Singer’s serenade hits sour note with neighbors

NAHANT – The curtain was drawn a little too early for professional singer Donald Wilkinson’s liking at his Fourth of July neighborhood sing-along, when Nahant police asked him to cut the music and take it inside.Wilkinson, a classical baritone who has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and all over the world, said he was leading a chorus of about 20 neighborhood children with his electric piano in his neighbor’s yard on Irving Way at 11:30 p.m. Three police cruisers pulled up and officers politely asked for him to stop singing.”Some disgruntled neighbors called,” said Wilkinson on Monday. “I just couldn’t get over it.”According to the Nahant Police log, police received a complaint from an unknown caller at Irving Way at 11:18 p.m. Thursday for “several individuals causing a disturbance in that area.”Sergeant Stephen Shultz said the police received a normal amount of noise complaints for a holiday weekend between fireworks and parties, with several coming from Irving Way.”After a certain amount of time, people get fed up with it,” Shultz said of the Independence Day revelry.Wilkinson, who had been singing since 6 p.m., said he was shocked someone complained about his music when there were still fireworks going off in the neighborhood.”I can’t believe that they stopped me from singing,” he said.Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].