Dr. Drake Danztler is excited to begin as Assistant Professor of Music at Oakland University. Dr. Dantzler is a frequent performer of opera and song across the United States. Recently, he appeared with Central City Opera as Mr. Erlansen in A Little Night Music and as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor. In 2008 Dr. Dantzler was seen as Ufficiale in Sarasota Opera’s Barbiere di Siviglia, as Camille from The Merry Widow with the Breckenridge Music Festival, and with Des Moines Metro Opera’s Apprentice Opera as Charlie in Mahagonny Songspiel. Dr. Dantzler has portrayed Ernesto in Don Pasquale with both Opera Iowa (2007) and The Living Opera (2006). In 2005, he made his Austin Lyric Opera debut as Ruiz in Il Trovatore and he appeared with the Astoria Music Festival as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni.
In operetta, Dr. Dantzler has been a leading tenor with the Ohio Light Opera, appearing as Nanki-Poo, a role he reprised with Western Plains Opera in 2007, Frederick in The Pirates of Penzance, and Cascada in The Merry Widow. Dr. Dantzler has been a member of many prestigious Young Artist Programs including Sarasota Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Central City Opera. Dr. Dantzler is an eager performer of contemporary music. While a student at the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Dantzler created the roles of Joshua Jennings in Holy Night and Justice Goodkin in The Scarecrow. He also portrayed the Chevalier in Dialogues of the Carmelites and Lensky in Eugene Onegin. His assignments at the Eastman School included Pirelli in Sweeney Todd and the Father Confessor in Dialogues.
Dr. Dantzler’s concert performances include the Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, with the Pontiac Oakland Symphony, and appearances with the Comic Opera Guild, the Breckenridge Music Festival, the Rochester Symphony and the Oakland University Chorale, among others. Dr. Dantzler holds degrees from Vanderbilt University, Eastman School of Music, and a Doctorate from the University of Texas, where his thesis was a discussion of how the interactions between Ralph Vaughan Williams, George Butterworth, and Cecil Sharp influenced common settings of A.E. Housman’s Shropshire Lad.