About Alan

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Bass-baritone Alan Dunbar is a versatile performer, lauded for his beautiful tone and his nuanced musical and textual interpretation. Spanning music from the 17thto 21st centuries, his repertoire includes art song, opera, concert works, folk, jazz, and popular music. 

Performances include world premieres of solo vocal works by Libby Larsen, Elliot Carter, Nico Muhly, and Justin Merritt. He has been praised for his work as bass soloist in Bach’s passions and cantatas with Voices of Ascension, Bach Society of Minnesota, Bach Roots Festival, and Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra. Alan’s work on the opera stage includes numerous principal roles with Madison Opera (Magic Flute, Candide, Salome, Fellow Travelers, La Bohème, Barber of Seville, Dead Man Walking, She Loves Me); the title role of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde at Santa Fe Opera; Prophet/King in Dark Sisters (Nico Muhly) with Gotham Chamber Opera and Opera Philadelphia; Bluebeard’s Castle with Natchez Opera; and as Zaretsky in Eugene Oneginat the Tanglewood Music Festival with Renée Fleming and Peter Mattei. He has also collaborated with choreographer/director Mark Morris in performances with the Mark Morris Dance Group, as well as in the Stravinsky chamber opera Renard.

In addition to large-scale works with orchestra, Alan has performed countless solo recitals across the US, and made his European recital debut at the Oslo Grieg Festival in Oslo, Norway. He was a founding member of the Minnesota-based internationally acclaimed chamber vocal ensemble Cantus, with whom 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 Polyphonia Festival in Normandy, France. Alan holds a BA in music theory and composition from St. Olaf College, and an MM and DM in vocal performance from Indiana University. He currently serves as Associate Professor of Voice at Winona State University.