Born and raised in Miami, FL, Cuban-American tenor Michael Anthony Rodriguez is currently based in Orlando, FL, where he can be found performing regularly as Crush in Walt Disney World’s Finding Nemo: The Big Blue & Beyond, as a Dapper Dan in Disney’s Magic Kingdom on Main Street USA, and with Disney’s internationally-acclaimed ensemble The Voices of Liberty. Before his move to Orlando, Michael was most formerly a Mainstage Artist with Opera Southwest, where he performed the roles of Pong in Puccini’s Turandot and Le comte Albéric in the American premiere of Louise Bertin’s Le loup-garou, where he was praised for his “sweet though powerful tenor voice [which] could produce a really dulcet sound” (Donizetti Society, 2022). A former artist in residence with the Houston Grand Opera for their 2021-2022 season, he was seen in their mainstage productions of Bizet’s Carmen, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Puccini’s Turandot, and Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, as well as in the role of Almaviva in their touring production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. During his time in Houston, Michael also sang the role of the Navigator in a second-round workshop of composer Jeremy Howard Beck’s new opera: Another City, and was able to work as part of HGO’s Community & Learning program in several of their outreach projects. He received his BM and MM in Vocal Performance from Stetson University and Louisiana State University respectively under the tutelage of esteemed Professors Robert Grayson, Craig Maddox, and Metropolitan Opera sensation Paul Groves. Mr. Rodriguez came to national attention as a four-time district and regional winner/encouragement winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions in 2021-24, and internationally as a finalist in the 10o Concorso internazionale “Città di Pisa” Omaggio a Titta Ruffo, as well as during his recital tour in Vienna. His previous roles include Eisenstein in Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Sesto in Händel’s Giulio Cesare, Le Chevalier des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon, Ferrando in W.A. Mozart’s Così fan tutte, the Chevalier de la Force in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, the title role of Britten’s Albert Herring, Valetto in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, Niki in Straus’s Ein Walzertraum, Franz/Dennis in Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, Ben in Menotti’s The Telephone, St. Aphrodisus in Menken & Schwartz’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Yakuside in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Additional highlights include various Gilbert & Sullivan roles, such as Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, Ko-Ko in The Mikado, and both roles of Sir Jospeh Porter & Boatswain in H.M.S. Pinafore. Michael has also performed as a featured soloist with Opera Orlando, New Orleans Opera, Vero Beach Opera, the Bel Canto Singers of Daytona, Treasure Coast Community Singers, and the Millennium Master Chorale, and looks forward to making his solo debut with the Orlando Philharmonic in their May 2026 performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, as well as with Orlando Sings in February 2026, as the tenor soloist for Florida’s first-ever performance of Händel’s Messiah in Spanish.