Morgan Pearse from Sydney, Australia is already widely recognised as one of the most exciting and talented baritones of his generation.
Having made his professional début with English National Opera in 2015/16 singing Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Morgan returned to sing the role again at the beginning of the 2017/18 season. The rest of that season included concerts with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and Musica Viva orchestras in Russia and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw, his first solo recital at the Wigmore Hall with Simon Lepper, as well as performances of roles with Opera New Zealand and the Badisches Staatstheater. Other recent and future engagements include the title role in the Verbier Festival Academy production of Don Giovanni, Valens in Theodora and Araspe in Tolomeo for the Karlsruhe Händelfestpiele, the title role in Le nozze di Figaro and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte for the Badisches Staatstheater, covering the title role in Billy Budd for the Bolshoi Theatre, Sid in Albert Herring for the Buxton Festival, Escamillio / Carmen for South Australia Opera, Nero in Kaiser’s Octavia for the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music and Belcore / L’Elisir d’Amore, Figaro / Barbiere for New Zealand Opera and the State Opera of South Australia and Figaro / Le nozze di Figaro for the Opernhaus Zurich.
Equally at home in concert repertoire, Morgan’s concert engagements have included the first performance of Schubert’s Winterreise in Sydney in 20 years, Fauré Requiem and Handel Messiah in the Sydney Opera House, performances of Britten’s War Requiem throughout Poland and Mozart Requiem with the English Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared at the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Melbourne Recital Hall, Hamer Hall, Copenhagen’s Konserthuset, Sydney Opera House, St John’s Smith Square, Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall, as well as the Edinburgh Fringe, Gower and Newbury Spring Festivals. Recent and future concert engagements include a solo recital at the Wigmore Hall, concerts with the Moscow Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra, RTVE Madrid, Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevillia, Huddersfield Choral Society, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, concert performances of Masetto / Don Giovanni with the Auckland Philharmonia and the Russian National Orchestra, concerts with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, King’s College Choir Cambridge, the Cheltenham Bach Choir, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at the Newbury Festival, the Creation with the Orchestra of the Opernhaus Zurich, the B minor mass with the Hallé Orchestra, performances of the War Requiem with the Israel Philharmonic, the Seasons with the Gabrieli Consort and concerts and recordings with the Academy of Ancient Music.
During the 2014/15 season, whilst a member of the renowned Houston Grand Opera studio programme, Morgan performed the roles of Papageno in The Magic Flute, Yamadori in Madame Butterfly and Anthony in Sweeney Todd as well as covering Guglielmo in Così fan Tutte and singing scenes as Malatesta in Don Pasquale. He went on to perform the role of Figaro in The Ghosts of Versailles for Wolf Trap Opera.
In the 2013/14 season, Morgan performed the title role of Owen in Owen Wingrave for Sydney Chamber Opera, Pompeo in Benvenuto Cellini for English National Opera and Minos in Arianna in Creta for the London Handel Festival. In previous seasons, he has performed the title role of Imeneo with the London Handel Festival, Apollo in L’Orfeo in an Australian national tour of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Principal Baritone in Dioclesian with Pinchgut Opera and the world premiere of Underground Man in Notes from Underground with Sydney Chamber Opera.
Morgan was the winner of the prestigious Cesti Competition in 2016, won the prestigious Lies Askonas prize in 2014 and was the gold medallist in the Royal Overseas League’s Music Competition in 2013. He has also won the John Warner Recital Competition, the RCM’s Schumann Competition, is a Samling Artist, an awardee from the Australian Music Foundation, the Tate Foundation, the Cook Society and the Josephine Baker Trust.
He is extremely grateful for the continual support of the Hon. Ros Kelly, Old Sydneians’ Union, John Hosier Trust, Opera and Arts Support Group, Ian Potter Cultural Trust and Sir Robert Askin Travelling Operatic Scholarship.