Biography
Morgan Smith, Baritone
Since making his professional debut in 2001, baritone Morgan Smith has performed with numerous opera companies, symphonies, and musical organizations across North America, reaching an audience of over 500,00 people. Originally from White Plains, NY, Morgan received his training from Columbia College and the Mannes College of Music in New York City. He made his operatic debut with Seattle Opera, singing the role of Donald in Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd. Morgan has since performed numerous times with the company, appearing as Prince Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Peter Niles in Mourning Becomes Electra, Morales in Carmen, and Sonora in La Fanciulla del West. The young baritone has also performed with the San Francisco Opera, Portland Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Sarasota Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Florentine Opera , El Paso Opera, the Pine Mountain Music Festival, Sun Valley Center for the Performing Arts, and the Bellingham Music Festival. Roles performed include Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Papageno, Marcello, Don Alvaro (Il Viaggio a Reims), Slook (La Cambiale di Matrimonio),Top (The Tenderland), Belcore, Guglielmo, and Don Giovanni, to name a few. The Bellingham Herald had the following to say about his performance as Don Giovanni: "Morgan Smith of the Seattle Opera gave an electrifying performance as Don Giovanni, radiating saturnine power, dark magnetism and cruel charm. His ample, cognac-smooth voice has just enough snarl to give it bite. This young singer already inhabits the role the way James Bond fills a tux.".
Morgan has had the opportunity to appear with several orchestras around the U.S., including the National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Portland Symphony, Seattle Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Yakima Symphony, and North Arkansas Symphony. He also makes regular appearances with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, with whom he recently performed Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Smith is also gaining a reputation for his interpretation of modern orchestral and operatic repertoire. Credits include covering Gerald Finley as Robert Oppenheimer, in the world Premiere of John Adams' Dr. Atomic at San Francisco Opera, the world premiere of a work by Richard Cumming with the Hartford Symphony, entitled, Aspects of Hippolytus, and the title role in the Tony Kushner/Maurice Sendak adaptation of Hans Krasa's children's opera, Brundibar, with Seattle's Music of Remembrance (Gerard Schwarz, conductor -recording scheduled for release 12/06 -Naxos ). In addition, Smith will perform 2 world premiere works by eminent American opera composers in the spring of 2007: a song cycle illuminating the struggle and suffering of homosexuals during the Holocaust by Jake Heggie , entitled For a Look or a touch (commissioned by Music of Remembrance), and the role of Ted Steinert in Frau Margot by Thomas Pasetieri (commissioned by Fort Worth Opera, with original libretto by Frank Corsaro).
Additional future engagements include Escamillo with Tacoma Opera, Dandini with Portland Opera, and three more roles with Seattle Opera, beginning with Don Giovanni this January.
Smith lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife Lori, their newborn son, Sebastian, and dog, Bailey. He is also a frequent performer of the national anthem for the Mariners and the Seahawks. Aside from singing, Morgan enjoys playing soccer and appears with several teams in Seattle when he's in town. Morgan can also sometimes be seen bouncing around the streets of Seattle with Bailey, in a beat-up, red Ford pick-up in hot pursuit of supplies for various carpentry and VW restoration projects.