BIOGRAPHY

Recently lauded for his “malevolent presence and a strong [baritone]” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) that was “utterly convincing” (Broadway World) in the role of Jigger Craigin for Union Avenue Opera’s Carousel this summer, Andrew Wannigman is quickly garnering attention as a versatile singer-actor who is adept both vocally and dramatically in the wide-ranging baritone roles of opera, musical theatre and everything in between. His other 2016-17 season credits include a pair of bel canto roles: Dandini in Cenerentola with Opéra Louisiane and Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale at the University of Oklahoma.  He also debuted with Oklahoma City’s new opera company, Painted Sky Opera, as Mr. Gobineau and Pausanias in a double bill of Menotti’s The Medium and Chabrier’s An Incomplete Education. 

After relocating to New York City in September, Mr. Wannigman quickly made his city debut in the title role of The Barber of Seville with Amore Opera. He also premiered a cantata for baritone, horn, and piano based on the last voyage of Ulysses in Dante’s Inferno at the Manhattan School of Music in November by composer faculty member, J. Mark Stambaugh. Other upcoming engagements in 2018 include his company debut with Natchez Festival of Music in the roles of Fredrik Egerman in A Little Night Music and Valentin in Faust this May as well as a return to Mill City Summer Opera this July in Minneapolis.

In the 2015-16 season, Mr. Wannigman performed the title role in Eugene Onegin at the University of Oklahoma, for which he was praised as “tall, dark and imposing, not to mention detached and arrogant, but with a commanding voice, in the title role (The Oklahoman).” He also made his Tulsa Opera debut as Alvaro in Florencia en el Amazonas and returned later that season as Gandalf in The Hobbit with Tulsa Opera’s youth opera program.

In 2014-15, Mr. Wannigman brought “overblown flamboyance” (Norman Transcript) to the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance with Cimarron Opera while also performing the serious roles of Escamillo in Carmen and the Father in Ragtime at OU where he recently completed his doctoral studies under renowned baritone Kim Josephson.

Opera credits in the 2013-14 season include Morales in Carmen with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, Sciarrone in Tosca with Mill City Summer Opera, and Maximilian in Candide with Skylark Opera where he “made a strong impression as the insecure narcissist, Maximilian” (Pioneer Press). Other favorite operatic roles include: Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia, Count Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno The Magic Flute, John Buchanan, Jr. Summer & Smoke, and Ford The Merry Wives of Windsor.

An avid recitalist and concert performer, Mr. Wannigman recently performed the baritone solos in Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs with Westminster Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City. In past seasons with Westminster, he sang as the baritone soloist for the Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio and The Seven Last Words of Christ by Théodore Dubois as well as performing a concert recital featuring popular arias and songs of Rossini, Mozart and Rodgers and Hammerstein as well as works of Bach, Schumann and Ravel. In 2015, he performed John Adams’ The Wound-Dresser in a rarely seen staged performance as well as a concert recital featuring Schumann’s Liederkreis, Op. 39, Finzi’s Let Us Garlands Bring and songs of Duparc, both with the University of Oklahoma.

Other concert performances include an alumni guest recital at Luther College as well as recitals in Boston, most notably at the acclaimed Jordan Hall. He has also been the soloist in masterworks such as Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Beethoven’s Mass in C, and Mozart’s Requiem.