Michael Spyres' first solo album "A Fool For Love" has just been
released on Delos Records. Click here for more infos and to order it!
Michael Spyres also just returned to La Scala in Milan for a most successful role debut as Rodrigo in La donna del lago, a role he will be repeating for his Covent Garden debut in 2013. Have a look on a video of this performance on youtube!
Michael Spyres was born in Mansfield (Missouri), where he grew up in a family of musicians. He began his studies in the U.S.A. and continued them at the Vienna Conservatory, Austria. He was a Young Artist with Opera Theatre Saint Louis, where he made his main stage operatic debut in a touring production as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème. Prior to his international breakthrough, he also performed such operatic roles as Guglielmo in Donizetti's Viva la mamma, Lindoro in Rossini’s L'italiana in Algeri and Hoffmann in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann as well as oratorio works like Händel's Messiah, Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium and Mozart's Requiem.
After his debut at Teatro San Carlo of Naples in 2006 as Jaquino in Beethoven’s Fidelio, Spyres performed the role of Alberto from Rossini's La Gazzetta at the Bad Wildbad Rossini Festival and toured Japan as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata. He returned to Bad Wildbad in July 2008 for his role debut as Rossini’s Otello.
For the 2008/2009 season, Michael Spyres became member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he performed roles such as Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Steuermann in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer. Other important engagements in 2008/2009 were his UK debut in London as Fernand in a concert performance of La Favorite, Duca in a production of Rigoletto for Springfield (Missouri), an opera gala concert in the Tchaikovsky Conservatory Moscow, his debut at the Teatro alla Scala di Milano as Belfiore in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims as well as the role of Raoul in the uncut version of Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots for the SummerScape Festival in New York.
Important engagements of the 2009/2010 season were the title role in Bernstein’s Candide for his debut with the Vlaamse Opera in Gent and Antwerp, a new production of Britten’s Billy Budd (role of Novice) for Bilbao, his debut with Opera Ireland as Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Néocle in Rossini's Le siège de Corinthe in concert performances at the Wildbad Rossini Festival as well as Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette for the Salzburg Festival 2010. In May 2010, Spyres performed the role of Ozìa in Mozart’s Betulia Liberata with Riccardo Muti at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival and subsequently at the Ravenna Festival.
Roles in 2010/2011 include Tamino in a new production of Die Zauberflöte at the Opéra de Wallonie in Liège, the title role in the first modern staged performances of Steffani's Antigono in Lisbon, Gianetto in Rossini's La gazza ladra for Semperoper Dresden, Ramiro in Rossini's La Cenerentola for the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Arnold in Rossini's Guillaume Tell at the Caramoor Festival, conducted by Will Crutchfield. Under the baton of Riccardo Muti, he will be participating within a series of concert performances of Verdi's Otello with the Chicago Symphony Orchstra. These concerts will also lead to his debut at the Carnegie Hall in New York. Also on the concert platform, he could be heard recently in Schumann’s Faust Szenen with the American Symphony Orchestra and at Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow for an aria concert.
In October 2011, he returned to La Scala di Milano as Rodrigo in Rossini's La donna del lago, conducted by Roberto Abbado. Further engagements during the 2011/2012 season include a concert tour of Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra and John Eliot Gardiner in London, Birmingham, Munich, Hannover and Hamburg, Candide for his debut at the Opera di Roma, his first Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Minnesota Opera, Masaniello in Auber's La Muette de Portici in Paris (Opéra Comique in co-production with La Monnaie in Brussels) and Berlioz' Requiem with John Eliot Gardiner at the St Denis Festival.
Among his numerous future engagements after the 2011/2012 season are the title role in Berlioz' La damnation de Faust at Vlaamse Opera, directed by Terry Gilliam, Missa Solemnis and Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the New York Carnegie Hall, in Orange County, Valencia and Madrid, also with John Eliot Gardiner, and Rodrigo in Rossini’s La donna del lago for his debut at Royal Opera Covent Garden in London in 2013.
Michael Spyres has recorded Rossini's La Gazzetta, Otello and Le siège de Corinthe for Naxos. His first recital CD, including arias by, among others, Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Meyerbeer, Bizet and Puccini was released in 2011. Rossini’s Otello from Bad Wildbad will also be released on DVD.
November 2011
After his debut at Teatro San Carlo of Naples in 2006 as Jaquino in Beethoven’s Fidelio, Spyres performed the role of Alberto from Rossini's La Gazzetta at the Bad Wildbad Rossini Festival and toured Japan as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata. He returned to Bad Wildbad in July 2008 for his role debut as Rossini’s Otello.
For the 2008/2009 season, Michael Spyres became member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he performed roles such as Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Steuermann in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer. Other important engagements in 2008/2009 were his UK debut in London as Fernand in a concert performance of La Favorite, Duca in a production of Rigoletto for Springfield (Missouri), an opera gala concert in the Tchaikovsky Conservatory Moscow, his debut at the Teatro alla Scala di Milano as Belfiore in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims as well as the role of Raoul in the uncut version of Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots for the SummerScape Festival in New York.
Important engagements of the 2009/2010 season were the title role in Bernstein’s Candide for his debut with the Vlaamse Opera in Gent and Antwerp, a new production of Britten’s Billy Budd (role of Novice) for Bilbao, his debut with Opera Ireland as Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Néocle in Rossini's Le siège de Corinthe in concert performances at the Wildbad Rossini Festival as well as Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette for the Salzburg Festival 2010. In May 2010, Spyres performed the role of Ozìa in Mozart’s Betulia Liberata with Riccardo Muti at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival and subsequently at the Ravenna Festival.
Roles in 2010/2011 include Tamino in a new production of Die Zauberflöte at the Opéra de Wallonie in Liège, the title role in the first modern staged performances of Steffani's Antigono in Lisbon, Gianetto in Rossini's La gazza ladra for Semperoper Dresden, Ramiro in Rossini's La Cenerentola for the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Arnold in Rossini's Guillaume Tell at the Caramoor Festival, conducted by Will Crutchfield. Under the baton of Riccardo Muti, he will be participating within a series of concert performances of Verdi's Otello with the Chicago Symphony Orchstra. These concerts will also lead to his debut at the Carnegie Hall in New York. Also on the concert platform, he could be heard recently in Schumann’s Faust Szenen with the American Symphony Orchestra and at Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow for an aria concert.
In October 2011, he returned to La Scala di Milano as Rodrigo in Rossini's La donna del lago, conducted by Roberto Abbado. Further engagements during the 2011/2012 season include a concert tour of Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra and John Eliot Gardiner in London, Birmingham, Munich, Hannover and Hamburg, Candide for his debut at the Opera di Roma, his first Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Minnesota Opera, Masaniello in Auber's La Muette de Portici in Paris (Opéra Comique in co-production with La Monnaie in Brussels) and Berlioz' Requiem with John Eliot Gardiner at the St Denis Festival.
Among his numerous future engagements after the 2011/2012 season are the title role in Berlioz' La damnation de Faust at Vlaamse Opera, directed by Terry Gilliam, Missa Solemnis and Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the New York Carnegie Hall, in Orange County, Valencia and Madrid, also with John Eliot Gardiner, and Rodrigo in Rossini’s La donna del lago for his debut at Royal Opera Covent Garden in London in 2013.
Michael Spyres has recorded Rossini's La Gazzetta, Otello and Le siège de Corinthe for Naxos. His first recital CD, including arias by, among others, Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Meyerbeer, Bizet and Puccini was released in 2011. Rossini’s Otello from Bad Wildbad will also be released on DVD.
November 2011
