Jonathan Michie

Praised for performances that are “powerfully acted and ideally sung” (PBS Chicago), baritone Jonathan Michie’s 2026/27 season begins with consecutive productions as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, first with Finger Lakes Opera under the baton of Adam Turner and directed by Stephanie Havey, followed by a new production at Oper Halle directed by Walter Sutcliffe and conducted by Andreas Wolf. He also returns to the Leipzig Opera stage as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Yura Yang. He continues his relationship with the Thomanerchor and Gewandhaus Orchestra, singing Bach’s BWV 47 under the direction of Thomaskantor Andreas Reize, as well as an appearance at the prestigious 2027 Bachfest Leipzig.

In the 2025/26 season, Michie returned to the Leipzig Opera as a guest artist, debuting the role of Guglielmo in a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte directed by Katharina Thoma. He also debuted the role of Sharpless in Aron Stiehl’s production of Madama Butterfly. A sought-after interpreter of new music, his contemporary milestones include originating the role of Richard Loving in the world premiere of Damien Geter’s Loving v. Virginia for Virginia Opera (directed by Denyce Graves), originating Alan Turing in Justine Chen’s The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing at Chicago Opera Theater (conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya), and appearing as a featured soloist for American Lyric Theater’s 20th Anniversary Gala.

On the concert stage, Michie recently made debuts with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra as the Bass soloist in Haydn’s Die Schöpfung under the baton of Jonathan Darlington, and with the Danish Philharmonic Orchestra (Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester) in Handel’s Messiah, conducted by Lena Lisa Wüstendörfer. Further concert credits include the title roles in Handel’s Saul with the Hamburg Symphony Choir and Mendelssohn’s Paulus at the St. Nikolai-Kirche zu Elmshorn, as well as Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel with orchestra at Leipzig’s Gewandhaus. He has performed numerous Bach motets with the Thomanerchor and Gewandhausorchester at St. Thomas Church, including BWV 33, 127, 176, and 248/4. He has sung Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with both the Gewandhaus and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestras, Bach’s Ich habe genug BWV 82 with Musica Sacra, Orff’s Carmina Burana with the National Chorale, Fortitudo in Haydn’s Applausus in Bad Lauchstädt, and Rochester in Lortzing’s Zum Großadmiral with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester.

During his tenure as a soloist at the Leipzig Opera, Michie performed the vast majority of the lyric baritone repertoire, spanning more than twenty major roles. Highlights include the title role in Don Giovanni, Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Marcello (La bohème), Belcore (L’elisir d’amore), Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Silvio (Pagliacci), Valentin (Faust), Sam (Trouble in Tahiti), Ned Keene (Peter Grimes), Olivier (Capriccio), and Harlekin (Ariadne auf Naxos), among many others.

Michie made his European debut performing Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn with the Slovenian Philharmonic and joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera to cover Papageno. His extensive guest credits include performances at Los Angeles Opera (Papageno, Donald in Billy Budd, The Vicar in Albert Herring), Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (Donald), Seattle Opera (Dandini), Israeli Opera (Figaro), Florida Grand Opera (Papageno, Count Almaviva, Mercutio), The Santa Fe Opera (The Vicar, Prince Paul in La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein), Theater Bremen (Belcore), Teatro Comunale Bolzano (Valentin), the Beijing Music Festival (Harlekin), and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Masetto).

An alumnus of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program and the Santa Fe Opera apprentice program, Michie has also performed with the DNT und Staatskapelle Weimar, Chautauqua Opera, Spoleto Festival U.S.A., City Center Encores!, and Opera Saratoga. He has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as James Conlon, Jonathan Darlington, Ulf Schirmer, Lidiya Yankovskaya, Sir Andrew Davis, Giedrė Šlekytė, Matthias Foremny, David Reiland, Andrea Sanguineti, Ramón Tebar, and Gary Thor Wedow. Significant directors with whom he has worked include Stephen Wadsworth, Deborah Warner, Rolando Villazón, Katharina Thoma, Michiel Dijkema, Balázs Kovalik, Lindy Hume, Paul Curran, Renaud Doucet, Martin Lyngbo, and Anthony Pilavachi.

Jonathan Michie is the youngest first-prize winner in the history of the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya Competition and has received prestigious awards from the International Robert Schumann Competition, the William Matheus Sullivan Foundation, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the George London Foundation, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, and the Liederkranz Foundation, among others. He holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music and has also appeared in Off-Broadway and regional theater as a member of Actors’ Equity.