Erin Morley

Erin Morley (born October 11, 1980) is an American operatic soprano.

Early years
Morley was born in Salt Lake City, Utah to David Palmer, a former singer in the Tabernacle Choir, and Elizabeth Palmer, a current concertmaster of the Salt Lake Symphony. Her first professional singing engagements were with the Utah Symphony with Joseph Silverstein and with the Tabernacle Choir on their worldwide broadcast Music & the Spoken Word under the baton of Craig Jessop. Morley obtained her undergraduate voice degree from Eastman School of Music, her Master of Music voice degree from the Juilliard School, and her Artist Diploma from the Juilliard Opera Center. Morley also trained at the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the Ravinia Festival Steans Institute, and the Wolf Trap Opera Company.

Career
Morley has performed at Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Royal Opera House, Bavarian State Opera, Vienna State Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, LA Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. Morley's debut at the Met was as First Madrigal in Manon Lescaut in 2008. Erin made her Santa Fe Opera debut in 2010 in The Magic Flute as the Queen of the Night and has sung many other roles with the company.

On operatic and concert stages, Morley has collaborated with celebrated conductors worldwide, including Riccardo Muti, Christian Thielemann, Riccardo Chailly, Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Andris Nelsons, Seiji Ozawa, James Levine, and Bernard Haitink.

Morley's breakthrough career moment came when she stepped in at the last minute to sing Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera during the 2013–2014 season, which was hailed as "a major success". She has been described by The New York Times as a "limpid, fluid soprano", "silken clarity", and "needlepoint precision". In September 2018 she made her debut, while being 34 weeks pregnant, in Debussy's Le Martyre de saint Sébastien with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Morley was set to sing the part of Sophie in Werther for the Met's music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Morley made her Teatro alla Scala debut in 2022 as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, and her Royal Opera House debut in 2023 as Gilda in Rigoletto. She also debuted at the BBC Proms that same year.

Personal life
Morley is married to John D. Morley, a Yale law professor, and they have three children. She is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Awards and honors
In 2007, she received the Florence & Paul DeRosa Prize from the Juilliard Opera Center. 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. The Met Opera production of Der Rosenkavalier, featuring Morley as Sophie, was nominated for the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. She received the Beverly Sills Award in 2021. In 2022, she shared a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for her work as a soloist in Mahler's Symphony No. 8, as performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel and received a Grammy nomination for Eurydice (Metropolitan Opera) in 2022. In 2023, she was one of the recipients of the Opera News Awards. She was named ‘Chevalière dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ by the French Minister of Culture in 2023, and the award was presented to her in Paris on February 5, 2024.

Recordings
Morley's first solo album, "Rose in Bloom", was released on April 19, 2024.

A recording of Handel's Alcina (Pentatone ) featuring Morley's Morgana was released in February 2024. She also appears in a recording produced by Palazzetto Bru Zane of Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable released in 2021.

Video

 * Les Contes d'Hoffmann - Vittorio Grigolo as the title role, Erin Morley as Olympia, Hibla Gerzmava as Antonia, Christine Rice as Giulietta, Thomas Hampson as the Four Villains and Kate Lindsey as Niklausse. Production by Bartlett Sher. Yves Abel conducts. Streaming HD video of a live performance at the Metropolitan Opera on 31 January 2015.
 * Der Rosenkavalier - Renée Fleming as the Marschallin, Erin Morley as Sophie, Elīna Garanča as Octavian, Günther Groissböck as Baron Ochs and Markus Brück as Faninal. Production by Robert Carsen. Sebastian Weigle conducts. Streaming HD video of a live performance at the Metropolitan Opera on 13 May 2017.
 * Dialogues des Carmélites - Isabel Leonard as Blanche de la Force, Erin Morley as Sister Constance, Adrianne Pieczonka as Madame Lidoine, Karen Cargill as Mother Marie, Karita Mattila as Madame de Croissy and David Portillo as Chevalier de la Force. Production by John Dexter. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts. Streaming HD video of a live performance at the Metropolitan Opera on 11 May 2019.
 * Eurydice - Erin Morley as Eurydice, Joshua Hopkins as Orpheus, Jakub Józef Orliński as Orpheus's double, Barry Banks as Hades, Nathan Berg as Eurydice's father, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Streaming HD video of a live performance at the Metropolitan Opera on 4 December 2021.
 * Der Rosenkavalier - Lise Davidsen as the Marschallin, Erin Morley as Sophie, Samantha Hankey as Octavian, Günther Groissböck as Baron Ochs and Brian Mulligan as Faninal. Production by Robert Carsen. Simone Young conducts. Streaming HD video of a live performance at the Metropolitan Opera on 15 April 2023.
 * Don Giovanni - Peter Mattei in the title role, Adam Plachetka as Leporello, Federica Lombardi as Donna Anna, Ana María Martínez as Donna Elvira, Ying Fang as Zerlina, and Ben Bliss as Don Ottavio. Production by Ivo van Hov. Nathalie Stutzman conducts. Erin Morley as the host. Streaming HD video of a live performance at the Metropolitan Opera on 20 May 2023.
 * Die Zauberflöte - Lawrence Brownlee as Tamino, Erin Morley as Pamina, Thomas Oliemans as Papageno, Stephen Milling as Sarastro and Kathryn Lewek as the Queen of the Night. Production by Simon McBurney. Nathalie Stutzmann conducts. Streaming HD video of a live performance at the Metropolitan Opera on 23 June 2023.