Music Department Mission Statement

The Viterbo University Music Department prepares its students for professional careers in teaching and performing, provides opportunities for the general student to engage in artistic experiences, and encourages students to influence the musical lives of the communities in which they serve.    

Degree Programs

  • Bachelor of Music - Voice Performance Concentration
  • Bachelor of Music - Music Education Concentration (K–12 General/6–12 Choral)
  • Music Minor

Distinctive Program Features

  • Accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (50 + years)
  • Artist-faculty with extensive performing and teaching experience
  • Graduates are employed as teachers in schools and studios (elementary, secondary, and university), sing professionally for opera houses in the U.S. and abroad, own their own businesses, and more
  • Graduates receive assistantships for elite graduate programs not limited to the Julliard School, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Boston Conservatory of Music, University of Minnesota, Ball State University, and Cincinnati College - Conservatory of Music  
  • International and regional touring for choral ensembles
  • Performance opportunities include two main stage productions, a chamber opera series, two show choirs, three repertoire choirs, student recitals, and competitions
  • Project-based learning as hallmark of classroom and studio experience
  • State-of-the-art facilities and technologies for teaching, rehearsing, performing, and recording 
  • Students have opportunity to work with nationally/internationally acclaimed visiting artists including Cynthia Lawrence, Scott McCoy, John De Haan, Karen Brunssen, Brian Horne, Steven Smith, Ken Bozeman, Edrie Means Weekley, Mitra Sadeghpour, Tanya Kruse Ruck, Mary Saunders Barton, and Norman Spivey
  • Talent scholarships available to music majors 
  • Vocal training in either classical or contemporary commercial styles of singing

For more information, contact:

James Wilson, D.M.A. (pronouns he/him)
Associate Professor of Music
Chair, Department of Music

Director of Choral Studies

Fine Arts Center, Room 407 

Phone: 608-796-3771

music@viterbo.edu