Biography

This season for HGO, Butler Studio alumnus Federico De Michelis performs the role of Imperial Commissioner in Madame Butterfly at Miller Outdoor Theatre. De Michelis has performed the roles of Laurentino in El Milagro del Recuerdo (2022), Balthazar in La favorite (2020), Nourabad in The Pearl Fishers (2019), Colline in La bohème (2018), Achillas in Julius Caesar (2017), and other roles with HGO in recent seasons. In the 2023-24 season, De Michelis reprised his role as Laurentino in El Milagro del Recuerdo with San Diego Opera and joined the Houston Chamber Choir in the world premiere of The Joyful Mysteries by Daniel Knaggs. His season also includes the first workshop of a new work by composer Gabriela Lena Frank, written for him, with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Highlights of recent seasons include roles with San Antonio Opera as Frère Laurent in Romeo and Juliet and Central City Opera as Elmiro in Otello. Other recent highlights included the role of Sacristan in Tosca  at the Dutch National Opera in 2022 and a Seattle Opera debut as Colline in La bohème. De Michelis received 3rd prize in HGO’s Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias, and was named “Outstanding Student” by Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain. Offstage, he is a composer and founder of “The New Song Project.”