We interrupt this previously scheduled preview of the Grand Canyon Music Festival to bring you a real, homegrown, musical Horatio Alger story. (We will return to the subject of the festival, which opens Sept. 2, in next week’s column.)

In 1982, Richard Paul Fink’s janitorial job at First Christian Church in Phoenix included mopping the floor, cleaning the toilets, scouring the grease sink, and    preparing Fellowship Hall for various events. Once in a while, those events included a concert by the choir, in which Fink sang baritone. It was a life of hard work, punctuated now and then by the beauty of making music.

Today, Fink sings world premieres at the San Francisco Opera, performs at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, plays Alberich in productions of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle all over the globe, and generally jets hither and yon to bring his baritone voice to fans everywhere.

What happened in between? What transformed Fink from janitor to opera star? That, he answers in two words:

“Arlyn Brewster.”

Brewster, a modest woman with a passion for music, is a longtime Phoenix choral director and the founder/director of Opera‑tunity, a Phoenix organization that brings opera to schools. Back in the early ‘80s, Brewster directed the choir at First Christian Church, and when she heard Fink sing, she advised him to ditch the overalls for a tuxedo. Here was Met Opera material.

“Arlyn is the person who basically got me started singing grand opera,” Fink said last week.

“I attribute to her the start of my career.”

And quite a career it is. In 1984, as a result of Brewster’s encouragement and coaching, Fink started a three‑year stint with the Houston Opera Studio, a singer‑training program in Houston, Texas. He married and remained there, and quietly began to learn and perform baritone roles. Musical theater had been his first love, and the transition from “Man of La Mancha” to Wagner, of all things, turned out to be a natural step.

“Somehow, singing in a big, obnoxious voice got carried over into Wagner villains,” Fink muses. Most famously, Fink sings the villainous Alberich in the “Ring,” including recent performances at the Met, in Seattle, and in Toronto. It’s a role he summarizes as “the equivalent of Smeagol in ‘Lord of the Rings.’”

Fink will bring his talents back to Phoenix in a special Valley performance at 3 p.m. this Sunday, Aug. 20 at the Herberger Theatre. Tickets start at $28; call (602) 254‑7399 for more information.

Fink’s appearance is a tribute to Brewster, with all ticket proceeds going to support Opera‑tunity. Brewster fed Fink’s dream; now Fink is returning the favor.

Opera‑tunity is Brewster’s dream of a performing group intended to convince young people that opera is fun and accessible. It has brought bits of famous operas to schoolchildren in “every town and city in Arizona–except Prescott,” according to Brewster.

Its members–tenor Ken Goodenberger, soprano Jennifer Song and baritone Jeffrey Stevens–will join Fink and special guest, soprano Amber Wagner, for Sunday’s concert. The singers will perform ”Largo al factotum” from “Barber of Seville,” the duet from “Don Carlos,” the “Toreador Song” from “Carmen,” “Vissi d’Arte” from “Tosca,” “Nessun dorma” from “Turandot” along with other excerpts from operas and a few musicals, too.

To fit the demands of his schedule, Fink will fly in the morning of the concert, then fly out that evening. It’s barely enough time to go over the music and sing the concert, but one assumes Fink will also take some time to visit Betty Westenfelder of Phoenix–the singer’s mother, who still lives here.

Fink’s career is yet another example of the high level of talent produced in Phoenix. The potential for more is virtually limitless as the city grows, provided (and this is the big “if”), we recognize it.