Tenor Michael McDermott, a third-place winner in Houston Grand Opera’s 2023 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias, is currently a second-year member of the Butler Opera Studio at HGO.
For the 24/25 season, his assignments at HGO include La bohème (Rodolfo), Il trovatore (Un messo), and Breaking the Waves (Tenor Soloist). On the concert stage, he will debut with the Kansas City Symphony in Messiah, conducted by Patrick Summers. In the summer of 2025, he will join the prestigious Apprentice Program for Singers at The Santa Fe Opera where his assignments include covering in The Turn of the Screw (Peter Quint).
During the 23/24 season, his first with the HGO Studio, he performed in Falstaff (Bardolfo), Parsifal (Vierter Knappe), and covered in Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio). Michael made his international debut in the summer of 2024 at the Glyndebourne Festival in Cal McCrystal’s new production of The Merry Widow (Camille de Rosillon), conducted by John Wilson.
Michael returned to the Aspen Music Festival in 2023 for Idomeneo (Arbace), directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by Robert Spano. While at The Juilliard School, he appeared in Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (Spärlich) and Haydn’s L’infedeltà delusa (Filippo), while also presenting Liederabende and recitals under the guidance of Brian Zeger and Pierre Vallet.
A recipient of numerous accolades, Michael won first prize in the Schmidt Vocal Competition and the Scholarship Division of the National Opera Association’s Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition. A native of Huntington Beach, California, he holds a Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School and pursued graduate studies at Rice University under Robin Rice.
2024-2025
