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Lawrence Brownlee, tenor, and Erin Morley, soprano, lead a performance class with School of Music Voice students Katie Eggers, Matthew Jordan, Danielle Bullock, and Gillian Hollis.
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Lawrence Brownlee is a leading figure in opera, both as a singer who has graced the world’s leading stages, and as a voice for activism and diversity in the industry. Captivating audiences and critics around the globe, he has been hailed as “an international star in the bel canto operatic repertory” (The New York Times), “one of the world’s leading bel canto stars” (The Guardian), and “one of the most in-demand opera singers in the world today” (NPR).
In the 2024-2025 season, Mr. Brownlee makes his highly anticipated role debut in the title role of Mozart’sMitridate, re di ponto with Boston Lyric Opera. He also returns to The Metropolitan Opera as Count Amaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (broadcast Live in HD in theaters worldwide), and joins Opéra national de Paris as Tonio in La fille du régiment and Arturo in I puritani, as well as The New National Theatre in Tokyo as Count Almaviva, and Bayerische Staatsoper as Tonio. On the concert stage, Mr. Brownlee will join Levy Sekgapane in a duo concert with the Latvian National Orchestra, L’Auditori in the closing concert, and will embark on a recital tour featuring songs from his acclaimed Rising program across North America and Europe.
Highlights of Mr. Brownlee’s recent seasons include his return as Ernesto in Don Pasquale at Teatro alla Scala Milan and as Tonio in La fille du régiment at Lyric Opera Chicago, as well as his role debuts as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at The Metropolitan Opera, as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at The New National Theatre Tokyo and Fernand in a new production of Donizetti’s La Favorite with Houston Grand Opera. In spring 2021, Brownlee joined The Juilliard School as a Distinguished Visiting Faculty Member. He serves as artistic advisor for Opera Philadelphia and is an Ambassador for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Lyric Unlimited as well as Opera for Peace.
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Erin Morley is one of today’s most in-demand coloratura sopranos. Her performances have garnered huge critical acclaim as she regularly appears on the great opera stages of the world.
Erin Morley has been praised as “the personification of bel canto” (Opera News), and is “in a class of her own among coloratura sopranos, singing even the most dazzlingly difficult material with beauty and musical sense” (New York Classical Review). A recipient of the Beverly Sills Award, Morley’s performances have garnered huge critical acclaim worldwide as she regularly appears on the greatest opera stages, including the Vienna State Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Bavarian State Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Staatsoper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Teatro La Fenice, Arena di Verona, Glyndebourne Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera and Metropolitan Opera, where she has now sung more than 140 performances and has been featured in eight “Live in HD” broadcasts.
For the 2025-26 season, Morley makes her long-awaited role debut as Marie in La Fille du Régiment at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as returning to Pamina in The Magic Flute. She also returns to the Wiener Staatsoper as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, and makes a company and role debut as Zdenka in Arabella at Opernhaus Zürich. A highlight of the season will be Pentatone’s release of Morley’s duet album “Golden Age” with superstar tenor Lawrence Brownlee and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester led by Ivan Repušić. Brownlee and Morley will tour this program at Vocal Arts DC, University of Wisconsin, Berlin’s Konzerthaus with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Opera Carolina, and New York City’s 92nd St Y. Elsewhere on the concert platform, Morley will solo with the Met Orchestra at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, delivers a solo recital at Dallas Opera, and returns to the Chicago Symphony for Poulenc’s Gloria.
Recent operatic highlights include: Pamina in a new production of Die Zauberflöte, the title role in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier and Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, all at the Metropolitan Opera; her Teatro alla Scala debut as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos; Gilda in a new production of Rigoletto, Tytania in a new production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Zerbinetta, and Sophie, all at the Wiener Staatsoper; Norina in Don Pasqualeand Zerbinetta both at Glyndebourne Festival; a critically acclaimed debut in one of the most iconic coloratura title roles in Lakmé with Washington Concert Opera; Gilda at Staatsoper Berlin; Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Sophie at Opéra de Paris; Fiakermilli in Arabella and Gilda at Bayerische Staatsoper; the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor in Nancy; Tytania, Roxana in Krol 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 role that Morley has made her own and has performed in stellar company at LA Opera with James Conlon, Kelsey Grammer and Christine Ebersole; with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Philadelphia Orchestra with Alek Shrader, Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan; at the Carnegie Hall Centenary with John Lithgow; and at the Semperoper Dresden with David Butt Philip and Jan Josef Liefers.
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. Recent successes include 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; Mozart’s Mass in C Minor for the Mostly Mozart Festival at the Lincoln Center, conducted by Louis Langrée, a tour with Harry Bicket and The English Concert, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Met Chamber Ensemble in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall; and Poulenc Gloria with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lorenzo Viotti at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Vienna’s Musikverein. Morley also appeared in the famous televised New Year’s Eve concerts with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Christian Thielemann. She has collaborated with the Staatskapelle Dresden on tour as well, again with Maestro Thielemann, in a program of Strauss Orchesterlieder, including a world premiere of Thomas Hennig’s “Nacht.” A dedicated recitalist, Morley’s appearances include collaborations with pianists Vlad Iftinca, Ken Noda, Gerald Martin Moore, and Malcolm Martineau.
Morley spent her early years studying violin and piano, and frequently collaborated with her mother, violinist Elizabeth Palmer. 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, the Wolf Trap Opera Company as a Filene Young Artist, and the Metropolitan Opera as a Lindemann Young Artist. She won 1st Prize in the Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition in 2002, and 1st 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, the Eastman School of Music Centennial Award in 2023, and the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government in 2024.
