To celebrate and spotlight some of the field’s top emerging singers, OPERA America asked company leaders to nominate the artists who have caught their ears and eyes.

East Georgia native Demetrious Sampson Jr. grew up in what he calls “real destitution — we were living in abandoned trailers at times” and going to bed without power or water on more than one occasion. He always loved to sing, but it was when a teacher told him that he could earn good money as a tenor that he thought, “OK, well maybe I’ll be a tenor.”

Sampson Jr. started off singing in the choir in his elementary school and later began taking operatic lessons in high school as both a counter­tenor and tenor. “I was 6’3”, never under 200 pounds, and I had a big afro — people’s jaws dropped when I audi­tioned as a countertenor because I was this huge guy,” he says, chuckling.

He attended Georgia State University, where he sang as a baritone in Gianni Schicchi due to a casting quirk. From there, Sampson Jr. jumped straight to Houston Grand Opera’s Sarah and Ernest Butler Studio, where he sang as Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess — a favor­ite role — the witch in Hansel and Gretel, and Lennie in Of Mice and Men. Colin Brush, director of HGO’s Butler Studio, praises Sampson Jr. for his “incred­ibly rare and distinctive voice” and “unique individual artistic perspective.”

The tenor has also performed with Wolf Trap Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and Austin Opera and will continue to make U.S. company debuts in the coming season.

In the Wings is underwritten by generous support from Laurie E. Nelson Randlett, trustee of the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera.