Michael Sumuel

Lauded as having “vocals that are smooth and ingratiating” (Daily Camera), American bass-baritone Michael Sumuel’s recent engagements include the role of Reginald in 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 last appeared with Music of the Baroque in September 2023.

A busy concert artist, Michael Sumuel joined Jaap van Zweden and the New York Philharmonic for the Mozart Requiem; Jonathan Cohen for both Handel’s Messiah with the San Francisco Symphony and Les Violons du Roy in Québec for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio; Bernard Labadie and the Seattle Symphony for Bach’s Passion According to St. John; and the National Symphony Orchestra for the Fauré Requiem. He will also reprise the role of Jesus in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at Washington National Cathedral.

Highlights of previous seasons include the role of Belcore in L’elisir d’amore with Metropolitan Opera, the Father in Blue with English National Opera, Elviro in Xerxes with Detroit Opera, and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Pittsburgh Opera. In concert, Michael Sumuel performed Mozart’s Requiem with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and James Conlon, and Bach Cantata Nos. 61 and 140 with the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston. He also opened Washington Concert Opera’s season with a gala performance alongside soprano Tammy Wilson, and returned to Mercury Houston for Handel’s Messiah. He also toured Europe with Pacific Chorale, performing in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Florence Price’s Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight.

Michael Sumuel appears in the Mozart Requiem on September 17 and 18.