Dean Butler

Dean Butler has enjoyed singing baritone in oratorio, opera and musical theater since the age of 19. Previously, Mr. Butler has been a featured oratorio and opera soloist with several regional programs and orchestras in multiple cities throughout the country with repertoire consisting of Bach’s St. John Passion, Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Dubois’ Seven Last Words of Christ. Additionally, Mr. Butler’s operatic repertoire consists of Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Figaro in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Don Pizarro in Beethoven’s Fidelio.

Mr. Butler equally shares a great love for musical theater having honed his craft performing principal roles in summer stock productions of Little Shop of Horrors, Annie Get Your Gun, Godspell, and Gilbert and Sullivan’s, The Pirates of Penzance.

Mr. Butler has enjoyed his participation with several outstanding opera and choral repertory companies throughout the U.S., including the Knoxville Choral Society, Kentucky Opera, the Stephen Foster Drama Association, Louisville Master Chorale, Cincinnati May Festival Chorus, and Master Chorale of Tampa Bay. He is privileged to have performed many premier choral works under the batons of Robert Shaw, Michael Tilson Thomas, John Rutter and Jester Hairston along with the symphony orchestras of Knoxville, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Tampa.

Holding a bachelor’s degree in conducting and vocal performance from Carson-Newman University in Tennessee, as well as, a master’s degree in vocal pedagogy from Southern Theological Seminary in Kentucky, Mr. Butler toured the world for over 15 years conducting choirs throughout Europe, the Caribbean, Chile, and New Zealand for the nonprofit music organization, Continental Singers. In 1996, he conducted the commissioned musical, David, based on the life of the biblical king, at the Citadel of David in Jerusalem, in honor of that city’s 3000th anniversary, and returned to Israel in 2000 for an encore performance in honor of Bethlehem’s 2000th anniversary.

Currently living in Camarillo with his wife, a biology teacher at Rancho Campana High School, and young son, Mr. Butler is a recent graduate of California State University, Channel Islands, receiving his teaching credential as an Education Specialist. He currently teaches Special Education at Rancho Rosal Elementary, and serves on Pleasant Valley School District’s Special Education Leadership Team.

Dean is appearing with Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra in two performances of Mozart’s Requiem Mass and Bach’s Motet Singet dem Herrn.