[5] McCorkle originally focused on piano before switching to voice, later graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music.
[1] McCorkle's first contracted opera performance was the role of Vladimir Lensky in Eugene Onegin, at the Spoleto Festival USA in 2017.
[9] His other operatic roles include Peter the Honeyman in Porgy and Bess, the Duke of Cornwall in Lear, Leonard Woolf in The Hours, and Telemaco in Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria.
[3][4] In May 2023, McCorkle performed an original interpretation of the song cycle Dichterliebe ("A Poet's Love"), with music by Robert Schumann set to poetry by Heinrich Heine.
He sang and accompanied himself on the piano, alongside video projections by visual designer Miwa Matreyek and dancing by Jah'Mar Coakley.