Voice
BM Westminster Choir College
MM Indiana University
COURSES TAUGHT:
Applied Voice
CONTACT INFORMATION:
About
Tenor Michael Sylvester, a native of Indiana, holds a B.M. from Westminster Choir College and a M.M. from Indiana University. He studied with the famed Wagnerian soprano and teacher Margaret Harshaw from 1974 until her death in 1997. Widely considered one of the finest lyric spinto tenors of his generation, Mr. Sylvester has sung leading roles in the major opera houses of the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, London’s Covent Garden, Milan’s La Scala, Veinna Staatsoper, Opera Australia’s Sydney Opera House, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, Paris Opera, Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon, Houston Grand Opera, Venice’s Teatro La Fenice, Staatsoper Berlin, Grand Theater de Geneva, Deutshe Oper Berlin, Florence’s Maggio Musicale, Hamburg Staatsoper, Bonn Staatsoper, Frankfurt Staatsoper, Opera de Toulouse, the New Israeli Opera and many others. During the 1990s, Mr. Sylvester sang more performances at the Metropolitan Opera of Radames in Verdi’s opera AIDA than any other tenor.
In October 2001, Mr. Sylvester made his professional directing debut staging AIDA for the Indianapolis Opera, to great critical acclaim.
Among others his opera repertoire includes Radames in AIDA (which he has sung more than 150 times), the title role Don Carlo in DON CARLO, Adorno in SIMON BOCCANEGRA, Cavaradossi in TOSCA, Pinkerton in MADAMA BUTTERFLY, Calaf in TURANDOT, Bacchus in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS, Der Kaiser in DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN, Samson in SAMSON ET DALILA, Eleazar in LA JUIVE and Pollione in NORMA.
Among the many works he has performed in concert are Verdi’s REQUIEM, Mahler’s Das Leid von der Erde and Symphony #8 and Beethoven’s Symphony #9 with orchestra’s worldwide.
Mr. Sylvester’s recordings include the title role in DON CARLO with James Levine (Sony Classics), Adorno in SIMON BOCCANEGRA with Sir George Solti (Polygram video), Calaf in TURANDOT (EMI video), Mahler’s Symphony #8 with Robert Shaw (Telarc), Mendelssohn’s Die ertse Walpurgisnacht (Arabesque) and many others.
In 2000 Mr. Sylvester celebrated his 25th anniversary as a professional singer. In his spare time Mr. Sylvester enjoys writing, woodworking and computer programming. He resides in Carmel, Indiana with his wife, Michele and son Griffin. His oldest son, Steven, is a Major in the U. S. Air Force.
Beyond teaching voice in Indianapolis and Chicago, Mr. Sylvester is involved in the development of several web projects and operates Lane MGMT, an artist management agency for non-US choirs who wish to perform in the United States