Dr. Johnnie Bankens is an Assistant Professor of Voice specializing in Voice Pedagogy and Art Song Literature, and Opera Literature. His research explores Hungarian lyric diction, the chamber works of Madeleine Dring, and strategies for recruitment and retention in undergraduate music programs. He serves on the voice faculty of the Festival of International Opera in Urbania, Italy, and has previously taught with Stories for Strength in partnership with Baylor Medical School in Mbabane, Swaziland, as well as at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan. A sought-after scholar and clinician, he has presented at national conferences including the National Opera Association, the Texas Music Educators Association, and will present at the Midwest Clinic in December 2025. Dr. Bankens received his Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in Voice Performance from Louisiana State University.
Praised as an “impressive bass” and a singer of “high caliber,” Dr. Bankens has appeared in opera and music theatre productions regionally, nationally, and internationally. Recent performances include Sparafucile in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Mobile Opera and the Sprecher in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with Opera Mississippi. In the 2025–26 season, he will sing Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte with Mobile Opera, Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Shreveport Opera, the Bonz in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly with Opéra Louisiane, and the Bishop in James Sclater’s The Christmas Gift with Opera Mississippi.
He made his San Diego Opera debut in 2016 as the Jailer in Tosca, performing alongside Greer Grimsley, Gwynne Hughes Jones, and Alexia Voulgaridou. Other notable roles include the title roles in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro, Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, and Verdi’s Falstaff; Prince Gremin in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin; Don Basilio in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia; Colline in Puccini’s La bohème; Frère Laurent in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, among many others.
On the concert stage, Dr. Bankens has performed as a soloist in major works including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Mozart’s Requiem, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio, and numerous Bach cantatas. A dedicated recitalist, he will serve as a guest artist for the Mississippi Music Teachers Association in 2025, presenting a program featuring songs by Schubert, Debussy, Verdi, Donizetti, Mozart, and Rodgers & Hammerstein. He has appeared with San Diego Opera, Mobile Opera, Nevada Opera, Opéra Louisiane, Opera Mississippi, Blue Lake Opera, the Lied Society of Minneapolis, the Montefeltro Festival, Monroe Symphony, Starkville Symphony, West End Collegiate Singers, the Stonewall Chorale, and the Louisiana Choral Foundation.
