Reviews

as Tenor Soloist in Messa da Requiem (Verdi) @ Syracuse Symphony Orchestra

Tenor Michael Hendrick has at his disposal a powerful voice easily capable of navigating Verdi's sometimes torturous soaring lines. His vocal color is pleasantly warm and, given its somewhat baritone-ish warmth, has surprising strength in the upper register. When it came time for the grand conclusion of this main tenor solo, he nailed it in a decisive and thrilling fashion.

as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos (Pittsburgh Opera)

Michael Hendrick's Tenor was funny throwing hissy fits in the Prologue, but even funnier as an overly dramatic Bacchus in the opera. His booming voice was a sure fit with Eaglen's.

as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos (Pittsburgh Opera)

The leading male roles are also magnificently performed. Tenor Michael Hendrick as Bacchus steps up to match Eaglen's soaring melodic lines at the end of the opera.

as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos (L’Opera de Montréal)

Michael Hendrick has a strong, estimable heroic tenor voice, silver plated and magnificently constant, and delivers a convincing interpretation of the invaluable Ténor/Bacchus.

as Zhivny in Jánácek's Osud

Bard Summerscape 2003

In the cruelly exacting high tessitura of the protagonist, Michael Hendrick revealed impressive stamina and an attractive, powerful "young dramatic" voice ideally suited to leading Czech tenor roles.

as Živny in Osud (Jánácek)

Bard Summerscape 2003

Janacek's depressing story centers on Mila (Christine Abraham), who has an out-of-wedlock child with the composer Zivny (Michael Hendrick) and has been kept away from him by her mother (Linda Roark-Strummer).

Zivny, thinking Mila has betrayed him, composes an angry opera that is a fictionalized account of the events, then reunites with her at the spa where they first met. Four years later, after the pair marry, the mother visits them, gets into an argument, and the mother and daughter go over the balcony to their deaths.

The final act is set 11 years later, when an excerpt of the opera is in rehearsal, and the students realize the still-unfinished work is about the composer's life. The opera closes with sort of a male Libestod, with Zivny collapsing while fixated on the image of his dead wife.

Abraham, looking gorgeous in red dresses, was impressive and intense as Mila, dominating the stage whenever she was on it, and Hendrick and Roark-Strummer also gave highly polished accounts.

as the Zhivny in Osud (Jánácek)

Bard Summerscape 2003

Heading the excellent cast was Michael Hendrick as the composer. With a strong tenor voice hinting at a wail, he was the picture of an intellectual confronted with a life of emotional suffering. His lengthy final aria was part life confession and part music lecture (‘the dissonant chords of life beat on’). Those the metaphors wore a bit thin, it was a fascinating coda that surely revealed some of Janacek’s own thoughts.

as Levko in Rimsky-Korsakov's May Night

Sarasota Opera

As the love-struck villager Levko, tenor Michael Hendrick mixed a malleable blend of steel and velvet.

In the pivotal role of Levko, tenor Michael Hendrick was outstanding, impressive for both his attractive, ample sound and convincing Slavic style.

as Levko in Rimsky-Korsakov's May Night at Sarasota Opera

as Prince Vodémon in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta (Dicapo Opera Theater, New York City)

Michael Hendrick, as the prince himself, offered an excellent lyrical sweetness in the love duet, and his high notes rang sure.

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.

Singing and dramatic intensity were at fever pitch. At the intermission, it was announced that Michael Hendrick (Lennie Small) was "indisposed," a condition that he had gamely concealed during Act I. Nonetheless, Hendrick sang with plenty of power and gusto, a bit restrained in his acting but turning in a most powerful performance throughout.

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

as Sam Polk in Floyd's Susannah @Opera Carolina

Strong performance by Michael Hendrick as Sam… Hendrick brought vocal authority to his role.

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)