Aussie Morgan Pearse headed to Houston's Opera Studio

Morgan Pearse

We'll been following the career of the talented Aussie barihunk Morgan Pearse since 2011 when  a reader heard him perform in the Australia Singing Competition. His nascent career has been on a steady upswing since that day.

He completed his undergraduate training at he Sydney Conservatorium of Music and then headed to London where he completed a Master’s degree at the Royal College of Music as the inaugural Dame Joan Sutherland scholar. We also covered him when he won the gold medal in the Royal Over-Seas League music competition and the Wigmore Hall final of the Young Classical Artists Trust.

We've just learned that he's coming to the United States as one of the studio artists with the Houston Grand Opera. We can only imagine his artistic growth working with Patrick Summers and others in one of the best young artist training programs in the world. Previous young artists have included bel canto specialist Joyce Di Donato and fellow barihunk Ryan McKinney, who has become one of the world's preeminent Wagnerians.

Morgan Pearse sings the Catalog Aria from Don Giovanni:

Pearse is slated to sing Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Papageno in Mozart's Magic Flute, Yamadori  in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Anthony in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.

Last year, Morgan performed the title role in Britten's Owen Wingrave for Sydney Chamber Opera, and as bass soloist in Handel's Messiah for Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. We had some good-natured fun with his "crack" performance in Handel's Imeneo with the London Handel Festival.

Houston Grand Opera’s Opera Studio was co-founded in 1977 by composer Carlisle Floyd. Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 and is regarded as one of the major companies in the world. It has hosted the world premieres of the operas John Adams' Nixon in China, Stewart Wallace's Harvey Milk  and Rachel Portman's The Little Prince.