Erin Morley

In the 2026–27 season, Erin Morley returns to the Wiener Staatsoper as Marie in La fille du régiment and to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos. She also appears as Morgana in concert performances of Alcina at Teatro di San Carlo and as Sophie in concert performances of Der Rosenkavalier with the Orchestre Métropolitain under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. On the concert platform, Morley joins MasterVoices and Ted Sperling for Celebrating Handel and appears in the New Year’s Concert with Gulbenkian Música. She returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as the soprano soloist in Haydn’s The Creation, conducted by Enrique Mazzola, and joins the Metropolitan Opera for its 60th Anniversary Gala and for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 under Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Further highlights include Beethoven’s Egmont with the New York Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel. In recital, Morley reunites with Lawrence Brownlee for their acclaimed Golden Age programme, including appearances for the Celebrity Series of Boston and at LA Opera.

Last season, Morley made her anticipated role debut as Marie in Laurent Pelly’s production of La fille du régiment and appeared as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, both at the Metropolitan Opera. She also returned to the Wiener Staatsoper as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos and to Opernhaus Zürich as Zdenka in Arabella. On the concert platform, to mark the long-awaited release of Morley and Lawrence Brownlee’s new duo album, Golden Age, they embarked on a celebratory recital tour, presenting the in-demand programme at venues including Vocal Arts DC, the Konzerthaus Berlin with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, New York’s 92nd Street Y, Opera Carolina, and the Newport Classical Music Festival, among others. Morley also appeared in a gala concert at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall with the Metropolitan Opera Chamber Ensemble; gave a solo recital at Dallas Opera; performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in Boston; and joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Poulenc’s Gloria.

Recent operatic highlights include company debuts with the Royal Ballet and Opera in London, as Gilda (Rigoletto) and at Teatro La Fenice in Venice as Zerbinetta in a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos; Pamina in a new production of Die Zauberflöte; the title role in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice; Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier; Gilda in Rigoletto; and Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, all at the Metropolitan Opera. She also made her Teatro alla Scala debut as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos; performed Gilda in a new production of Rigoletto; Tytania in a new production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Zerbinetta and Sophie at the Wiener Staatsoper; Norina in Don Pasquale and Zerbinetta at the Glyndebourne Festival; a critically acclaimed debut as Lakmé with Washington Concert Opera; Gilda at Staatsoper Berlin; Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Sophie at Opéra National de Paris; Fiakermilli in Arabella and Gilda at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor in Nancy; and Tytania, Roxana in Król Roger, Mme Silberklang in Der Schauspieldirektor, and the title role in Stravinsky’s The Nightingale, all at Santa Fe Opera. Cunegonde in Candide is another signature role, performed with LA Opera under James Conlon alongside Kelsey Grammer and Christine Ebersole; with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra alongside Alek Shrader, Bradley Cooper, and Carey Mulligan; and at the Carnegie Hall Centenary with John Lithgow.

Equally at home on the concert platform, recent successes include her debut at the Arena di Verona in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Carmina Burana; Cunegonde in concert performances of Candide at the Semperoper Dresden; performances in Berlin and Vienna with Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Berlin as the soloist in a programme of Strauss orchestral songs; appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Baroque, and Dallas Symphony Orchestra; Morgana in Alcina with Les Musiciens du Louvre under Marc Minkowski at Teatro alla Scala, marking the release of a new recording on Pentatone; soprano soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Orchestre de Paris under Andrés Orozco-Estrada; a gala concert with Washington Concert Opera; Poulenc’s Gloria with the Houston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Juraj Valčuha; Brahms’ Requiem with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall conducted by Xian Zhang; Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Riccardo Muti; Carmina Burana with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Festival conducted by Andris Nelsons; Mozart’s Mass in C minor for the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center with Louis Langrée; a tour with Harry Bicket and The English Concert; performances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Met Chamber Ensemble in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall; and Poulenc’s Gloria with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lorenzo Viotti at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Vienna’s Musikverein. In recital, she presented Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch with Huw Montague Rendall and Malcolm Martineau at London’s Wigmore Hall and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.

Recitals in Berkeley and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; Park Avenue Armory; Yale School of Music; Friends of Chamber Music; and the BRAVO! Series at Brigham Young University marked the release of her solo recital album Rose in Bloom. Morley also appeared in the famed televised New Year’s Eve concerts with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Christian Thielemann, performing Princess Mi in Lehár’s Das Land des Lächelns. She regularly performs with leading orchestras, including the 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. A dedicated recitalist, Morley’s appearances include collaborations with pianists Vlad Iftinca, Ken Noda, Gerald Martin Moore, and Malcolm Martineau.

Morley’s latest album, Golden Age, released on Pentatone in 2025, sees her join tenor Lawrence Brownlee, the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, and conductor Ivan Repušić in a celebration of 19th-century opera and the golden age of bel canto, featuring arias and duets by Donizetti, Rossini, Bizet, Delibes, and Verdi. The album received widespread critical acclaim and was named Best Solo Album at the 2026 OPER! Awards. Her debut recital disc with Gerald Martin Moore, Rose in Bloom, released in 2024, also received critical acclaim worldwide and was praised as the “crystalline debut of a new high coloratura star.” Her many recordings include Morgana in a complete recording of Handel’s Alcina for the Pentatone label; Eurydice in the Met’s GRAMMY-nominated recording of Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice; Princesse Isabelle in Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable with Opéra National de Bordeaux for Palazzetto Bru Zane; Sister Constance in the Met’s GRAMMY-nominated Les Dialogues des Carmélites; Sophie in the Met’s GRAMMY-nominated Der Rosenkavalier on DVD/Blu-ray for Decca; Mater Gloriosa in the LA Phil’s GRAMMY-winning Mahler Symphony No. 8 with Gustavo Dudamel for Deutsche Grammophon; Princess Mi in the Staatskapelle Dresden’s Das Land des Lächelns with Christian Thielemann for Unitel; Sandrina in La finta giardiniera with Emmanuelle Haïm in Opéra de Lille’s production for Erato; Woglinde in Götterdämmerung in the Metropolitan Opera’s GRAMMY-winning Lepage Ring Cycle for Deutsche Grammophon; Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots from Bard SummerScape with 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, frequently collaborating with her mother, violinist Elizabeth Palmer. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, she went on to earn her Master of Music degree in voice from The Juilliard School and her Artist Diploma from the Juilliard Opera Center, where she received the Florence & Paul DeRosa Prize. Morley also trained at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist, the Ravinia Festival Steans Institute, and the Wolf Trap Opera Company as a Filene Young Artist. She won First Prize in the Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition in 2002 and First Place in the Licia Albanese–Puccini Foundation Competition in 2006. She also received the Richard Tucker Career Grant in 2013, the Beverly Sills Award in 2021, the Opera News Award in 2023, and the Eastman School of Music Centennial Award in 2023, and was named Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2024.