Dann Coakwell, tenor, has performed as a soloist across Europe, Japan, and throughout the Americas, under renowned conductors such as Helmuth Rilling, Masaaki Suzuki, Monica Huggett, William Christie, María Guinand, Nicholas McGegan, Matthew Halls, and Craig Hella Johnson. He can be heard as a soloist on the Grammy-winning album The Sacred Spirit of Russia (Harmonia Mundi 2014), as well as in multiple other Grammy-nominated and critically acclaimed albums, recent examples of which include Mendelssohn & Bach: Matthäus-passion
(Analekta 2024), James Richman & Dallas Bach Society: Messiah (1741 Original Version) (Onyx Classics 2024), Bruhns: Cantatas and Organ Works, Vol. 1 (BIS 2022), led by Masaaki Suzuki, and Considering Matthew Shepard (Harmonia Mundi 2016).
Dr. Coakwell has performed Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully and David Geffen halls, as well as other prominent New York venues such as Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and Trinity Church Wall Street. He has appeared as a soloist with organizations such as Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart in Germany, Bach Collegium Japan, Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela, Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Canada, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco, Oregon Bach Festival, Portland Baroque Orchestra and Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Dallas Bach Society, Conspirare, and the symphony/philharmonic orchestras of Orlando, Charlotte, Nashville, Indianapolis, Quad Cities, and Kansas City.
Specializing in the Evangelist and tenor roles of J.S. Bach, Coakwell has performed numerous productions of all of Bach’s major oratorios — St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Christmas Oratorio, and Mass in B-Minor — as well as many of Bach’s cantatas. Also an enthusiast of Benjamin Britten, Coakwell has appeared in multiple productions of Britten’s Canticles, Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, and St. Nicolas. Among the most prominent solo and titular roles of other frequently performed composers include: Handel’s Samson, Judas Maccabaeus, Israel in Egypt, Alexander’s Feast, and Messiah; Haydn’s Creation; Mozart Requiem and Mass in c (Levin and Süssmayr completions); Mendelssohn’s Elijah; and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.
Dr. Coakwell served for more than two and a half decades as an educator at institutions that have included Yale, Cornell, Ithaca College, and Colgate University, and he has appeared around the US and internationally as a guest teaching artist. He holds an Artist Diploma in Vocal Performance from Yale University, a DMA and MM from Texas Tech University, and a BM from the University of Texas at Austin.
