In 2021 Mr. Dunn won the American Prize in Composition for “Requiem” from The Mass for the Unarmed Child and was named in the Top 10 Classical Music and Jazz performances of 2021 by the Chicago Tribune.
Adrian Dunn is an accomplished singer, composer, and conductor. Mr. Dunn holds a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degree in Voice from the Music Conservatory at Roosevelt University with additional musical studies in opera at the Sibelius Academy of Music in Finland.
In 2021 Mr. Dunn won the American Prize in Composition for “Requiem” from The Mass for the Unarmed Child and was named in the Top 10 Classical Music and Jazz performances of 2021 by the Chicago Tribune. He made his conducting debut with the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra in June 2021. His interview on his original composition The Black Messiah was published in Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. He and the Adrian Dunn Singers performed the film score for the 2022 Sundance film Honk for Jesus starring Sterling K. Brown (from the NBC show This Is Us) and Regina Hall.
Mr. Dunn is writing his first full length opera, The 42 Project, on the life of Black Major League Baseball star Jackie Robinson. Mr. Dunn’s trilogy cycle Emancipation received its world premiere at the Harris Theater in April 2022 featuring the Adrian Dunn Singers and Rize Orchestra. His composition Requiem was most recently performed by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and the Morehouse Glee Club in March 2022. He was also the chorus conductor for the Mozart Requiem with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and was a guest artist in residence at California State University Fullerton.
Mr. Dunn is a MacArthur grant recipient for his original work Hopera: A Hip Hop Opera. He has opened for international hip hop recording artist The Roots at Indiana University. He served as principal vocal coach for Kanye West’s artist development program, Donda’s House. He was a featured artist and vocal coach for the live DVD recording of the Higher Ground Gospel Choir in Helsinki, Finland. He has toured throughout the US, South Africa, Italy, Germany, the UK, and Scandinavia.
Mr. Dunn has sung with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Grant Park Symphony Chorus, and Blossom Festival Chorus. He was the chorus conductor for the Seven Last Words of the Unarmed by Joel Thompson with the Adrian Dunn Singers at Chicago’s Symphony Center and Wentz Hall in 2019. He was the chorus master for Chicago Opera Theater’s production of Freedom Ride in 2019 and sang in the 2018 production of Moby Dick with Chicago Opera Theater. He was tenor soloist for Handel’s Messiah at Rockefeller Chapel in 2018 and was the tenor soloist for Pucinni’s Messa de Gloria with the Northwestern University Orchestra. He was the tenor soloist for A Child of our Time with the University of Chicago Orchestra in 2019 and was guest artist in residence with the University of Chicago Chorus. In 2019 he was the composer for the Lyric Unlimited Opera education program at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He sung the lead role in the 2017 Chicago premiere of the Paul Laurence Dunbar opera The Poet and in 2016 served as the opera chorus master for the Midwest premiere of the opera Harriet Tubman – When I Crossed That Line to Freedom with the South Shore Opera Company of Chicago.
As an active professional singer, producer, and songwriter, Mr. Dunn has had the privilege of working with gospel greats such as Tremaine Hawkins, Myron Butler, Melonie Daniels, Troy Bright, Lamar Campbell, Damien Sneed, Walt Whitman and the Soul Children of Chicago, Smokie Norful, Jonathan Nelson, and many more. He was awarded Album Producer of the Year for AME Live featuring the AME International Mass Choir from the Rhythm of Gospel Awards. He is a voice faculty member in the Theater Conservatory at Roosevelt University and is the Advisor for Racial Equity and Minority Student Success. Mr. Dunn’s private voice students can be seen in Broadway national tours of Lion King, Ghost, the Color Purple, Hamilton, Kinky Boots, Rent, BET’s show Sunday Best, Drury Lane Theater, the Paramount Theater, Black Ensemble Theater, and as background vocalists for major record label artists on tour throughout the US and abroad.