Dennis Willhoit has received numerous awards for singing and served as tenor soloist with various ensembles in New England and the Midwest.  Recent concert appearances include performances of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Orff’s Carmina Burana  and Handel’s The Messiah for the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra, University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra, Truman State Symphony Orchestra and the Janesville-Beloit Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Wisconsin where his performance of the Carmina Burana is soon to be released on compact disc.  Upcoming performances include an appearance with the Drake University Symphony Orchestra and Choruses at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines and the Carmina Burana with the Iowa City Chamber Singers.

Equally at home on the operatic stage, Mr. Willhoit opera credits include Die Fledermaus, Cosi fan tutte, Carmen and Cenerentola and most recently Dr. Caius in Falstaff with the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre.

Mr. Willhoit is the founding Artistic Director of the Greater Ottumwa Vocal Arts Project where he served as the conductor to the children’s choruses and musical director for the summer musical theatre productions for eleven seasons.  Mr. Willhoit graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BM from Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa and an MM with honors in vocal performance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  He is currently a teaching artist in voice at Drake University and a doctoral candidate (A.B.D.) in vocal performance at the University of Iowa.  His research there has focused on the operatic works of Vivaldi and he will soon travel to Turin, Italy on a Stanley Fellowship from the University of Iowa to complete his work for the publication of a critical edition of selected tenor arias from that composer’s opus.