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,