said 'Sure, why not?'" he recalled. "Because when you're 19, you're like 'Sure, I'll sing opera, why not?'"

He attended a production of Puccini's "Suor Angelica," a tearjerker about a 17th-century nun and her illegitimate son. The performance was his artistic confirmation.

"I remember thinking 'Oh, that's what I want to do,' he said. "I want to tell those types of stories on stage. I want to make people feel the way that I'm feeling in the audience right now, listening to this gorgeous music and having this visceral, emotional response to it."

He hopes that his work as a cantor has the same effect.

"I think music is a great, great communicator," he said, adding: "In musicals, or in operas, it's like when you have so much emotion built up that merely speaking the words can't convey them across, music can oftentimes help get that emotion or that idea across."

VanNess got a master's degree in music from LSU in 2009. In his final recital, he sang a series of spirituals dedicated to his mother, who died when he was still a student at McNeese. She never got to see him sing on stage, but "she didn't bat an eye" when her son told her he wanted to become a singer.

"I always feel the presence of my mom, and I know that she is always, always watching over me," he said.

He then studied for a graduate degree in opera at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge. Going from the Deep South to New England "was quite the culture shock," he recalled. He'd never experienced snow before he was a student at Longy. When he first heard someone say they had to shovel their car, he didn't know what they meant. Arriving without proper clothes, he had to buy a new coat and shoes to withstand the winter. Navigating the MBTA was also a challenge.

He began singing with the Boston Lyric Opera in 2011. He was an understudy for the role of Omar, in the opera of the same name by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, at its New England premiere in 2023. His first time on the Met stage was in 2023, when he was part of the chorus in "Malcom X."

"You dream about it, but then if you have the opportunity to actually do it, it felt surreal, and sometimes it still feels a little surreal that I have the opportunity to step on that stage and sing with some of the world's best musicians, either on stage or in the pit."

He expects to retire from opera someday because "the human body is the human body," but hopes to remain as a cantor for a long time after that. In his time at St. Mary's, he has seen children in the parish grow up and start their own families.

"I try to remain humble, and I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to help lead the congregation in song," he said.

He can't help but laugh when he hears people say that they can't sing or that nobody would want to listen to them.

"Everybody should be able to use their voice in whatever way they can," he said.