Ian Schipper, bass-baritone, explores the full spectrum of human musical expression through his performances of art songs, oratorios, and opera. A frequent soloist along the West Coast, he has performed the bass solos in numerous Bach and Handel oratorios and the masses of Haydn and Mozart. 

Schipper is an active choral singer, performing with ensembles across the United States, including the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, Seraphic Fire, Sterling Ensemble, Keiju Kollektiv, Long Beach Camerata Singers, Catalyst Chamber Choir, San Diego Symphony Festival Chorus, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Passionate about contemporary music, he co-founded St. Olaf College’s Spiritus Novus, a group dedicated to providing student composers with a space to experiment in the choral tradition. 

He has spent summers at the Oregon Bach Festival, the Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute at the Aspen Music Festival, the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, the Trentino Music Festival, and the Aquilon Music Festival. 

On the operatic stage, Schipper’s recent roles include Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Father Trulove in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, Polyphemus in Handel’s Acis and Galatea, and the originating role of Cardinal Rottweiler in Danielpour’s The Grand Hotel Tartarus. 

While traveling, he has performed in Italy, Austria, Germany, England, and Norway—where he once sang for King Harald V, who may or may not have fallen asleep halfway through. 

Schipper earned a master’s degree in vocal performance from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and a bachelor’s degree in music and economics, cum laude, from St. Olaf College. He has studied with Michael Dean at UCLA, Emery Stephens, Robert C. Smith, Wilfred Williams at St. Olaf College, and Michael Meraw at the New England Conservatory. Also an award-winning composer, he has been recognized by the Music Teachers National Association and has conducted research in economics and medical informatics. 

In addition to performing, Schipper works with arts organizations to clean data and optimize information systems. He has collaborated with Long Beach Opera on data-driven initiatives to make opera more accessible to the public. 

A native of Portland, Oregon, he enjoys hiking and backpacking throughout the Pacific Northwest. A lifelong Lord of the Rings fan, he has read The Hobbit at least 30 times and is often found carrying a pocket-sized edition of The Lord of the Rings. 

“Of the theme that I have declared to you, I will now that ye make in harmony together a Great Music… But I will sit and hearken, and be glad that through you great beauty has been wakened into song.” — Eru Ilúvatar, The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien. 

 

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A century old tradition of celebrating music and fine art in Lindsborg, Kansas. Join us in the choir, or in the audience.