Michael Bishop

Manrico was the protean baritenor’s only Verdi role in 2024 in a year that otherwise included Lohengrin, Don José, and the title role in Pfitzner‘s Palestrina. While Spyres’s focus for 2025-26 is on Wagner rather than Verdi — including Siegmund and Walther at Bayreuth as well as Tristan at the Met in the spring —  one has to wonder if Verdi’s Otello (he already sang Rossini’s) can be far off?