Ian Schipper

Ian Schipper is a bass-baritone who enjoys exploring the full range of emotions by performing a wide variety of art songs, oratorios, and operas.  Some of his favorite works are those of German Romantic, particularly those by Brahms and Richard Strauss, Handelian opera and oratorio, and Verdi operas.  He was recently featured as the Bass Soloist for Bach’s St. John Passion, Christ lag in Todes Banden, and Magnificat with the St. Olaf Choral Ensembles. In the choral world, he has served as a staff singer at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland and All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills. He sings Bass with a number of choral groups, both in the Portland and Los Angeles areas.  Ian’s summers have included studying at the Aspen Summer Music Festival, the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria, and the Oregon Bach Festival Stangeland Youth Choral Academy. He recently placed 3rd in the MTNA National Young Artist Voice competition.  He also enjoys performing new compositions, as a founding member of St Olaf College’s composers’ choir, which provides a space for student composers to have their works performed and experiment within the choral style.

Ian earned a Masters Degree in Vocal Performance from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and a Bachelor degree in Music and Economics cum Laude at St. Olaf College, He has studied voice with Michael Dean of UCLA,  Emery Stephens, Robert C. Smith and Wilfred Williams of St. Olaf College, and Michael Meraw of the New England Conservatory. He is also an award-winning composer with Music Teachers National Association and an active researcher in the fields of Economics and Medical Informatics.  Ian hails from Portland, Oregon, and enjoys hiking and backpacking around the Pacific Northwest.  He is also a lifelong Tolkien fan, having read The Hobbit at least 30 times, and he can frequently be found carrying a “pocket version” of the Lord of the Rings.  He’s particularly fond of the creation myth in The Silmarillion, detailing the creation of the world as though it were a  composition of a new piece of music, with every being adding its own melody to the collective song.  If that’s not an apt description of the world, he’s not sure what is.