Biography

In the 2023–24 season, Michael Sumuel sings Reginald in a new production of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X at the Metropolitan Opera, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Houston Grand Opera, and the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen at Detroit Opera. He also appears in concert with the New York Philharmonic, Les Violons du Roy, Music of the Baroque, Seattle Symphony, and National Symphony.

Last season, Mr. Sumuel returned to the Met, singing Belcore in L’elisir d’amore. Other debuts included Elviro in Xerxes with Detroit Opera and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Pittsburgh Opera. In concert, Mr. Sumuel performed Mozart’s Requiem with the Cincinnati Symphony, Bach cantatas with the Handel and Haydn Society, opened Washington Concert Opera’s season, returned to Mercury Houston for Handel’s Messiah, and took part in a European tour with the Pacific Chorale, performing Joseph Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Florence Price’s Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight. He has also appeared with San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Glyndebourne, Baltimore Symphony, Houston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and Royal Concertgebow Orchestra. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in December 2012.

Mr. Sumuel’s competition accolades include being awarded a Richard Tucker Career Grant, being a Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition Grand Finalist, and a winner of the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition. A Texas native, he is an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, and the Filene Young Artist program at Wolf Trap Opera.