Faculty - Dr. William Koehler

Name William Koehler Rank Instructor Degrees B.Mus., University of Wisconsin-Superior; M.A., U Wisconsin-Superior; M.Mus., University of Kentucky; D.M.A., University of Minnesota. Teaching Interests vocal performance and pedagogy Office Location Performing Arts Center Office Phone 301-687-4116 Fax 301-687-4784 E-mail wdkoehler@gmail.com

Dr. William Koehler is an alumnus of UW-Superior and a native of Weyerhaeuser, WI.  He received both a Bachelor of Music Degree with an emphasis in musical theatre and a Master of Arts Degree in speech/theatre from UWS.  Additionally, he was granted his Master of Music Degree in vocal performance from the University of Kentucky where he studied with Everett McCorvey and his Doctoral of Musical Arts Degree in vocal performance from the University of Minnesota where he studied with John DeHaan.

Currently an active performer both on the opera stage and in concert, Dr. Koehler’s most recent performances were Cadmus/Somnus in Handel’s Semele, a production of Duluth’s Lyric Opera of the North, and the Bass soloist for Messiah at West Virginia University.  He was also recently seen in performance as Bottom in Britten’s Midsummer Nights Dream also produced by LOON; Benoit/Alcindoro in La Bohéme seen at the DECC, produced by UMD and the University of Minnesota.  Other performances include Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro and the Commendatore in Don Giovanni; the Wolf in the Three Little Pigs, a children’s opera outreach program sponsored by the  Lexington Opera Society in Lexington, KY; Melchoir in Amahl and the Night Visitors and the title role for the Don Pasquale touring cast both produced by the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre; Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and Rocco in Fidelio, both at Northland Opera Theatre Experience in Duluth, MN; and as a guest artist, Papageno in the Magic Flute at Transylvania University; Don Alfonso in Così Fan Tutte at Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University.

As a concert soloist, in addition to Messiah at WVU, Dr. Koehler has sung the title role of the oratorio, Elijah, at the University of Minnesota, Morris.  He has been a soloist in the Brahms Requiem at Indiana University Southeast; Messiah at Campbellsville University, Kentucky; Messiah for the Lexington Opera Society in Lexington, Kentucky; and a soloist for the New Music Festival at Indiana University Southeast.  He will sing the bass solo in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at WVU in the spring of 2010.

Besides his solo work, Dr. Koehler sings with the the American Spiritual Ensemble, a group that performs all over the world and whose mission is to keep the American Negro Spiritual alive and vibrant.  He has sung in the Lexington Opera Society Opera Gala and “It’s a Grand Night for Singing,” produced by the LOS and the University of Kentucky.  He has been a soloist/section leader for church choirs in Minneapolis, Nashville, and Lexington, KY.

Dr. Koehler has trained in workshop settings with artists such as opera star, Sherrill Milnes; Soprano, Gail Robinson, formerly of the Metropolitan Opera; and Dona D. Vaughn, currently stage director/acting coach for the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.
He has taught applied voice at Eastern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, the University of Minnesota Morris; has staged scenes or taught opera workshop at the University of Kentucky, the University of Minnesota Morris and Transylvania University; has taught class voice at the University of Minnesota; and has co-taught first-year acting with John Munsell at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.

In addition to his university work, he is stage director, music director and stage speech instructor, having stage directed and music directed productions such as The Good Doctor and Oliver in Chaska, MN, Thurber Carnival in Morris, MN and When Pigs Fly in Lexington, KY.  He has been the instructor for workshops on the speaking voice at the Lexington Opera Society Summer Workshop, the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts, and the WVU Community Arts Program.

Recent Reviews Include:

This season’s operatic offering by the Lyric Opera of the North (LOON), “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” is a huge undertaking… High praise goes to the six peasants who keep humor front and center. William Koehler as Bottom had the most riveting stage presence of the evening.
Duluth News-Tribune

One of the most entertaining scenes in the production was in Act I, when the four men ply their landlord with booze…William Koehler as the greasy landlord adds comedy as he sits spread-eagle in filthy longjohns burping through lyrics about his seductive ways with the ladies…
                  Duluth News-Tribune [Review of La Bohème]

As the kings, Jeremy Cady, William Koehler, and Earl Hazell Jr. carved out distinct personalities… Koehler as the wise Melchoir…
                  Lexington Herald-Leader [Review of Amahl and the Night Visitors]

Hope and Bill Koehler, as Juno and Cadmus/Somnus, are equally professional as they return for this event.  …  As the pompous father, Cadmus has a pompous role, but when … Koehler comes back later as the god of sleep, Somnus, all of his stage excitement was in full bloom, including the leaves on his shoes.
                  Duluth News-Tribune [Review of Handel’s  Semele]