Pleasing a crowd is something Derrick Young has become accustomed to doing. It started years ago when the Alcorn State University Student was growing up in St. Louis, Mo.

Little did he dream that one day he would be taking part in a historic pageant downriver in Natchez, let alone singing about the great Mississippi River that he has known all of his life.

Young, who sings solo as a baritone but bass in choral settings, has received rave reviews for his role singing “Ol’ Man River” in the Historic Natchez Pageant, a program presented Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights at City Auditorium during the first four weeks of Spring Pilgrimage.

“They tell me there are standing ovations,” Young said. “I can’t see them; I’m just looking into the lights.”

The grand applause is exciting, Young said. But it does not cause him to puff up too much. It is, after all, just a job, he said modestly.

“I don’t take too much from that. It’s something I want to do well, and I’m glad it has been a crowd pleaser,” he said.

The committee that plans and organizes the pageant each year has worked for several years to find meaningful ways for African Americans to participate.

Indeed, more than a dozen have taken part in roles they have enjoyed and that have enhanced the pageant, said Jan Kirkwood, a member of the pageant committee.

One goal was to find a singer to perform “Ol’ Man River” during the tableau in which the showboat makes an appearance at Natchez Under-the-Hill.

Young sings in the Alcorn State University Concert Choir, directed by David Blackburn. “Dr. Blackburn talked to Derrick first before we did,” Kirkwood said.

She described dress rehearsal when Young appeared, wondering what the pageant really was all about.

“But he walked out on that stage and began singing and bowled everyone over,” Kirkwood said.

“Not only does he have a very strong voice. He has a very strong stage presence. And he is just a delightful person,” she said.

Young came to Alcorn to take advantage of a scholarship offer. He will graduate in 2008 and perhaps go on to graduate school, he said.

He learned that he could sing at a very young age when he began singing in church choirs. He now is a member of the sanctuary choir at First Presbyterian Church in Natchez.

“As a teenager, I was encouraged to sing,” he said. “I really never wanted to sing solos but by the time I was 14, I couldn’t help it. I started singing seriously then.”

He is pleased both with his good education and with the good friendships he has built while in Natchez, Young said.

And he has enjoyed getting to know people through his work in the pageant. “Everyone has been very welcoming,” he said.

His first major introduction to stage performance in Natchez came with the Natchez Little Theatre’s production of “Big River” two years ago, in which he played and sang a leading role.

He also sings in “Songs of the South,” which will be performed April 9 through 14, after the pageant ends Saturday.

His concert choir instructor directs that program, and Young said Blackburn has been instrumental in helping him to grow in musical arts.

“When Dr. Blackburn asks us to do something, he expects us to prepare and be ready to do it,” Young said. “That has helped me to learn what it means to be professional.”