Alan Dunbar, Baritone

Biography

Lauded for his beautiful tone and his nuanced musical and textual interpretation, baritone Alan Dunbar is a versatile performer, at home in opera, oratorio, art song, and folk and popular music. Upcoming engagements include concert performances with the Santa Fe Symphony, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, and performances of two stage works by Benjamin Britten – Noye’s Fludde with Santa Fe Opera, and The Burning Fiery Furnace at the 2013 Ravinia Festival.

Recent performances and accolades include recital engagements at the Ravinia Festival Steans Institute, Alidoro in Madison Opera’s production of La Cenerentola, the popular Madison Opera in the Park concert, and the cover of the lead role of Prophet/King in the world premiere of Dark Sisters with Gotham Chamber Opera and Opera Company of Philadelphia. During the 2011 season Alan sang the Composer and the cover of Mr. Scattergood in Menotti's The Last Savage at Santa Fe Opera. He also covered Benoit/Alcindoro in Santa Fe’s production of La Bohème, and performed the role of Sweeney Todd in the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Scenes. In April 2011, Alan created the role of Webster Wordsworth in the Santa Fe Opera’s Spring Tour. During the 2010 Santa Fe Opera season he sang Yakuside in Madama Butterfly, as well as the cover of Clotaldo in the world premiere of Louis Spratlan’s Life is a Dream. In 2009 Alan made his European solo recital debut at the Oslo Grieg Festival, performed as bass soloist in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella under Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos at the Tanglewood Music Festival, and won the grand prize at the 2009 Grieg Festival in Winter Park, FL. Other appearances include the title role in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle at the 2008 Natchez Opera Festival, and Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin at the 2008 Tanglewood Music Festival with Renée Fleming and Peter Mattei. During his tenure at Indiana University, he sang principal roles in twelve IU Opera Theater productions, including Pandolfe in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Leporello (Don Giovanni), Dulcamara (L'elisir d'Amore), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Jules Goddard (A Wedding), Louis (A View from the Bridge), and St. Peter (Too Many Sopranos).

In addition to opera, Alan has extensive experience on the concert stage where he has performed the bass solos in Bach's St. John's Passion, Handel's Dettingen Te Deum and Messiah, the Mozart Requiem, Haydn's Missa in Tempore Belli, and Schumann's Requiem für Mignon. He has collaborated with choreographer/director Mark Morris in performances with the Mark Morris Dance Group, as well as in the Stravinsky chamber opera Renard.

Alan holds a BA in music theory and composition from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, and an MM and DM in vocal performance from Indiana University, where he studied with Costanza Cuccaro. From 1998 to 2004 Alan sang throughout North America and Europe with the Minnesota-based internationally acclaimed male chamber vocal ensemble Cantus. During his tenure with Cantus, he recorded ten albums and appeared as a soloist with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, at the Oregon Bach Festival, the 2002 World Choral Symposium, and the 2003 Polyphonia Festival in Normandy, France. He has also composed and arranged many pieces for the ensemble, including Alleluia Amen, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot), Bashana Haba'ah (Manor/Hirsh), and Stick to the Craythur (trad. Irish).