Michelle Beale and Dick Anderson / Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Mr. Milton D. Rosenau Jr. Fellow 
A second-year Butler Studio artist from Huntington Beach, California, Michael McDermott is the third-place winner in HGO’s 2023 Eleanor McCollum Competition Concert of Arias and a 2021 alumnus of HGO’s Young Artists Vocal Academy. During HGO’s 2024-25 season, he performs as Messenger in Il trovatore, Don Ramiro in student and Family Day performances of Cinderella, and a tenor soloist in Breaking the Waves. During HGO’s 2023-24 season, he performed the roles of Bardolph in Falstaff and 4th Esquire in Parsifal. In 2022, he covered the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the Aspen Music Festival and returned in 2023 to perform Arbace in Idomeneo. At The Juilliard School in New York, he performed the roles of Spärlich in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Filippo in Haydn’s L’infedeltà delusa, as well as appearing in Liederabends and recitals. In summer 2024, McDermott sang the role of Camille de Rosillon in The Merry Widow at the Glyndebourne Festival. His recent competition wins include first prize in the 2024 Grand Concours Vocal Competition, first prize in the Schmidt Vocal Competition, and first prize in the Scholarship Division of the National Opera Association’s Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition. McDermott received his Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School, and pursued his master’s degree at Rice University.