Naugatuck Man to Perform With Group on America's Got Talent

He grew up in Naugatuck honing his skills as a musician in the Davis Auditorium at Naugatuck High School. Tonight, Michael Doran will take his talents to a larger stage, perhaps the biggest of them all: Radio City Music Hall in New York City. 

Doran, 33, will perform live tonight on national TV with 3Penny Chorus and Orchestra, a volunteer chorus and orchestra based in Connecticut. The 52-member group has made it to the finals of America’s Got Talent and will show off their skills during the show, which airs at 9 p.m. on NBC.

“We are so excited,” Doran said. “This is just an amazing opportunity.”

Doran, who still lives in Naugatuck, works as an engineering technologist for Traveler’s Insurance in Hartford. After graduating from Naugatuck High School in 1997, Doran received a scholarship for voice at Central Connecticut State University, where he performed with University Singers, an elite vocal ensemble. He earned a degree in music history.

Currently, Doran sings professionally at Christ Church Choir in New Haven. He is the father of a 5-year-old girl, and he manages an adult baseball league, the Connecticut Hackers of Naugatuck.

Doran sings bass with 3Penny, which performs classical music with a twist. The group, which consists of musicians, teachers, pastors, doctors, etc., says on its Facebook page that its “love for music spans from Bach to Jepsen,” as in Carly Rae.

“We have a good time when we perform,” Doran said.

In fact, the group, which has performed on the Today Show, sang a Carly Rae Jepsen song, “Call me, maybe,” (yes, that one) to the amazement of the America's Got Talent judges during the audition. 

“You took it to the moon and back,” said judge Melanie Brown, a.k.a. Scary Spice. “I loved it, loved it, loved it!”

“This is a wonderfully uplifting act. We all had a great time,” said judge Howard Stern, who gave the performance a standing ovation after previously stating he doesn’t typically like choir music. 

To Doran, who is a big fan of Stern, the comment was thrilling.

“To see him give a standing ovation was amazing,” Doran said. “We're looking forward to New York; we can’t wait to perform at Radio City.”

From the 3Penny Chorus and Orchestra Facebook page:

The official voting polls will open AFTER the show, at 11 p.m. There are 3 ways to vote!

Toll free by phone: You can vote up to 10 times per phone line! Have a cell and a land-line? That's 20 TIMES! The number to call and vote will be displayed during the show, and we will post that number here when it is available!

Online up to 10 times here: http://www.nbc.com/americas-got-talent/vote/ 

And also on Twitter by using a hashtag (#) that will be available during the show! 

So that means it is possible to vote for us 21 TIMES per person! So, on Tuesday, make sure you grab all your phones and laptops and twitter accounts and vote as many times as you can! We need YOUR help to get to the next round so we can keep sharing our music! Thank you for all the support!