About Michael Parham
Most recently, Michael’s “resonant and ear caressing” baritone voice was heard as a featured soloist in Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera. This January, Michael debuted the role of Javan in the US Premiere of When the Sun Comes Out at Portland Opera. 2020-21 debuts included Tiger “Jackie” Brown in Threepenny Opera with City Lyric Opera, Lawyer Frazier in Porgy and Bess with South Florida Symphony, and Peter in Hansel and Gretel with Opera Las Vegas. As well, he made his debut in the eponymous role of Don Giovanni with UNLV Opera Theater. Over the summer of 2019, Michael made his role debut as Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus with the Martina Arroyo Prelude to Performance.
As a self-proclaimed “Choir Boy” Mr. Parham jumps at the opportunity to perform choral music and sacred works; Michael has been a featured soloist in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Dubois’s Seven Last Words of Christ, and Mozart’s Mass in C. In 2022, he will perform in the ensembles of Fire Shut Up in My Bones and Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg at the Metropolitan Opera and Beethoven Symphony, No. 9 at Lyric Opera of Chicago. As well, he is a touring member of the American Spiritual Ensemble.
Michael is a 2019-20 New York district winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a 2019 Semi-Finalist in the Premiere Opera Foundation Competition, and a 2017 Finalist in the Meistersinger Competition in Graz, Austria.
Michael is an alumnus of the Portland Opera Resident Artist Program, Oakwood University and the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. In addition, Michael holds a certificate in Italian Studies from the Istituto Avventista di Cultura Biblica in Florence, Italy.