World-renowned opera star Simon Estes has perform­ed for queens and popes, U.S. presidents and Hollywood celebrities. He’s sung in famous opera houses around the globe and danced with Nelson Mandela at the World Cup ceremonies in South Africa.

Now Estes’ bass-baritone voice is echoing from within small-town school auditoriums and theaters across Iowa, where he is greeted with standing ovations by enthusiastic local music-lovers.

For the past three years, Estes has performed with high school choirs in dozens of rural Iowa communities as part of his “Roots and Wings” concert series, a fund-raiser for the Simon Estes Foundation scholarship program.
 
Estes’ goal is to perform in all 99 counties in Iowa and to award college scholarships in every one of those counties. So far, Estes has traveled to 37 counties, and his...