Tenor, Chanticleer

Justin Montigne, tenor, is a versatile young singer at home in many styles and time periods of music, in solo, collaborative, and choral capacities. Mr. Montigne is originally from Des Moines, Iowa, where he received his Bachelor in Music from Drake University and was a student of Leanne Freeman-Miller. He went on to spend several years in Minneapolis doing graduate work in voice at the University of Minnesota, where he is a candidate for the DMA in vocal performance. An active teacher, as well as performer, Mr. Montigne taught voice for the University of Minnesota and in several area high schools. He also toured Minnesota and the upper midwest with the select Ted Mann Vocal Quartet, the University of Minnestoa’s Opera on the Farm Tour, and as a soloist with many area ensembles in a variety of concert appearances. Mr. Montigne’s principal teachers and coaches in the Twin Cities included Barbara Kierig, Margo Garrett, Glenda Maurice, Karl Paulnack, and Dale Johnson.

Currently in his second season with the acclaimed male vocal ensemble, Chanticleer, Mr. Montigne has performed a wide variety of works in venues around the United States and the world, including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Disney Concert hall in Los Angeles, The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Vienna Konzerthaus. Mr. Montigne is equally at home in concert and on the operatic stage; his roles include the title role in Britten’s Albert Herring, the Father Confessor in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Mr. Splinters in The Tender Land, Alessandro in Il re pastore, Slender in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos, Danceny in Conrad Susa’s The Dangerous Liasons, and Ernesto in Don Pasquale. His concert appearances include the tenor solos in Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s Requiem, Britten’s Serenade, and Handel’s Messiah, as well as in relative rarities like Ottorino Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity, and Arvo Pärt’s Litany. Mr. Montigne also enjoys chorus work and sang for several seasons with the Minnesota Opera and the Oregon Bach Festival. This spring Mr. Montigne will perform concerts in the San Francisco Bay Area with Chanticleer and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, as well as record his first Chanticleer album. The summer brings a return to the Oregon Bach Festival, as well as, hopefully, a completed doctoral thesis.
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In his own words:
"My Drake experience was a fantastic beginning to my life as an adult and a professional, and the music department was instrumental in creating that fine experience for me. I can thank the persistence and excellence of faculty like Leanne Freeman-Miller and Aimee Beckman-Collier for courting me into a music major in the first place, and the experiences I had in my academics just drove the point home: I was to be a musician first and foremost, and Drake was going to help me on my way. I'll always remember the opportunities I had at Drake, whether singing with the choir on my first trip to Europe or preparing a Purcell song with Leanne, knowing that operatic legend Sherrill Milnes was about to hear it and scrutinize me in master class the next day. I loved it when I was there and miss it still; thanks always to Drake Music for teaching me how to sing."