Michael Sylvester, Voice Teacher
Widely considered one of the finest lyric spinto tenors of his generation, Michael Sylvester has sung leading roles in major opera houses of the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, Vienna Staatsoper, Opera Australia, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, Paris Opera, Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon, Houston Grand Opera, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Maggio Musicale in Florence, New Israeli Opera, as well as opera houses in Geneva, Hamburg, Bonn, Frankfurt, Toulouse and many others. During the 1990’s, Mr. Sylvester sang more performances at the Metropolitan Opera of Radamès in Verdi’s AIDA than any other tenor. A 1989 article in USA Today named Mr. Sylvester as one of the two most important tenors of his generation.
In 2001 Sylvester made his professional directing debut staging AIDA for the Indianapolis Opera, to great critical acclaim.
Among the fifty leading operatic roles he has performed are Radamès in AIDA (which he has sung over 150 times), the title role in DON CARLO, Adorno / SIMON BOCCANEGRA, Cavaradossi / TOSCA, Pinkerton / MADAMA BUTTERFLY, Calaf / TURANDOT Rodolfo / LA BOHÈME, Bacchus / ARIADNE AUF NAXOS, Der Kaiser / DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN, Samson / SAMSON ET DALILA, Don José / CARMEN and Pollione / NORMA.
In concert he has sung with orchestras worldwide in Verdi’s Requiem, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Eighth Symphony and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Among his recordings are the title role in DON CARLO with James Levine (Sony Classics), Adorno in SIMON BOCCANEGRA with Sir George Solti (Decca), Calaf in TURANDOT (EMI video), Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with Robert Shaw (Telarc) and Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht (Arabesque).
The Indiana native holds a Bachelor of Music from Westminster Choir College and a Master of Music from Indiana University. Previously at Indiana University and DePaul University, Mr. Sylvester is currently serving on the voice faculty at Wichita State University. He is also the Co-Director of the San Miguel Institute of Bel Canto, which had its inaugural session in June 2015.