During HGO’s 2025-26 season, Butler Studio alumnus Michael Sumuel performs the role of Porgy in Porgy and Bess. Sumuel has been seen regularly at HGO in roles such as Sharpless in Madame Butterfly (2024); Marcello in La bohème (2018); Belcore in The Elixir of Love (2016); Papageno in The Magic Flute (2015); Superintendent Frank in Die Fledermaus (2013); Masetto in Don Giovanni (2013), and many more. During the 2025-2026 season, Sumuel returns to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Papageno in The Magic Flute. He also makes debuts at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as Leporello in Don Giovanni, as well as the Deutsche Oper Berlin, performing Alberich in Wagner’s complete Ring Cycle and Achilla in Giulio Cesare. During the 2024-25 season, Sumuel returned to the Metropolitan Opera and debuted with Opera Australia in Sydney to sing the title role in The Marriage of Figaro; performed in his first performances as Porgy in Porgy and Bess with Washington National Opera; and performed as Sharpless in Madame Butterfly with the Canadian Opera Company and LA Opera. During the 2023-24 season Sumuel’s engagements included singing Reginald in a new production of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X at the Metropolitan Opera and the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen at Detroit Opera. Sumuel is the recipient of a Richard Tucker Career Grant. He is a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finalist and a winner of the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition.