Dennis L. Kratzer

Dennis L. Kratzer, is Director of Choral Activities and Professor of
Music at Ohio Northern University, a position he has held for 32 years.
He is also Associate Director of the Opera program where he musically
directs chamber, children and grand operas in addition to appearing in
leading roles on the Freed Center stage. He received his public school
education in Bowling Green, OH. He holds the Bachelor and Master of
Music degrees from Bowling Green State University and did his Ph.D.
work at The Ohio State University.

Presently a resident of Lima, he has performed as a concert vocalist,
oratorio soloist, and musical theater singer with several orchestras
and theaters. He has accompanied on the piano such well known
composers as Roger Wagner, Ward Swingle, John Carter, Craig Courtney
and the late Norman Luboff, Virgil Thomson, Jester Hairston and John
Ness Beck. Mr. Kratzer is presently the Director of Music at the
Market Street Presbyterian Church in Lima and has been
conductor/musical director for the Findlay Light Opera Company. This
is his fourth year as Director of the Lima Symphony Chorus having been
the conductor of its predecessor, The Lima Civic Chorus, for seven
years.

In recent years his select choir at ONU, The University Singers have
toured to New York City where they sang in the famed Riverside Church
and in St. Bartholomews Episcopal Cathedral; to New Orleans, LA; to
Cleveland, OH where they performed with the other Ohio Methodist choirs
at Severance Hall under Robert Page’s direction; to Pittsburgh where
they performed at St. Paul’s Cathedral; to Los Angeles, CA where they
were featured at the renowned Crystal Cathedral; and to Atlanta, GA
where they sang in the Peachtree Road United Methodist Church. His
recently formed 70 voice ONU Men’s Chorus will tour to California this
year singing in Los Angeles and San Diego as well as combining once
again in concert with the BGSU Men’s Chorus. They have been asked to
front the professional vocal ensemble Chanticleer when they come to
northwest Ohio in 2010.

Dennis Kratzer is in frequent demand as a guest choral-vocal clinician
throughout the state. In 2002 he received the VARN award for excellence
in choral/vocal music in Ohio. He has been a member and competition
judge for the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Ohio
Music Education Association and numerous show choir competitions. He
has been a member of the American Choral Directors Association, Music
Educators National Conference, and the National Opera Association.
Dennis is a member of Phi Mu Alpha, honorary music fraternity; Omicron
Delta Kappa, men's leadership fraternity; Phi Kappa Phi, scholastic
honorary; Kappa Delta Pi, education honorary; and Theta Alpha Phi,
theater honorary. Mr. Kratzer was a founding member of Cantari, the
professional choir in Columbus, OH.

Professor Kratzer served as musical director/conductor for Kenley
Players, professional summer stock based in Akron, OH. He has
conducted "My Fair Lady" with Pam Dawber; "Cabaret" with Billy Crystal
and Donna McKechnie; "Music Man" with Dick Gautier; "Unsinkable Molly
Brown" with Connie Stevens; "Gigi" with Candace Early; and "The Wiz"
with members of the original Broadway cast. He has also been guest
conductor of the Lima, Perrysburg, Columbus Women’s Music Club and ONU
Symphony Orchestras.

Dennis Kratzer has toured choirs to England, Wales, Switzerland,
Holland, Germany, and France. In 2008, his University Singers performed
a series of concerts in Estonia, one of the Baltic countries in Eastern
Europe. His choirs from Otterbein and Ohio Northern have toured
extensively throughout the Midwest, East coast and southern states.
Dennis sang with Cantari when they toured to Japan during the summer of
1985. He was featured soloist with the Cincinnati Touring Ensemble in
1991 performing with the Moscow and Leningrad Symphony Orchestras in
Russia and Estonia. He was invited back in the fall of 1991 to sing
with the Indiana Touring Choir in a series of Mozart concerts with the
Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

Professor Kratzer has appeared on stage as Pooh Bah in "Mikado"; Frank
in "Die Fledermaus"; Jud in "Oklahoma"; Bill Sykes in "Oliver";
Carriere in "Phantom", Captain Hook in "Peter Pan", Caiaphas in "Jesus
Christ Superstar", Jacob and Potiphar in "Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat", Dr. Craven in “Secret Garden” and the lead
roles in "Sweeney Todd" and "Most Happy Fella". His conducting credits
at ONU include the operas “Carmen”, “The Marriage of Figaro” and “HMS
Pinafore” as well as the musicals “Evita”, “Forty-Second Street”,
“Sound of Music”, “Little Shop of Horrors”, “Baby”, “They’re Playing
Our Song”, “Wizard of Oz” and “Cabaret”.