Most engineers would be more inclined to build a stage. But Michael Cochrane is happiest when he's performing on one. Cochrane, a transportation engineer with both master's ('97) and Ph.D. ('01) degrees in engineering management from Old Dominion, juxtaposes his analytical, left-brained profession with a considerable talent for singing and a passion for performing.

"I like the whole integration of engineering and the arts," he said. "I like being the bridge between the two sides."

An engineer since 1989 with the Military Traffic Management Command Transportation Engineering Agency in Newport News, Cochrane recalls music being an early and strong influence. His father, an Episcopalian bishop, was an original member of the Grammy Award-winning Robert Shaw Chorale in the 1940s. Cochrane grew up singing in church choirs and playing trumpet in contests and school recitals.

When he went to college, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point didn't offer a music major, so he sang in the glee club. "Once I found my voice, I left the trumpet behind," said Cochrane, who sings baritone.

He began performing in high school musicals, which included a role as President Wintergreen in "Of Thee I Sing." A stint in Germany while he was in the Army yielded a role as Jesus in a community theater production of "Godspell" and a performance with the Heidelberg Opera.

Locally, Cochrane has sung with the Virginia Chorale and the Virginia Symphony Chorus, as well as the Virginia Opera Chorus in "Rigoletto," "Barber of Seville" and "Flying Dutchman."

It was, in fact, Cochrane's work with the Virginia Chorale that landed him one of his biggest roles to date - performing with '60s pop sensation Petula Clark at Chrysler Hall for the finale of the Virginia Arts Festival in May. The performance will air nationwide on PBS in December.

Cochrane, who is a mentor for the chorale's Young Singers Project, a chorus of high school students from Hampton Roads, was asked by chorale director Bob Shoup if he would be willing to shave his beard and join some of the teens on stage with Clark.

"I guess I don't look 44, so he thought he could get away with it," Cochrane said. "The YSP group was in five of the numbers, I think. [Clark] brought her own backup singers, but we both sang and danced. I got to be up front with her on a couple of the numbers."

Cochrane keeps close ties with his alma mater, performing for the annual Composers Symposium and serving as an adjunct faculty member in engineering. Eventually, he'd like to teach full time.

His dream, though, is to make a recording of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett standards as part of a quartet.

"I should have been born when my dad was because he was a young man when there were big bands fronted by singers. I love that kind of music."

- Jennifer Mullen