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Tenor Michael McDermott is a third-place winner in the Houston Grand Opera’s 2023 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Artists Concert of Arias.

In the 25/26 season, Michael makes his house and South American debut with Teatro Municiapal de Santiago in La bohème (Rodolfo). He will also return to the Houston Grand Opera as a third-year Butler Studio artist where he can be seen in Il trittico (Young Lover) and Of Mice and Men (Carlson).

Last season’s highlights included La bohème (Rodolfo) and Il trovatore (Un messo) with Houston Grand Opera and Thaïs (Nicias) for his debut with Spoleto Festival USA. On the concert stage, he debuted with the Kansas City Symphony in Messiah, conducted by Patrick Summers. In the summer of 2025, he joined the prestigious Apprentice Program for Singers at The Santa Fe Opera where his assignments included 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.

2025-2026