Ryan Hughes

Biography

Ryan Hughes, tenor, is a rising fourth-year undergraduate at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, where he studies under bass-baritone Stephen West. He studies Voice Performance and Choral Music Education, and most recently sang the role of Jupiter in the University of Michigan’s mainstage production of Händel’s Semele this past March. In 2025, he debuted the role of Aman in the University of Michigan OperaLab workshop production of Christopher Theofanidis and Melissa Studdard’s Siddhartha, She. He has performed the tenor solos in Schubert’s Mass in G and Tarik O’Reagan’s Dorchester Canticles with the University Arts Chorale.

Hughes has participated in masterclasses with Miles Mykkanen, Joshua Hopkins, Eric Jurenas, and Paul Appleby. He also performed as a member of the University of Michigan Chamber Choir with EXIGENCE and the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center under Thomas Adès this past January.

Hughes has music directed full productions of Ride the Cyclone and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder at Michigan, and assistant conducts Out of the Blue—a University of Michigan outreach ensemble dedicated to providing music to those who lack access to it in facilities such as prisons, juvenile detention centers, and addiction recovery programs.

He will return to the Prague Summer Nights Festival this summer to sing the role of Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, having sung Don Basilio in Le Nozze Di Figaro with the company last summer in Vienna, Austria.

(6/2026)