Erin Morley

Vocalists — Soprano

Manager: Michael Benchetrit
Management Territory: Worldwide

As Roxana in Szymanowski’s King Roger with the Santa Fe Opera: “But perhaps the biggest scene-stealer of the night was the bright, warm soprano of Erin Morley who sings Roxana, Roger’s queen. She pierces through all of the male voices and big orchestration but never with a blunt disservice to the whole. She’s as seductive as anything in this opera about giving one’s self over to the sensual world.” —Brian Holt, Out West Arts, July 22, 2012

As the Soprano Soloist in Carmina Burana with the New York Philharmonic: “What made the evening stand out was the trio of soloists. Erin Morley bore the incandescence of a Disney princess circa the days of Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, imbuing the delicate ‘In trutina’ with a heartbreaking sense of desire and trepidation. Her subsequent ‘Dulcissime,’ a work with very little orchestral backup that allows the soprano to shine with dizzying coloratura and arpeggios, captured the sense of ignited passion.” —Olivia Giovetti, Operavore Blog, June 1, 2012

“Queen Marguerite — a role sung by Joan Sutherland on a landmark 1969 recording, conducted by Richard Bonynge — was sung here by Erin Morley, a coloratura soprano who combined earthy sound and agile technique in a formidable performance.” —Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, August 3, 2009-As Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots at Bard Summerscape

About

Soprano Erin Morley is one of today's most promising lyric coloratura sopranos. Her Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots at the Bard Festival was described by the New York Times as a “formidable performance”.

This season Ms. Morley returns to her home company, the Metropolitan Opera, for Sister Constance in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites and makes her debut at the Palau de la Musica in Valencia as Gilda in Rigoletto. She appears in concert with the Houston Symphony as the Soprano Solo in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with Hans Graf and with the . . . Philadelphia Orchestra as the Soprano Solo in Carmina Burana with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. Future engagements include leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, the Wiener Staatsoper and the Bayerische Staatsoper.

Last season Ms. Morley returned to the Metropolitan Opera for Woglinde in Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung and the Forest Bird in Siegfried - Siegfried and Götterdämmerung being the last two installments of the new Robert Lepage Ring Cycle. In the summer Ms. Morley also returned to the Santa Fe Opera for a role debut, Roxana in Szymanowski’s King Roger. She added two major works to her repertoire: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Utah Symphony and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Indianapolis Symphony, the latter piece being the vehicle for her return to the New York Philharmonic (where she was also heard in Nielsen’s rare Symphony No. 3). Ms. Morley performed Bach cantatas with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and was joined by pianist Vlad Iftinca in Solo Recitals in Salt Lake City’s Virtuoso Series and in Carnegie’s Weill Hall.

Earlier engagements include the soprano’s much-acclaimed Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute with the Santa Fe Opera; Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with James Bagwell and the Collegiate Chorale in Carnegie Hall; Phédon in Satie’s Socrate with James Levine and the Met Chamber Ensemble in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall. Erin Morley’s roles at the Metropolitan Opera in the 2009-2010 season were Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos, the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel and the Daughter in The Nose. Other notable engagements during that season included the soprano solos in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Bernard Haitink, a Gala Concert with the Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall, and the Lulu Suite with the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst at Carnegie Hall.

Ms. Morley has sung with the New York City Opera; as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier in a 2006 Gala Benefit, and as Giannetta in L’Elisir d’Amore. Also an alumna of Wolf Trap Opera Company, Ms. Morley debuted the role of Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos there in 2008. She sang Laoula in Chabrier’s L’Étoile, and Frasquita in Carmen with Wolf Trap as well.

In concert Erin Morley has performed in New York’s Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall; she has been featured as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Utah Symphony, Salt Lake Symphony, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah Chamber Artists and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra; she has also appeared in concert in China and Italy. She won 1st Place in the Licia Albanese – Puccini Foundation Competition in 2006, and 3rd Place in the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition in 2009.

A 2010 graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Ms. Morley has sung several roles at the Met, including Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos, the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel, and the Daughter in The Nose. Ms. Morley completed her Artist Diploma at the Juilliard Opera Center in 2007, where she received the Florence & Paul DeRosa Prize. She earned her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and her Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music. She won 1st Place in the Licia Albanese – Puccini Foundation Competition in 2006, and 3rd Place in London’s Wigmore Hall International Song Competition in 2009.

Updated January 2013