Dann Coakwell, tenor, has been praised as a “vivid storyteller” (The New York Times), with “a gorgeous lyric tenor that could threaten or caress on the turn of a dime” (Dallas Morning News). Coakwell can be heard as a soloist on the Grammy-winning The Sacred Spirit of Russia (2014), the two Grammy-nominated albums Considering Matthew Shephard by composer/director Craig Hella Johnson (2016), which peaked at number three on the Billboard Classical chart, and Conspirare: A Company of Voices (2009). All three collaborations joined Conspirare on Harmonia Mundi records. Coakwell also appeared on the 2016 Naxos release of composer Mohammed Fairouz’s Zabur (role: Jibreel), with the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir and Orchestra.

He has performed as a soloist internationally under additional such acclaimed conductors as Helmuth Rilling, Masaaki Suzuki, William Christie, María Guinand, Nicholas McGegan, Matthew Halls, Julian Wachner, and the late John Scott. Coakwell has performed at Carnegie Hall (Stern/Perelman and Zankel stages) and Lincoln Center (Alice Tully and David Geffen/Avery Fisher halls), as well as Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and Trinity Church Wall Street, in New York. He has appeared as a soloist with organizations such as Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart in Germany, Bach Collegium Japan (across Europe, Mexico, and Japan), Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco, Oregon Bach Festival, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, as well as the Charlotte, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Nashville, and Quad City symphony orchestras. He has also shared the solo stage with such celebrated singers as Thomas Quasthoff, Rufus Müller, Nicholas Phan, and Robin Blaze.

Specializing in the Evangelist and tenor roles of J.S. Bach, Coakwell frequently performs the composer’s major oratorios — St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Christmas Oratorio, and Mass in B-Minor — as well as many of Bach’s cantatas. An enthusiast of Benjamin Britten, Coakwell has appeared in several productions of Britten’s Canticles, Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, and St. Nicolas. Other prominent solo and titular roles performed also include: Rameau’s Pigmalion; Handel’s Samson, Judas Maccabaeus, Israel in Egypt, Alexander’s Feast, and Messiah; Haydn’s Creation and Missa in Angustiis; Mozart’s Requiem (Levin, Beyer, and Süssmayr completions) and Mass in c (original incomplete work and Levin completion); Mendelssohn’s Elijah; and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

Dr. Coakwell also serves as Assistant Professor of Voice at Ithaca College, and has made guest teaching artist residencies at institutions such as Yale University, El Teatro Teresa Carreño in Venezuela, University of Missouri Kansas City, Dartmouth College, Texas State University, and University of Idaho. He holds an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degree from Texas Tech University, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Texas at Austin.

Biography © 2018 Dann Coakwell.