Michael Butler is an American lyric tenor hailing from Washington D.C.. He has been described as a “bright lyric tenor that rings throughout his range,” who possesses a “plush and resonant middle voice with vibrant high notes” (OperaWire). He made his Washington National Opera debut as the Mission Coordinator in the world premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s Grounded; he also sang the same role in the workshop of Grounded at The Metropolitan Opera. He will make his international and Italian debut as Martin in The Tender Land by Aaron Copeland, with Teatro Regio di Torino. An alumnus of Des Moines Metro Opera, Butler sang with the company as an apprentice artist in the 2020, 2021, and 2023 seasons. He was also a member of the prestigious Renée Fleming Artist cohort at Aspen Music Festival in the summer of 2022, where he sang the role of Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff alongside Sir Bryn Terfel in the titular role. He has been frequently seen around the D.C. Metropolitan Area in numerous concerts and productions with notable companies such as Opera Baltimore, Washington Opera Society, BelCantanti Opera, and Partners4theArts.

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Butler was recently named the winner of the New York District and Eastern Region of the Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition at The Metropolitan Opera, and moves on to participate in the Semi-Finals round this March. Other recent accolades include First Place in the 2020 Sue Götz Ross Memorial Voice Competition, and First Place in the 2020 National Classical Singer Competition. In April of 2023, Butler performed the title role in Gounod's Faust with Opera Baltimore, a role he first debuted in March of 2022 with Washington Opera Society. Selected previous credits include: Prince (cover) in Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges with Des Moines Metro Opera, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohéme (Maryland Opera Studio), Tamino in W. A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Miles Teller in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up (Maryland Opera Studio), Jimmy O’Keefe in John Musto’s Later the Same Evening (Maryland Opera Studio), Allan Murray in Justine Chen’s The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing (Maryland Opera Studio), Count Tassilo in Kálmán’s seldom performed operetta Gräfin Mariza (Washington Opera Society), Monostatos in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Maryland Opera Studio), Claudio in the world premiere of Francis Pollock’s Briscula the Magician (Belcantanti Opera Company), Il Messagero in Verdi’s Aïda (Washington Opera Society), Prince Sou-Chong in Lehár’s Das Land des Lächelns (Washington Opera Society), Borsa in Verdi’s Rigoletto (Belcantanti Opera Company), Ivan Lykov in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Czar’s Bride (Belcantanti Opera Company), the titular role in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory (Chicago Summer Opera), and Dancaire in Bizet’s Carmen (Washington Opera Society).

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Butler currently resides in New York City, where he is an Artist Diploma in Opera Studies candidate at the Juilliard School. He studies with Stephen Wadsworth, Diane Richardson, and Kevin Short, among many other world-renowned teachers and performers.