Michael Spyres (born 1979 in Mansfield, Missouri) is an American operatic tenor who studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and gained early acclaim for the title role of Rossini’s Otello at the Rossini in Wildbad festival in 2008. Possessing an unusually wide vocal range spanning tenor and baritone repertoire, he describes himself as a “baritenor,” and his career has taken in leading roles at La Scala, the Royal Opera House, and the Metropolitan Opera, including Énée in Berlioz’s Les Troyens and the title role of Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto.

Spyres’s 2017 recording of Les Troyens under John Nelson won Gramophone’s Recording of the Year, and his solo album Baritenor (2021) explored the historical fluidity between the tenor and baritone voice types. He made his role debut as Tristan in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera in 2026, further extending a repertoire already spanning Handel, Mozart, bel canto, and grand opera, and he also serves as artistic director of Ozarks Lyric Opera in his home state of Missouri.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Spyres