Michael McCown
tenor
© Barbara Aumüller
The American tenor Michael McCown, a popular member of the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt since 2001, has built up a repertoire of more than 90 roles during his career. During the 2023/24 season his roles include the White Minister & Domino in new productions of Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre & Offenbach's The Bandits, Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte and the Doge in Rossini's 5 tenor Otello. Last season he sang in Die Zauberflöte, Tchaikovsky's The Sorceress (Paisi) and Britten's The Prodigal Son (Abbot/Tempter) & The Burning Fiery Furnace (Nebuchadnezzar) - all new productions, Spoletto (Tosca), Schoolmaster / Mosquito (The Cunning Little Vixen), the Witch (Hänsel und Gretel), Triquet (Eugene Onegin) and Yamadori (Madama Butterfly). In 2021/22 he sang 2nd Jew in Salome, Leonard in a new production of Nielsen's Maskerade, Borsa in Rigoletto, Rouvel in a new production of Giordano's Fedora, Antonio in Rossini's La gazza ladra / Thieving Magpie, Yamadori in a new production of Madama Butterfly and Tinca in the last revival of Puccini's Il tabarro. He recently enjoyed great success here with Captain Vere in Billy Budd, Mime in Das Rheingold, Don Alvar in a new production of Meyerbeer's L’Africaine. Other roles in recent seasons have included Johnny Inkslinger (Paul Bunyan), the Witch (Hänsel and Gretel), a Dancing Master (Ariadne auf Naxos), Fedotik (Eötvös’ Tri sestri / Three Sisters), Prior Walter (Angels in America), Antonio (The Tempest), the Duke of Cornwall (Reimann's Lear - available on CD - OehmsClassics), Mastro Trabuco in La forza del destino, Fürst Hérisson de Porc-Epic (Chabrier's L’Étoile) and Monostatos (Die Zauberflöte). This tenor, who trained in Boston, appeared at Oper Frankfurt as a guest before joining the ensemble. Recent engagements have included appearances at the Aldeburgh Festival, Utah Opera, Walther von der Vogelweide (Tannhäuser) in Minden and the Aalto Theater in Essen, Scaramuccio (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Darmstadt, Nürnberg and Wiesbaden state theatres, a role in a play at Schauspielfrankfurt and, most recently, in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in the Steinbruch St. Margarethen.