Michael McCown

Michael McCown is an American operatic tenor, based at the Oper Frankfurt. While many of the ninety roles in his repertoire are comprimario, he has portrayed lead roles such as Britten's Captain Vere, Abott and Tempter, and Nebukadnezar.

Career

McCown was born in Abilene, Texas, the son of a pastor. He studied voice in Boston, and performed during his studies at the Aldeburgh Festival and at the Utah Opera.

McCown became a member of the Oper Frankfurt in 2001. He has a repertoire of more than 90 roles, appearing in Frankfurt as Normanno in Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', the Shepherd in Wagner's ''Tristan und Isolde'', Antonio in ''The Tempest'' by Thomas Adès, the Shepherd in Enescu's '' Œdipe'', the Duke of Cornwall in Reimann's ''Lear'' and the Prior in ' by Peter Eötvös. He also appeared as Don Alvar in Meyerbeer's ''L'Africaine'', Fedotik ''Tri sestry'' by Eötvös. In 2016, he portrayed Captain Vere in Britten's ''Billy Budd'' and, according to a review, "conveyed all the conflicted forces preying on the character's mind". Roles in 2020 included the Second Jew in ''Salome'' staged by Barrie Kosky. In 2021 he first sang Leonard in a new production of Nielsen's ''Maskarade'', Rouvel in Giordano's ''Fedora'', and Tinca in Puccini's ''Il tabarro''. He appeared in 2022 in new productions of Mozart's ''Die Zauberflöte'' as the First Armed Man, of Tchaikovsky's '' The Sorceress'' as Paisi, and of Puccini's ''Madama Butterfly'' as Yamadori. In 2023 he performed lead roles in a double bill of Britten's church parables at the Bockenheimer Depot, the double role of Abbot and Tempter in ''The Prodigal Son'', and Nebuchadnezzar in ''The Burning Fiery Furnace''. Axel Zibulski from the FAZ noted that McCown showed the "extreme lightness and luminous agility" ("extreme Leichtigkeit und leuchtende Wendigkeit") that characterised the voice of the composer's partner Peter Pears with whose voice in mind the music was written.

He performed as a guest in ''Der Rosenkavalier'' by Richard Strauss at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. He appeared as Walter von der Vogelweide in Wagner's ''Tannhäuser'' at the Aalto Theater in Essen, and as Scaramuccio in ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' by Richard Strauss at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

References

External links

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Michael McCown / Tenor
operabase.com
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McCown, Michael

Living people
Musicians from Cincinnati
American operatic tenors
21st-century American singers
Year of birth missing (living people)