Meet Doug.
Douglas Culclasure (Greenville, SC), tenor, is a recent graduate of the Maryland Opera Studio–an intensive performance program housed within the University of Maryland school of music. He is also a graduate of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. Recently, Culclasure was honored as a District Winner of the South Carolina District and Encouragement Award Winner of the Southeast Region of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Culclasure has joined the Apprentice Artist Program at Des Moines Metro Opera for two consecutive summers, appearing in the chorus of multiple mainstage productions and as Pete and covering Curley in Floyd’s Of Mice and Men.
During his time in Maryland, Culclasure appeared on the studio mainstage as Count Belfiore in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, Fabian and David in Jake Heggie’s If I Were You, Spärlich in Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, and Shadow Advisor in The Fishwife. In the spring of 2026, he made his concert debut with Choralis as the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. He appeared frequently in the UMD School of Music’s Bach Cantata series, singing the tenor solo in BWV 45, 81, and 161. In the winter of 2025, Culclasure was recognized with an encouragement award at the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (South Carolina District).
While at Northwestern University, Culclasure was an active participant in OPUS (Opera Projects for Undergraduate Singers), a student organization that served as Northwestern’s all-undergraduate opera company. He served on the OPUS executive board for three years, serving two terms as PR/Social Media Chair and one term as Treasurer. With OPUS, he appearedin multiple leading and comprimario roles, and also served as the stage manager and production meneger for sevear productions. Culclasure was also seen on the mainstage with Northwestern Opera Theater, starring as Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Harlequin in Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis. While studying at Northwestern, Culclasure made his professional oepratic debut, appearing as the Magician in The Consul with Third Eye Theater Ensemble.
Outside of opera, you’re most likely to find Culclasure riding roller coasters at amusement parks across the country, catching up on the Big Brother live feeds, or working on a foreign language. Culclasure has a passion for language education and has worked for many years as a counselor and instructor at the Concordia Language Villages Russian program Лесное Озеро/Lesnoe Ozero in Bemidji, Minnesota. In addition to Russian, Culclasure enjoys proficiency in Spanish and a working proficiency in Italian. Doug also speaks conversationally in French and has studied German, Dutch, Japanese, and Ukrainian. He is originally from Greenville, South Carolina.