Overview
Voice
Michael Sylvester joined Wichita State University after a distinguished international career as a lyric-spinto tenor. In 1989, USA Today named him one of the two most important tenors of his generation. He holds a Bachelor of Music in voice performance from Westminster Choir College and a Master of Music from Indiana University.
Sylvester has performed leading roles in many of the world’s foremost opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, London’s Covent Garden, Milan’s La Scala, Vienna Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, and Paris Opera. During the 1990s, he sang Radamès in Verdi’s Aida more than any other tenor at the Metropolitan Opera. His extensive repertoire includes nearly 50 roles such as Don Carlo in Don Carlo, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Calaf in Turandot, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, Samson in Samson et Dalila, and Don José in Carmen. His concert repertoire includes Verdi’s Requiem, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Symphony No. 8, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
His recordings include the title role in Don Carlo with James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (Sony Classics), Adorno in Simon Boccanegra with Sir Georg Solti (Decca), Calaf in Turandot (EMI), and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Robert Shaw (Telarc).
Before joining Wichita State, Sylvester taught at DePaul University, Indiana University, and the University of Indianapolis. His students perform internationally; among them, bass-baritone Le Bu won the 2024 Operalia competition and now appears in major opera houses across Europe and the United States. Sylvester is co-founder and general director of the Bel Canto Institute: San Miguel and established the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Opera Competition’s first international district in Mexico.
Bachelor of Music in voice perf. - Westminster Choir College
Master of Music in voice performance - Indiana University