Demetrious Sampson, Jr. is a rising tenor from South GA and a graduate of the Georgia State University School of Music. While attaining his Bachelor of Music under the instruction of Kathryn Hartgrove, he performed many roles with the Georgia State Opera Theater, most memorably, Captain Vanderdender in Candide and the titular role in John Musto’s Bastianello. At just 20 years old he was honored to make his professional debut with the Atlanta Opera in their 2019 production of Porgy and Bess as the show stealing “Crab Man”. His reprisal of said role at Des Moines Metro Opera as an Apprentice Artist in the Summer of 2022, was received as a “delight” by the Wall Street Journal. In the Spring of 2023, he made his Kennedy Center debut with the Washington Chorus as the tenor in Undine Smith Moore’s 16-part oratorio Scenes from the Life of a Martyr.
This past Summer Demetrious joined the prestigious Merola Opera Program alongside a cohort of some of the most promising singers of our time. Performance highlights include portraying Nemorino in a scene from Donizetti’s hilarious yet heartfelt L’eslisir d’amore, a well-reviewed performance in the program’s Metamorphosis Song Recital and scenes from La Boheme and Fellow Travelers for the Merola Grand Finale in the War Memorial Opera Theater.
Mr. Sampson has been the recipient of several great awards including second prize and audience choice at the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition, second prize at the Opera Grand Rapids VanderLaan Prize, a Grand Finalist of the Schmidt Vocal Arts Undergraduate Competition and The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition District Winner and Regional Encouragement Awards. Demetrious has joined the acclaimed Houston Grand Opera Sarah and Ernest Butler Studio as a first-year young artist.