SUNDAY SERENADE

GAYNOR MORGAN

Gaynor Morgan was born in Cardiff, Wales and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Dram, London, where she gained an AGSM in Singing. She went on to complete the Guildhall Post-Graduate Opera Course under Johanna Peters. Gaynor also studied at the European Opera Centre in Belgium with the aid of scholarships from the Countess of Munster Trust.

Gaynor made her UK debut for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, singing Barbarina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro under the direction of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Gaynor was then invited to make her Glyndebourne Festival Opera debut in the same role in 1991 under Sir Andrew Davis. At Glyndebourne, Gaynor also covered several major roles in the Festival including Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Miss Wordsworth in Britten’s Albert Herring, Zdenka in Arabella and Mrs Frestln in the World Premiere of The Electrification of The Soviet Union.

Gaynor performed roles throughout the UK with English Touring Opera including Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Miss Wordsworth, Albert Herring, Papagena in Die Zauberflote, Nannetta Verdi’s Falstaff, under Ivor Bolton and Stephen Barlow. Norina for the Cheltenham Festival. For Music Theatre London, she sang Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte at the Kammerspieltheater in Hamburg. Gaynor made her debut in France with Jean-Claude Malgloire and the Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing singing Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte in Massy, Brest, and San Brieuc.

As a concert solist Gaynor has performed at major concert venues throughout the UK including the World Premiere of Elgar’s The Spanish Lady with Bryn Terfel at St John’s Smith Square, London. She has also sung the soprano solo in Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (recorded for BBC Radio 3)

Gaynor’s recordings include Milhaud’s Les Malheurs D’Orphee for ASV label with the Matrix Ensemble under Robert Ziegler and Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro for Auvidis Astree under Jean Claude Malgloire in Paris.

In 2005, Gaynor made her Australian Operatic debut with Opera Queensland in the role of the Governess in Britten’s Turn of the Screw. She also covered the role of the Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze do Figaro, singing the final performance in the season. She has since covered the role for Opera Australia in Melbourne and Sydney. Other roles for Opera Queensland include Praskowia in Merry Widow, and First Lady in Mozart’s Magic Flute. 

Future engagements in 2024 include a Baroque Handel Concert at Music at The Estuary , and soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Lismore for the Byron Music Society.