American baritone Michael Todd Simpson’s many roles include the title role in Eugene Onegin, Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Silvio in Pagliacci, Escamillo in both Carmen and Le Tragedie de Carmen, Zurga in The Pearl Fishers, Marcello in La Bohème, Lescaut in Manon, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, John Sorel in The Consul, Jaufré Rudel in Sariaaho’s L’Amour de Loin, Ravenal in Show Boat, Billy Bigelow in Carousel, and the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance. He has appeared all over the U.S. in opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, Dallas Opera, Seattle Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Cleveland Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Portland Opera, and the Ft. Worth Opera, and internationally at Opera North (U.K), Opera Australia (in Australia and Taiwan), and the NCPA in Beijing. He most recently made his European debut at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as Escamillo in a new production of Carmen directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov.

Mr. Simpson stars as Ravenal in the DVD of the San Francisco Opera’s production of Show Boat. He also sang the role of Tooley in the American premiere of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett’s The Mines of Sulphur at the Glimmerglass Festival, which was recorded and released by Chandos Records in 2005.

A native of Gastonia, NC, Mr. Simpson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in vocal performance from Erskine College in Due West, SC, and earned his Masters of Music degree at the College Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati. He is also a graduate of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program and the Glimmerglass Opera Young American Artists Program. His many awards include regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Spanish Prize in the 2007 José Iturbi International Music Competition, first prize in the first annual Marguerite McCammon Voice Competition, the Sara Tucker Study Grant awarded by the Richard Tucker Foundation and the Richard F. Gold Career Grant, and first place winner of the 1996 and 1999 South Carolina National Association of Teachers of Singing vocal competition.