la fiesta de la Pasión

Dr. Dennis Gotkowski, pianist

Dennis Gotkowski performs frequently in Central Illinois as a multifaceted musician—conducting, playing, and singing. He regularly conducts operas and musicals with MIOpera as resident conductor, and also with Illinois State University and other local organizations. His conducting credits include Dido and Aeneas, The Pirates of Penzance, Carmen, The Sound of Music, La Bohème, and H.M.S. Pinafore. Gotkowski serves as the accompanist of ISU’s Civic Chorale and organist at Second Presbyterian Church in Bloomington.

As a collaborative pianist, Gotkowski maintains a busy schedule of recitals and concerts. He performs on both harpsichord and organ, specializing in Baroque style and performance practice. Gotkowski passionately highlights the music of women composers, featuring in his recitals the music of Clara Schumann, Florence Price, and Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, among many others. He prepared an edition of Maria Margherita Grimani’s 1713 operatic work Pallade e Marte, including an original piano reduction, as his doctoral dissertation.

Gotkowski has sung as tenor soloist with Concordia University Wisconsin (Haydn’s Creation), the Madison Area Youth Chamber Orchestra (Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings), Madison Savoyards (The Mikado), Prairie Fire Theatre, and Dramatic Crossroads. His roles include Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Mayor Upfold (Albert Herring), Little Bat (Susannah), Basilio (Le nozze di Figaro), and Rumpelstiltskin/Wonderful Musician (Conrad Susa’s Transformations) — a role he recorded under maestro Kyle Knox (available on Spotify). He has served on the voice faculty at ISU, teaching voice, French and German diction, and opera performance; he also coaches for music theatre workshop courses.

Gotkowski received his doctorate in voice performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied voice with James Doing and collaborative piano with Martha Fischer. He holds a master’s degree in voice performance and choral conducting from ISU and a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Illinois Wesleyan University.