American baritone, Michael Chioldi, has become one of North America’s most sought after young talents. He has sung a wide variety of operas with New York City Opera including the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Pasquale, L’Elisir d’Amore, Hansel and Gretel, Il Viaggio a Rheims, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, Turandot, Carmen, Die Zauberflöte , Central Park, A Little Night Music, and L’Enfant et les Sortileges which served as his debut with the company. In 2008 his performance of Sharpless in Madama Butterfly on PBS’ Live from Lincoln Center earned him an Emmy Award.
In 2008 he debuted with Theater Pforzheim as Der Fliegende Hollander. In 2009, he returned to Long Beach Opera to sing his first Forrester in The Cunning Little Vixen (where he had previously sung The Barber in Strauss’ Die Schweigsame Frau)  and makes his Glimmerglass Opera debut as John Sorel in The Consul. In 2009-10 he debuted in Oviedo, Spain as Scarpia in Tosca and traveled to Macau and Hawaii Opera Theater for Nozze . He sang Nixon in Nixon in China for Long Beach Opera under Andreas Mitisek, the title role of Hamlet with Washington National Opera conducted by Placido Domingo and his first Alfio/Tonio in Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci for Chautauqua Festival.
For 2010-11, he made his debut with Opera National de Bordeaux as Escamillo in Carmen, and returned to Washington National Opera for Butterfly and to Utah Opera as Ford in Falstaff. He debuted with Opera Cleveland as Tonio in Pagliacci. In 2011-12 he again will be seen with Washington, this time as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor and returns to Fort Worth Opera as Scarpia.
He made his debut with the New York Philharmonic, singing the role of Harry Easter in Street Scene for the Centennial Celebration of Kurt Weill, conducted by Leonard Slatkin. He later appeared in concert with the National Symphony with Slatkin at the Kennedy Center in L’Enfant et les Sortileges. He also sang Die Freischutz in Carnegie Hall with Eve Queler’s Opera Orchestra of New York.
With the American regional theaters he has sung with San Diego Opera (Don Giovanni), Minnesota Opera (Boheme and the double bill of Carmina Burana/Pagliacci), Utah Opera (Lucia di Lammermoor) , Palm Beach Opera (Lucia and Pasquale), Fort Worth Opera (Tosca and Falstaff), Toledo Opera (The Crucible and Tosca),Chautauqua Opera (Lucia, Nozze, Elisir), Spoleto Festival USA ( Bright Sheng’s Silver River, Cavalli’s Giasone and the American première of Weill’s Die Bürgschaft), Opera North (Eugene Onegin), PORT (Nozze), Sioux City Symphony (La Traviata) , and Lyric Opera of Kansas City (Carmen). With Arizona Opera he sang John Sorel in The Consul which was commercially recorded for Newport Classics.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Chioldi appeared in numerous productions with the Metropolitan (where he debuted as Fleville to Pavarotti’s Andrea Chenier), Houston Grand Opera and San Francisco Opera. His Washington Opera debut was as Figaro in Il Barbiere dui Siviglia.
In 2005 he made his French debut with L’Opéra de Montpellier in performances and a recording of Cilea’s L’Arlesiana. He also toured with Seiji Ozawa as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte.
In Canada he has been seen on several occasions with Toronto’s Opera Atelier: in Lully’s Persee, Don Giovanni and Nozze.
He has several world premieres to his credit: Lennox Berkley’s The Dinner Engagement in Sao Paolo, Brazil, Anthony Brandt’s The Birth of Something with Da Camera of Houston, as Lucious Harney in Stephen Paulus’ Summer, based on the Edith Wharton novel of the same name, and in the San Francisco Opera production of Harvey Milk, which was recorded by the Sony Classics label.
He has been the recipient of many awards and competitions, including The Metropolitan National Council Auditions, The McAllaster Competition, The Miami Opera competition, The Albanese-Puccini Competition, The Sullivan Foundation Awards, The Anna Case McKay Grant at the Santa Fe Opera, The Outstanding Performer Award from Yale University 1991-1993 (where he received his Masters of Music) and the West Virginia University Merit Award from 1987-1991 (where he received his Bachelor’s of Music).
