Morgan Smith

Known for his riveting dramatic portrayals and the power and beauty of his voice, American baritone Morgan Smith has been entrusted to create 16 roles in world premieres, including Starbuck in Jake Heggie's widely celebrated Moby-Dick. While his versatility and affinity for contemporary works has lead to engagements such as the role of Richard in Kevin Puts' The Hours (in recent workshops with Cincinnati Opera and The Metropolitan Opera, as well as a cover assignment with the Philadelphia Orchestra), Mr. Smith has also earned universal praise for performances in traditional repertoire such as Escamillo (Carmen), the title role of Don Giovanni, Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Count Alamaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Four Villains (Les contes d’Hoffmann), and the title role of Eugene Onegin.

Additional recent and upcoming engagements for Smith include a return to All Is Calm with Kentucky Opera, the world premiere of Martin Rokeach’s Bodies on the Line with the Oakland Symphony, the role of David in a workshop of Gregory Spears’ The Righteous with Cincinnati Opera, a return to the role of Jim in Jack Perla’s An American Dream for a recording project with Music Without Walls (previously sung with Hawaii Opera Theatre and the work’s world premiere with Seattle Opera), All is Calm with Kentucky Opera, the titular Eugene Onegin with Opera Columbus, a role debut of Emile de

Becque in South Pacific with Dayton Opera, Scarpia in Tosca with South Bend Lyric Opera,

and Melchoir in Amahl and the Night Visitors with Kentucky Opera.

Prior to the impact of COVID, Morgan began the 2019-2020 season fresh from two highly

successful role debuts with Cincinnati Opera: Musiklehrer (Ariadne auf Naxos), and Earl

Mann in the widely anticipated and greatly acclaimed premiere of Scott Davenport

Richards' and David Cote's Blind Injustice. He revisited the role of Eugene Onegin with

Livermore Valley Opera before appearing in Seattle as soloist in Mozart's Requiem with the

Seattle Symphony. Later that season, Morgan debuted with the Atlanta Symphony as

soloist in Ralph Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music, and J. S. Bach's Cantata 29.

Recent successes include Scarpia in Tosca with National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Herman in Ben Moore's Enemies, a Love Story with Kentucky Opera, Paul Jobs in The

(R)Evolution of Steve Jobs with Seattle Opera, Tadeusz in Weinberg's The Passenger with

Israeli Opera, Joseph De Rocher in Dead Man Walking with Welsh National Opera, his title

role debut of Eugene Onegin at Lyric Opera Kansas City, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at

Kentucky Opera and Opéra de Montréal; the reprise of his critically acclaimed Starbuck at Dallas Opera and LA Opera, Marcello in La bohème with Oper Leipzig and San Diego

Opera. Mr. Smith performed Don Giovanni with Arizona Opera, Austin Opera, and Baltimore

Symphony Orchestra. He received rave reviews for his riveting portrayal of Joseph De

Rocher in Dead Man Walking at Kentucky Opera and Opera on the Avalon in 2017.

Other performances of note included Escamillo in Carmen at Vancouver Opera, Pittsburgh

Opera and Fort Worth Opera and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Seattle Symphony. He

joined the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus at Davies Hall to revive the role of Manfred in

Jake Heggie’s poignant For a Look or a Touch (another role he created). Mr. Smith starred as

Aaron in the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star at Cincinnati Opera, for

which he won outstanding reviews. He sang Adam Brant in Mourning Becomes Electra at

Florida Grand Opera; Tadeusz in The Passenger in the US premiere of David Pountney’s

production at both Houston Grand Opera and Lincoln Center Festival; and Fritz in Die tote

Stadt at Dallas Opera. Mr. Smith was honored to sing the role of Lieutenant Audebert in

Silent Night in Fort Worth Opera’s presentation of Kevin Puts’ Pulitzer Prize winning opera.

Smith made his European guest artist debut at the Berliner Staatsoper in 2011,

performing Marcello in La bohème. Fully fluent in German, Mr. Smith joined Oper Leipzig in

2009 as a resident artist. Over the following four years he sang Figaro in Il Barbiere di

Siviglia, Billy in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Dr.

Falke in Die Fledermaus, Leandre in The Love for Three Oranges, Whitelaw Savory in One

Touch of Venus, Marcello in La bohème, and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte.

A regular on the concert stage, Mr. Smith made his Dallas Symphony debut in Bach's St.

Matthew Passion under the baton of Jaap van Zweden, and debuted with the San Antonio

Symphony for the North American premiere of Vier Präludien und Ernste Gesänge, Detlef

Glanert's orchestral adaptation of the beloved cycle by Brahms. Other concert repertoire

includes Beethoven's Ninth Symphony; the Requiems of Brahms, Fauré, Mozart and Duruflé;

the Mass in C Minor of Mozart, Mass in G Minor and Serenade to Music of Vaughan Williams;

Bach’s B Minor Mass, numerous Cantatas, and Weihnachts Oratorium;

Handel's Messiah and L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato; and Haydn's The

Creation and Lord Nelson Mass.

Morgan has collaborated with prolific conductors such as Jaap van Zweden, Donald

Runnicles, Itzhak Perlman, James Conlon, Ulf Schirmer, Christopher Allen, Robert Spano,

Markus Stenz, Jacques LaCombe, Andreas Stöhr, Gerard Schwarz, Matthew Halls, Patrick

Summers, Eduardo Mueller, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Joseph

Colaneri, George Manahan, Ramón Tebar, Jack Everly, Joseph Mechavich, James Meena,

Emmanuel Villaume, Ken Masur, John DeMain, Ari Pelto, and Antony Walker.