After graduating, he returned to St. Louis where he worked as a social worker in the
Pruitt–Igoe projects. Later he was certified as a teacher and taught elementary school, then high school for several years. He served in the Navy from 1956 to 1959 aboard on the
USS Conflict. During this time, he sang in the Navy Blue Jackets. Holmes went with a friend to a rehearsal of the American opera
The Crucible. There he met accompanist and director Dorothy Zeigler, who was also the first trombonist for the
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Dorothy introduced Holmes to
Boris Goldovsky, who ran the opera workshop in Wheeling, West Virginia. Godofsky offered Holmes a leading role in his yearly opera workshop for young musicians. After the clinic, Holmes was offered a scholarship and attended
University of Indiana in Bloomington. He began performing with the New York
Metropolitan Opera National Touring Company soon after completing his graduate education. Holmes was an
artist-in-residence at
Tougaloo College in Mississippi and the Music Faculty at
University of Miami. In 1970, Holmes performed with
Plácido Domingo in
Aida in the
Vienna State Opera. Holmes sang with the
New York City Opera, and in 1971 he played the lead role of Ukamba written for him by
Gian Carlo Menotti, in the world premier of
The Most Important Man. His singing attracted acclaim from critics, including Alan Rush of
New York magazine in 1971, and when he sang under permanent contract with the
Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf,
Time magazine reported his singing as "superb". Dieter Bross of
Style Magazine, Germany, in 1981 declared him to be the best black baritone at that time. Holmes was also in demand as a concert singer. In March 1990, Holmes was awarded the title
Kammersänger at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. ==References==