Michael Dries was a guest-student at the Musikhochschule, Munich, the city of his birth. He undertook his first engagement at the Hess State Theatre, Wiesbaden, followed by engagements in Augsburg, at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf, in Innsbruck, at the Theater Bremen and the Hanover State Opera. Guest engagements include Baron Ochs at the German National Theatre, Weimar, König Heinrich at the Opéra National, Lyon, Monterone at the Bavarian State Opera and Don Alfonso at the Hamburg State Opera.