Stunning… Tenor Michael Hendrick as Lennie gives what probably will be regarded as one of this season's great performances. He negotiated Lennie's difficult vocal part with only the slightest sign of strain during last week's premiere. From the standpoint of stage drama, he imbued his character with layers of complexity, joining extremely physical acting to a surprisingly sweet tenor voice that makes Lennie's dark side all the more jarring. Mr. Hendrick's Lennie is clearly good at heart but not in touch at all with normal human boundaries or appropriate behavior, or most particularly with his own strength. Like fellow ranch-hand Candy's worn-out old dog, which is finally put down by a co-worker, there is only one possible ending for a misfit such as Lennie… you'll have to experience this for yourself.

as Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (Carlisle Floyd)

The Washington National Opera

Tenor Michael Hendrick was awe-inspiring as the half-wit Lennie. He brought the pathetic, gentle giant to life on stage, and presented his struggle honestly and nobly. His clear, pure voice range with guileless pathos, and he appeared to be about 9 feet tall.

Hendrick rendered Lennie with indisputable authority. He could caress a phrase suggesting complete innocence, and then in an instant create a sensation of utter, frightening menace.... Contemporary opera offers few human beings who are so different from each other, yet so intractably codependent. And in bass Rod Nelman and tenor Michael Hendrick, Kentucky Opera has a pair of singers fully capable of translating Steinbeck's inexhaustible yearning into potent theater.

The Tucson Convention Center Music Hall crowd of 1,600 thundered its approval of the two hour and 15 minute work, saving its most enthusiastic applause for tenor Michael Hendrick, who played the lumbering innocent Lennie. There were many great performances last night, chief among them those of Hendrick. Hendrick's Lennie captured in the fullest sense the childlike innocence of this hulk of a man. In the opening scene, when George tells Lennie that despite the trouble he causes, George will stick by him, Hendrick dances around like a 4-year old with a balloon. When the puppy that Lennie too vigorously strokes dies, Hendrick throws its lifeless corpse to the ground like a spoiled child. And when George tells Lennie at the close to look across the river and see the farm they'll someday have, Hendrick's fidgeting feet tell a tale of uncluttered, childlike joy. Vocally, Hendrick was impressive, sporting a big, warm sound from top to bottom, handily projected to the cheap seats.

as Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (Arizona Opera)

Heading a powerful, unforgettable cast is tenor Michael Hendrick as Lennie Small. Hendrick projects an indefatigably naive figure, a character of kitten-like sanguineness capable of transformation into pantherish fury. Floyd gives him music equal to the sensibility, simple constructed but all over the range and very exposed. The score frequently calls for Lennie to pull high notes out of the blue, which Hendrick does with impeccable taste.

as Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (Arizona Opera)

Stellar vocal and dramatic performance by Michael Hendrick as Lennie.

as Paul in Die Tote Stadt @ Opéra National de Nancy et de Lorraine

It is a strong but daring idea of giving Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City) without intermission, 2:20 of continuity, often furious, requires only that Paul, the tenor protagonist, constantly in a tessitura crucifying, lend oneself. The young American Michael Hendrick does, still capable of a piano line that draws tears at the final reprise, as remembered within, the song Glück das mir verblieb.

as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos @ Festival Amazonas de Ópera (Manaus, Brazil):

... a remarkable Bacchus (American Michael Hendrick)

as Menelas in Die Ägyptische Helena @The Metropolitan Opera

Newcomer Michael Hendrick assaulted the stratosphere with steely stamina.

as Menelas in Strauss' Die Ägyptische Helena @ The Metropolitan Opera

He was replaced by Michael Hendrick, who had sung the dress rehearsal on Monday and was all set to go. Making your Met debut in such tense circumstances has to be intimidating. Still, Mr. Hendrick saved the day, singing with husky sound and energy.

Michael Hendrick takes his role very seriously, as it did in the prologue. His Bacchus, whose frequencies are safe and well designed, gains in beauty what it loses in vocal characterization. However, when these reserves fall, the ecstatic final duet, and Hendrick and Shaguch reach an accuracy and sincerity of interpretation which show the depth of metamorphosis, new beginning that gives life to life.

In Française:

Michael Hendrick prend son rôle très au sérieux, comme il l'avait fait dans le prologue. Son Bacchus, dont les aigus sont sûrs et bien projetés, gagne en beauté vocale ce qu'il perd en caractérisation. Ces réserves tombent toutefois lorsque, dans l'extatique duo final, Shaguch et Hendrick atteignent une justesse et une sincérité d'interprétation qui montrent bien la profondeur de la métamorphose, nouveau départ qui redonne vie à la vie.

as Zhivny in Osud (Janácek) @ Bard Summerscape Festival

From the opening of Act II Zhivny dominates the stage, beginning gently and happily, singing quite tenderly as he recalls a loving letter he wrote to Mila and progressing to enraged self-reproach before the catastrophic closing moments. It might seem that there was nothing left to top the melodrama of that closing, but Janácek contrives an even stronger climax at the end of Act III, with Zhivny’s final convulsive outpouring. It's a solo scene lasting well over six minutes, and it takes everything a tenor's got to give. The tenor of the occasion handled it wonderfully: Michael Hendrick, a veteran of Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington Opera, and New York City Opera, commanded both power and pathos, and in addition revealed, in earlier scenes and calmer moments, a marked sweetness of tone.

... replaced very competently by Michael Hendrick.

as Samson in Samson et Dalila @ Kentucky Symphony Orchestra

Internationally renowned tenor Michael Hendrick... a very sympathetic, deeply emotional, finely characterized hero. His voice is one of great strength, distinctly lyrical. For his big scene, Hendrick spewed forth power, frustration and heart-breaking misery. He stunned the audience with a thunderous high B-flat as Samson brought down the temple.

as Paul in Die Tote Stadt @ Opéra National de Nancy et de Lorraine

The Paul of Michael Hendrick... demonstrates his amazing strength to carry to the end and without intermission the terrible writing of the role. His relative awkwardness perfectly suits the character as a neurotic recluse who lives only in memory of his lost past.

as Paul in Die Tote Stadt @ Opéra National de Nancy et de Lorraine

Michael Hendrick embodies a Paul fragile and poignant. His expressive range and timbre of valour are those of a Heldentenor.

The American tenor Michael Hendrick, an experienced Bacchus, took over.

As it turned out, Mr. Hendrick was grappling with a cold as well. He went on, but he requested the audience’s understanding, a Met spokesman announced from the stage.

Bacchus is a relatively short yet notoriously punishing heldentenor role. Clearly struggling, Mr. Hendrick dropped some phrases and skipped some top notes. Still, the basic components of his burly voice came through, and he survived the big final duet with Ariadne.

as The Stranger in Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane @ The London Philharmonic

At the opposite extreme was a young and immensely promising heldentenor in Michael Hendrick. He rode the often inhuman tessitura of the Stranger with courage and belief, singing and phrasing with real beauty, not just brawn.

as Menelas in Die Ägyptische Helena @ The Metropolitan Opera

Tenor Michael Hendrick stepped in... as Menelas (as he had also done halfway through the premiere, on March 15) and demonstrated musical sensitivity whenever the orchestral volume relented.

as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly @ Syracuse Opera

A pair of stellar singing and acting performances by the two principal roles helped Syracuse Opera's production of "Madama Butterfly" pack an emotional wallop. I only wish I owned the Kleenex tissue concession in the lobby.

Hendrick has a powerful voice that loses no steam in its high register and that can soar well above Puccini’s sizable orchestral accompaniment, as in his "Dovunque al mondo" of Act 1 and the "Love Duet" with Lim.

Tenors Michael Hendrick as Laca and Robert Breault as Steva are both wonderful. Hendrick's portrayal is dynamic and poignant as he struggles with his jealousy and hatred of Steva and his passion for Jenufa.