About Me

Michael maintains active performing and teaching careers and is Executive Director of Companion Star Inc. He is an international singing artist with 22 years experience in creating and collaborating on new works for the stage. He has a Doctor of Musical Arts from SUNY-Stony Brook and is a graduate of the Shepherd School of Music of Rice University in Houston Texas and Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC. Michael made his New York City Opera debut in Madama Butterfly and has sung Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte in Victoria, BC; Anchorage, and Sarasota; Sparafucile in Rigoletto for El Paso Opera and Anchorage; the Doktor in Wozzeck,at the Banff Centre and with Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne in Montreal; Rocco in Fidelio with the operas of Sarasota and Anchorage, the Florida Philharmonic (semi-staged), and the San Antonio Symphony; Colline in La Bohème for the operas of Florentine, El Paso, and Memphis; Timur in Turandot,, the Commendatore in Don Giovanni, and Noye in Noye’s Fludde. Concert appearances have included Stravinsky’s L’histoire du Soldat, Kagel’s Fürst Igor, Stravinsky and Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon. As a performer, Michael won the Jessie award for “outstanding performance by an actor in a leading role” for his creation of the Marquis in 120 Songs for the Marquis de Sade (Hannan) in the world premiere co-produced by Modern Baroque Opera and Vancouver New Music. Most recently, he recorded a new opera by Jazz legend Anthony Braxton entitled Trillium E. He made his international debut in Sweden, singing the lead role of Director in Kafka‘s Chimp by Welsh composer, John Metcalf. The production was sung in Swedish, preceded by the world premiere at Banff Music Centre for the Arts and sung in English. He reprised this role in a unique remounting of the opera by Quantum Theatre in Pittsburgh in February 2004 with the Pittsburgh Zoo as the venue. Chosen by Metcalf for continued collaboration, Michael starred in the 2005 premiere of A Chair in Love as man’s best friend, a dog, in Montreal with performances continuing in Wales and England and produced under an agreement between the governments of Quebec and the United Kingdom. Michael developed his role of the Dog over a 3 year period in collaboration with the composer, librettist and stage director through improvisations in creative workshops. In 2008 he toured the UK with 11 performances of A Chair in Love which included the Buxton Arts Festival and the Wales Millennium Center. Highly regarded for his appearances in works of the 20th and 21st centuries, his world premieres include Westergaard’s The Tempest as Caliban, for Opera Festival of New Jersey, and Star Catalogues (Underhill) in the leading role of Tycho Brahe for Vancouver New Music. Other performances include Der Kaiser von Atlantis (Ullman) for the Goethe Institute, and a workshop of The Found Manuscript of the Saragosse by Jose Evangelista for Chants Libres of Canada. Long a favorite at the Banff Centre, his appearances there include the Rogue in an adaptation of Dostoevsky’s The Idiot and Arthur in Peter Maxwell Davies The Lighthouse with the latter reprised with the Opera Festival of New Jersey. Michael has recorded operas in progress for Atlantic Records and new works of composers on the BMI label. Originally from Hawaii, he now resides in New York where he includes gardening and raising chickens among his activities. He was on the faculty of New York University in the Music and Music Professions Department where he taught voice and was Music Director/Vocal Coach for an innovative new “rap” opera, Odin in spring 2006 at the Fred Lowe Theatre. The New York Times called this piece “an amazing example of what is possible in the world of new opera.” He has been a coach in the Banff Centre’s “Voice through body and movement” workshop with international artist, Richard Armstrong and served as a voice instructor and guest lecturer at the Banff Centre for their young artist training program entitled “Opera as Theatre”. He is currently on the faculty for the Adult Chamber Workshop program at SUNY, Stony Brook.