The 2022/23 season saw Speedo’s first leading role at the Metropolitan Opera, starring as Emile Griffith in Terence Blanchard’s Champion, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and directed by James Robinson. Speedo also made his house debut at Opéra National de Paris singing Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, and his house debut at Bayerische Staatsoper as Varlaam in Boris Godunov. Orchestral engagements included Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and his debut with the New York Philharmonic in the world premiere of a piece by Courtney Bryan written for him. The academic year saw Speedo as an artist-in-residence at Florida State University, leading master classes with vocal students and performing a solo recital.

Speedo opened the Metropolitan Opera’s 2021/22 season as Uncle Paul in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, sang Varlaam in Stephen Wadsworth’s new production of Boris Godunov, reprised his Grammy Award-winning role of Jake in Porgy and Bess, portrayed Colline in La bohème, and also sang Truffaldino in Ariadne auf Naxos, which was broadcast as part of the Met’s Live in HD series.

In the fall of 2016, Little, Brown, and Co. published Sing for Your Life, by New York Times journalist Daniel Bergner. The book tells the story of Speedo’s personal and artistic journey: from a trailer park in southeastern Virginia and from time spent in Virginia’s juvenile facility of last resort to the Met stage. The New York Times Book Review called the book “one of the most inspiring stories I’ve come across in a long time,” and The Washington Post called it a “vital, compelling, and highly recommended book.” Among other recognitions, Sing for Your Life was a New York Times Best Seller and New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, a Washington Post Notable Book, and a Publishers Weekly Book of the Year.