About Tyrese Byrd
Tyrese Byrd, tenor, is a native of Greenville, South Carolina known for his musicianship and expressive tone. His 2022-2023 season includes his debut with Toledo Opera as Police Buddy 1 in Blue by Jeanine Tesori, and a return to Madison Opera as Don Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro. On the concert stage, Tyrese will make his debut with Akron Symphony, will perform with S.C. Bach, return to Toledo Symphony for their performance of Handel’s Messiah, and will give several seminar-recitals with the Singing Justice Collaboratory Team with the University of Michigan.
His 2021-2022 season brings several company debuts. He made his debut with Michigan Opera Theatre singing the role of Don Basilio in Ragnar Kjartansson’s Bliss. He served as a studio artist at Madison Opera where he performed Normanno and covered Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor. He also covered Georg in She Loves Me and sang Mercury in Orpheus in the Underworld. With Chicago-based organization Hearing in Color, Tyrese sang the role of Jesse in the world premiere performance of Undying Love, a one-act opera by Steve Wallace premiered with D-Composed, an all-Black ensemble. Tyrese also made his debut with the Toledo Symphony in December as the tenor soloist in Messiah.
While managing this busy season, Tyrese is also a graduate student at the University of Michigan, studying with Dr. Louise Toppin. There he has performed Miles in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up and Herr Vogelsang in Der Schauspieldirektor, and he was a featured soloist in Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard and Bach Cantatas 131 and 61.
Tyrese is also passionate about uplifting the music of Black composers who are often excluded from the Western canon. He is currently working with a research team called Singing Justice with the University of Michigan Humanities Collaboratory, who endeavor to infiltrate higher education and the concert stage using Black Song.
Tyrese completed his undergrad studies at Furman University where he studied with Dr. Grant Knox, where he sang Le Prince Charmant in Massenet’s Cendrillon, Arpad in She Loves Me, and the title role in Bastien und Bastienne. He is an accomplished concert soloist, with repertoire including in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat, several other sacred and secular cantatas, Mozart’s Requiem, Coronation Mass in C, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.