One of today’s most sought-after lyric coloratura sopranos, Erin Morley has been praised for the ‘silken clarity of her voice and the needlepoint precision of her coloratura’ (New York Times). A recipient of the Beverly Sills Award and a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, her performances have garnered huge critical acclaim worldwide and she regularly appears on the greatest opera stages such as Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris, Glyndebourne Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera and the Metropolitan Opera where she has now sung more than 100 performances and has been featured in five “Live in HD” broadcasts.
In the 2023-24 season, Morley makes her highly anticipated debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Gilda Rigoletto and returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper as Chief of Police and Venus in Krzysztof Warlikowski’s new production of Le Grand Macabre. On the concert platform, Morley embarks on a CD release tour as Morgana Alcina with Les Musiciens du Louvre under the baton of Marc Minkowski to venues including the Teatro alla Scala, Concertgebouw and the Barbican Centre. Further concert engagements include Orff Carmina Burana with the Orchestre de Paris under the baton of Andrés Orozco-Estrada; Mozart Requiem with Ensemble Pygmalion for her BBC Proms debut; a gala concert with Washington Concert Opera; Poulenc Gloria with Houston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Juraj Valčuha; Brahms Requiem with the Orchestra of St Lukes at Carnegie Hall conducted by Bernard Labadie; and recitals in Berkeley and at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC.
Highlights of the previous season include a double appearance at the Metropolitan Opera as Sophie in Robert Carson’s production of Der Rosenkavalier and Pamina in a new production of Die Zauberflöte conducted by Nathalie Stutzmann; at Wiener Staatsoper as Gilda Rigoletto; Morgana in a tour of Alcina with Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble conducted by Marc Minkowski; Poulenc Gloria with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lorenzo Viotti; Beethoven Missa Solemnis with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Riccardo Muti; Carmina Burana with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood Festival conducted by Andris Nelsons; and Mozart Mass in C Minor for the Mostly Mozart Festival at the Lincoln Center, conducted by Louis Langrée.
Further recent appearances include in the title role in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera; her Teatro alla Scala debut as Zerbinetta Ariadne auf Naxos; her debut as Norina Don Pasquale at Glyndebourne; Tytania A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Santa Fe; a critically acclaimed debut in one of the most iconic coloratura roles, Lakmé with Washington Concert Opera; Sophie Der Rosenkavalier at the Wiener Staatsoper and a show-stopping appearance during the Met Stars at Home Gala where she delighted the audiences by accompanying herself at the piano and singing an extraordinary rendition of “Chacun le sait, chacun le dit” from La Fille du Régiment; Tytania in a new production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Wiener Staatsoper; Gilda Rigoletto at Bayerische Staatsoper and Staatsoper Berlin; Konstanze Die Entführung aus dem Serail; Sophie Der Rosenkavalier at Opera de Paris; Gilda Rigoletto, Zerbinetta Ariadne auf Naxos and Sophie at Wiener Staatsoper; Fiakermilli Arabella and Gilda at Bayerische Staatsoper; Lucia di Lammermoor in Nancy; Queen of the Night Magic Flute, Roxana Krol Roger, Mme Silberklang Der Schauspieldirektor and Stravinsky The Nightingale all at Santa Fe Opera; Zerbinetta at Glyndebourne; and Sandrina La Finta Giardiniera in Lille and Dijon with Emmanuelle Haïm. Cunegonde in Candide, another role that Morley has made her own, has been performed in stellar company at LA Opera with James Conlon and actors Kelsey Grammer and Christine Ebersole; with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Phildalephia Orchestra with Alek Shrader, Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan; and at the Carnegie Hall Centenary with John Lithgow.
The breakthrough moment in Morley’s career came when she stepped in at the last-minute to sing Sophie in an entire run of Der Rosenkavalierat the Metropolitan Opera during the 2013-2014 season, which was hailed by critics as “a major success”. Since then, Met audiences have also seen her as Sophie in Robert Carsen’s new production of Der Rosenkavalier; as Olympia Les Contes d’Hoffmann; as Constance Les Dialogues des Carmélites; and as Pamina The Magic Flute, among others.
Equally at home on the concert platform, Morley has performed with leading orchestras such as Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. She has appeared on tour with Harry Bicket and The English Concert, Louis Langrée and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and with the Met Chamber Ensemble in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall.
A dedicated recitalist, her appearances include recitals with pianist Vlad Iftinca (Salt Lake City’s Virtuoso Series, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, and Festival du Lied in Fribourg, Switzerland),and with pianist Ken Noda (at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Brigham Young University, and the Alice Tully Hall Vocal Arts Honors Recital). Morley also appeared in the famous televised New Year’s Eve concerts with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Christian Thielemann, performing Princess Mi in Léhar’s Das Land des Lächelns.
Her many recordings include Isabelle Robert le Diable under the baton of Marc Minkowski at the Opéra National de Bordeaux for Palazzetto BruZane; Sophie in the Met’s GRAMMY-nominated Der Rosenkavalier on DVD/Blu-Ray for the Decca label; Sandrina La Finta Giardiniera with Emmanuelle Haïm in Opéra de Lille’s production for the Erato label; Woglinde Götterdämmerung in the Metropolitan Opera’s GRAMMY-award winning Lepage Ring Cycle for Deutsche Grammophon; Marguerite de Valois Les Huguenots, live from Bard SummerScape for the American Symphony Orchestra; Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3 “Espansiva”with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic for Da Capo Records; and Sylvie in Gounod’s opéra-comique La Colombe with Sir Mark Elder and The Hallé Orchestra for the Opera Rara label.
Morley spent her early years studying violin and piano, and frequently collaborated with her violinist mother. An undergraduate of the Eastman School of Music, she went on to earn her Master of Music voice degree from The Juilliard School and her Artist Diploma from the Juilliard Opera Center in 2007, where she received the Florence & Paul DeRosa Prize. Morley also trained at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist, the Ravinia Festival Steans Institute, and the Wolf Trap Opera Company as a Filene Young Artist. She won 1st Prize in the Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition in 2002, 1st Place in the Licia Albanese – Puccini Foundation Competition in 2006, 3rd Place in London’s Wigmore Hall International Song Competition in 2009, and received the Richard Tucker Career Grant in 2013.
