On both sides of the Atlantic, the American baritone Jonathan Michie is on the verge of establishing a more than flattering reputation thanks to exceptional vocal abilities and a charismatic stage presence, as both an actor and a singer.

In the United States, Jonathan made his operatic debut as a young artist at the Santa Fe Opera in the role of the Vicar in Britten's Albert Herring and Count Dominik in Strauss' Arabella. He was a member of the renowned Merola Program at the San Francisco Opera, singing his first Figaro in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Subsequently, he collaborated with the most prestigious houses in leading roles : Chicago Opera Theater (creating the title role in The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing by Justine Chen and David Simpatico); Los Angeles Opera (Papageno in Die Zauberflöte by Mozart or Donald in Billy Budd by Britten); Seattle Opera (Dandini from Rossini's La Cenerentola); Florida Grand Opera (Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro and Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, a role he reprised with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Conlon); Santa Fe Opera (Prince Paul in La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein by Offenbach and Baron Douphol in La Traviata by Verdi).

In Europe, Jonathan has established very close ties with the Leipzig Opera and Gewandhaus Orchestra. He took on a number of roles, while maturing those discussed previously, with a linguistic talent that was unanimously praised.
In addition to operas in English (Sam in Trouble in Tahiti by Bernstein; Hiram Otis in The Canterville Ghost by Gordon Getty), German opera occupies a special place: Papageno in Die Zauberflöte by Mozart; Olivier in Capriccio and Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos by Strauss; Kühleborn in Lortzing's Undine; Ottokar in Weber's Der Freischütz; Ein Tierbändiger in Lulu by Berg; Konrad Nachtigall in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

He shines equally in Italian works: Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Dandini in La Cenerentola by Rossini; Belcore in L’elisir d’amore and Malatesta in Don Pasquale by Donizetti; Silvio in Pagliacci by Leoncavallo ; Marcello in La bohème and Sonora in La Fanciulla del West by Puccini.

Jonathan's affinity with French opera was affirmed in Leipzig with Valentin in Faust as well as the stage production of Cinq-Mars by Gounod where he performed Conseiller de Thou, in collaboration with Palazzetto Bru Zane.


Jonathan Michie performs throughout the world: the Rome Opera (Donald in Billy Budd), the Teatro Comunale in Bolzano (Valentin in Faust), the Beijing Festival (Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos), Tel Aviv Opera (Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia), etc. On the concert stage, he has appeared with ensembles including the Gewandhaus Orchester, Slovenian Philharmonic, Munchner Rundfunkorchester, Jerusalem Symphony, Musica Sacra, and the New World Symphony.

The list of conductors with whom Jonathan has collaborated is impressive : Sir Andrew Davis, James Conlon, Ulf Schirmer, Frédéric Chaslin, Jonathan Darlington, Lidiya Yankovskaya, Giedre Slekyte, Ramon Tebar, Christoph Gedschold, etc. As far as stage directors, we can mention Stephen Wadsworth, Deborah Warner, Francesca Zambello, Paul Curran, Renaud Doucet and Rolando Villazon.

For the 2023/24 season, Jonathan returns, particularly in Leipzig, to his favorite major roles: Papageno in Die Zauberflote, title role in Don Giovanni, Marcello in La Boheme, Dandini in La Cenerentola. Let us highlight his return to Zwickau, birthplace of Robert Schumann, for the opening concert of the International Robert Schumann Competition of which he is a laureate.

Having trained at the Eastman School of Music as well as being a member of Actors’ Equity, Jonathan has received distinctions from numerous competitions. In addition to the Robert Schumann Competition, we can mention the Sullivan Foundation, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, the Lotte Lehmann Foundation and the Liederkranz Foundation among others, Jonathan is the youngest winner in the history of the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya Competition.