Department of Music

Marc Schapman

Marc Schapman completed a Doctor of Music in Voice Performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.  A native of Iowa, Mr. Schapman received his Bachelor of Arts from Luther College and his Master of Music from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.  His operatic credits include Mime in Siegfried, Loge in Das Rheingold, Goro in Madama Butterfly, George Gibbs in the world premiere of Ned Rorem's Our Town, Tateh in Ragtime, Pheron in the Opera Circle of Cleveland world premiere of Thamos, King of Egypt, Spoletta in Tosca, Bardolfo in Falstaff, Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Gastone in La Traviata,  Don Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro, Ralph Rackstraw in HMS Pinafore, Nanki Poo in The Mikado, Nelson Deadly in Too Many Sopranos, A Grand Night for Singing, the Tanzmeister in Ariadne auf Naxos, Harry Easter in Street Scene, and many others.

Concert appearances include the Festival Corale Internationale di Roma (Rome, Italy), Handel’s Messiah, Gounod’s St. Cecelia Mass, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Mozart’s Requiem, and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.  He made his Carnegie Hall debut singing the world-premiere of Edwin Penhorwood’s An American Requiem.  

Currently, Mr. Schapman serves as Professor of Voice and Director of SIUE Opera and Musical Theatre.  In addition to his SIUE duties, Mr. Schapman serves as a voice teacher for Opera Theater of St. Louis' Artists-in-Training and Program Coordinator for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis SING OUT! program.  

Mr. Schapman is also an in-demand music director and choral conductor.  His choirs have previously performed in the Festival Corale Internationale di Roma, and he led the Illinois Ambassadors of Music choir in their European tour in 2018.  Mr. Schapman has also conducted over 50 musical and opera productions during his tenure at SIUE. 

In 2012, he was named a recipient of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Emerging Leaders Award, an award given to a teacher within their first 10 ten years of instruction who display outstanding teaching and service to the national organization.  In addition, Mr. Schapman received the 2012 SIUE College of Arts and Sciences William and Margaret Going Award Endowed Professorship.  Awarded to one faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences, this award recognizes a faculty member for outstanding teaching and accomplishments in creative activity.  

Mr. Schapman’s students are regular winners in local, regional, and national competitions, including: the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, National NATS Student Classical and Musical Theatre Auditions, Central Region NATS Classical and Musical Theatre Auditions, Southern Illinois Young Artist Organization Vocal Competition, St. Louis Chapter NATS Classical and Musical Theatre Auditions, Opera Theatre of St. Louis Artist-in-Training Adjudication, FOX Performing Arts Competition, Union Avenue Opera Crescendo Program, and the SIUE Concerto Competition.