Michael Spyres joins Riccardo Muti and the Vienna Philharmonic for Verdi’s Requiem at the Salzburg Festival

Just weeks after his hugely acclaimed all-Baroque recital Tenorissimo, Michael Spyres returns to the Salzburg Festival as one of the four soloists in Verdi’s monumental “Messa da Requiem”, conducted by Riccardo Muti and performed by the Vienna Philharmonic. Spyres joins soprano Iwona Sobotka, mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa, bass Maharram Huseynov, and the Vienna State Opera Chorus for three performances at the Großes Festspielhaus on August 15, 17, and 18.

One of today’s most versatile and acclaimed tenors, the Missouri-born Spyres brings his extraordinary stylistic range, vocal brilliance, and dramatic insight to Verdi’s deeply moving masterpiece. The Requiem reunites him with Muti, whose interpretations of Verdi have long been regarded as benchmarks, for one of the Salzburg Festival’s major concert events of the 2026 season. The opening performance on August 15 will be broadcast live on Ö1, beginning at 11:03 a.m.