This season, up-and-coming baritone Michael Todd Simpson sings the title role in Don Giovanni at the Nashville Opera and the Eugene Opera, opens the Dallas Opera as the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro and returns to Opera Pacific as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath. He also makes his debut at the Chicago Opera Theater as Escamillo in Le Tragedie de Carmen. 

This season, up-and-coming baritone Michael Todd Simpson sings the title role in Don Giovanni at the Nashville Opera and the Eugene Opera, opens the Dallas Opera as the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro and returns to Opera Pacific as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath. He also makes his debut at the Chicago Opera Theater as Escamillo in Le Tragedie de Carmen. 

Mr. Simpson's recent opera engagements have included Silvio in Pagliacci at the Pittsburg Opera, New York City Opera,  Palm Beach Opera, and Virginia Opera; Escamillo in Carmen at Opera Australia, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte at the Florida Grand Opera, and Enrico in Lucia de Lammermoor at the Fort Worth Opera. A graduate of the Seattle Opera's Young Artists Program, Mr. Simpson made his mainstage debut there as Hermann in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, and has since appeared as Marcello in La Bohéme Also a member of the Young American Artists Program at Glimmerglass Opera, he recently appeared  there as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance. While on the program, he sang the role of Tooley in the American premiere of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett's The Mines of Sulphur, which was recorded and released by Chandos Records in 2005.

A native of Gastonia, NC, Mr. Simpson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in vocal performance from Erskine College in Due West, SC, where he was the first place winner of the 1996 and 1999 South Carolina National Association of Teachers of Singing vocal competition. He earned his Masters of Music degree at the College Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati where he was a regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Mr. Simpson's recent awards include the Spanish Prize in the 2007 José Iturbi International Music Competition, first prize in the first annual Marguerite McCammon Voice Competition, the Sara Tucker Study Grant awarded by the Richard Tucker Foundation and the Richard F. Gold Career Grant.