Michael Spyres was born in Mansfield (Missouri) where he grew up in a family of musicians. He began his studies in the U.S.A. and continued them at the Vienna Conservatory.
Spyres first sprang to international attention as an ensemble member of Deutsche Oper Berlin where he made his debut as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte in 2008. Since then he has debuted at some of the most prestigious opera theatres and festivals worldwide such as the Teatro alla Scala (Belfiore in Il viaggio a Reims and subsequently Rodrigo in La donna del lago), at the Salzburg Festival (Betulia Liberata), the Semperoper Dresden (Gianetto in La gazza ladra), the Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro (Baldassare in Ciro in Babilonia, a solo recital, Rodrigo in La donna del lago and the title role of Aureliano in Palmira), the Liceu in Barcelona (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (La donna del lago), the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Die Fledermaus), La Monnaie (Arnold in Guillaume Tell) and the London Proms (Missa Solemnis).
Upcoming engagements include the title role of La damnation de Faust in Warsaw, Pirro in Ermione in La Coruna, Lyon and Paris, Giasone in Mayr's Medea in Corinto at the Festival della Valle d'Itria Martina Franca, Rossilon in The Merry Widow at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Tempo in Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno at the Aix-en-Provence Festival as well as the title part of Mitridate, re di Ponto in Paris (Théâtre des Champs Elysées), London (Covent Garden) and Brussels (La Monnaie).
He has worked with conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Mark Elder, Valery Gergiev, Alberto Zedda and Evelino Pidò. Michael Spyres has recorded Rossini's La gazzetta, Otello, Le siège de Corinthe and Guillaume Tell (Naxos) as well as La petite messe solennelle (Naive), Donizetti's Les Martyrs (Opera Rara), Mazzoni's Antigono (Dynamic), Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots (ASO), Schumann's Faust-Szenen (ASO), Verdi's Otello (CSO) and his solo album A Fool For Love (Delos). Ciro in Babilonia from Pesaro (Opus Arte) and Les Contes d'Hoffmann from Barcelona (Erato) are available on DVD/Blu-Ray.