About Our Faculty
Music Department

About Dr. Wesley Dunnagan

A native of Wabash, Indiana, tenor Wesley Dunnagan has been fortunate to perform across the United States and abroad. A specialist in oratorio and concert repertoire, he has been praised for his “unfailing eloquence” as the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. He has also been heard in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Notre Dame Vocale and baritone Nathan Gunn in the title role, tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah, La resurrezione, and Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore, Coronation Mass, and Große Messe, Haydn’s Nelsonmesse, Beethoven’s Mass in C, and Copland’s The Tender Land Opera Suite.

Recently, he has appeared with Madison’s new monthly series Just Bach, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir (Bach’s Christmas Oratorio), Madison Bach Musicians (St. John Passion, Dido and Aeneas), the University of Wisconsin’s annual Schubertiade, South Bend Lyric Opera, South Bend Symphony, Kettle Moraine Symphony, Schola Cantorum in Mountain View, California, and Bach Collegium in Fort Wayne, Indiana. His opera roles include Hansel and Gretel (the Witch), Lucia di Lammermoor (Arturo), Falstaff (Dr. Caius), Così fan tutte (Ferrando), Der Schauspieldirektor (Vogelsang), Gianni Schicchi (Rinuccio), Henry Cowell’s The Commission (Jonathan), and the world premiere of Giancarlo Aquilanti’s First Night at the Opera (Jonathan). A passionate recitalist, he has presented diverse art song repertoire and chamber music from Medieval to contemporary works. Wesley received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice and Opera at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was also a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellow in Italian. He holds a Bachelor of the Arts with Distinction in German Studies and Music from Stanford University and a Master of Sacred Music from the University of Notre Dame. In addition, he spent a year as a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Scholar at the Berlin University of the Arts, where he studied under Berliner Kammersänger Peter Maus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He teaches courses in Voice and Music History at Fort Lewis College.