Hailed for his “full, exciting lyric baritone” (Opera News) and “elegant lyricism and responsive musicality” (The New York Times), Sean Michael Plumb is one of the most dynamic and compelling baritones of his generation.
The American baritone has sung on many of the most important opera and concert stages around the world including among others The Metropolitan Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Salzburg Festival, Paris Opéra, Opéra national de Lyon, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Seattle Opera, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Munich Radio Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and Heidelberger Frühling Festival.
His broad operatic repertoire includes the title roles in Billy Budd, Eugene Onegin, and Il barbiere di Siviglia, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Marcello and Schaunard in La bohème, Frank-Fritz in Die tote Stadt, Dandini in La cenerentola, Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos, and Younger Galileo in Glass’ Galileo Galilei.
In the 2024-25 season, Sean returns to the Bayerische Staastoper as Frank-Fritz in Die tote Stadt and to the Metropolitan Opera as Papageno in Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Schaunard in La boheme. In concert, Sean will perform Schönberg’s Die Jakobsleiter at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Fauré Requiem with the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Carnegie Hall, Melot in Act II of Tristan und Isolde with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Simon Rattle, and Carmina Burana with The Cleveland Orchestra. He makes his Irish debut in recital with pianist Dearbhla Collins at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.
In July 2025, Sean makes his role debut as Billy Budd at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
The 2023-24 season included Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Bayersiche Staastoper and Seattle Opera, Schaunard La bohème the Metropolitan Opera, Harlekin Ariadne auf Naxos at the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and Younger Galileo/Salviati in Galileo Galilei at the Opera Theatre Saint Louis. Sean also performed Carmina Burana with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and appeared in the Richard Tucker Gala at Carnegie Hall.
Career highlights include a host of international appearances including Albert Werther at the Houston Grand Opera, Harlekin Ariadne auf Naxos at the Metropolitan Opera, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Ballet de l’Opéra national de Paris and frequent appearances at the Bayerische Staatsoper in roles such as Guglielmo Così fan tutte, Papageno Die Zauberflöte, Dandini La cenerentola, Schaunard La bohème, Shchelkalov in Boris Godunov, and Prosdocimo Il turco in Italia. His wide-ranging concert repertoire includes Carmina Burana, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem, Faure Requiem, and many contemporary and world-premiere works.
The California native made his Bayerische Staatsoper debut in the 2015-16 season in the world premiere of Srnka’s South Pole, and he remained in Munich as a member of the soloist ensemble for a decade. Winner of a 2022 Career Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, Sean Michael Plumb was honored by President Obama as a United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts at a ceremony at The White House and he has garnered a multitude of awards including the Grand Prize of the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Top Prize at the 2016 Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition, a 2016 Shoshana Foundation Grant, the 2015 Sullivan Foundation Award from The Sullivan Foundation, Top Prize at the 2015 Opera Index Competition, a 2015 Sara Tucker Grant from The Richard Tucker Foundation, First Prize at the 2015 Gerda Lissner Liederkranz Competition, and the 2015 Theodor Uppman Prize from the George London Foundation. He graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied under renowned instructors Mikael Eliasen and William Stone.