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Texas State University-San Marcos
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San Marcos, Texas 78666
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Texas State > College of Fine Arts & Communication > School of Music > Faculty/Staff > Faculty Bios > Cary Michaels

Cary Michaels

The adjectives, which constantly appear in reviews of Cary Michaels' performances, are: "effortless", "splendid", "passionate", "rich", and "resonant". These qualities are prerequisites of the music of the Bel Canto style. Works by composers from this period - Mozart, Händel, Rossini, Donizetti - are particularly suited to this lyric tenor. In the works of these composers, along with those of Haydn, Bach, Schubert, and Massenet, where style and beauty of voice are primary requirements, Cary Michaels' versatility is demonstrated by his success in coping with the stringent demands of this music.

Cary Michaels has performed nearly 40 leading operatic roles, ranging from "Ferrando", "Werther", "Tamino", "Count Almaviva", and "Elvino", to more unusual roles such as "The Devil" in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Night Before Christmas and "Chanticleer" in the opera of the same name by Seymour Barab.

Some of the companies Mr. Michaels has worked with are Opera Omaha, Opera Ebony, The Virginia Opera Association, Opera Delaware, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Opera Theater, Northern Virginia Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, the Chautauqua Opera Company, and The Corfu International Music Festival (Corfu, Greece).

An active concert artist, Mr. Michaels has performed nearly 50 oratorios that include works from the Baroque to the Contemporary, in major cities in the U.S. and Europe, with organizations such as the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Austin Choral Union, the Austin Choral Artists, the Victoria Bach Festival, the New Texas Festival, the Wisconsin Choral Union, the North Danish Symphony Orchestra (Aalbørg, Denmark), the Kammerorchester (Frankfurt, Germany), the Pennsylvania Pro Musica, the Musica Sacra (Cincinnati, Ohio), and the Santa Fe Desert Chorale.

Mr. Michaels received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Indiana University School of Music, a Master of Music Degree from the University of Nebraska School of Music, and an Artist Diploma from the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, all in Vocal Performance.

Mr. Michaels is an educator, having taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is now a tenured Associate Professor of Vocal Music at Texas State, where he teaches private voice and vocal diction. He is one of the Co-Directors of the music ministry at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas.