| |
Steven
Morris
Melinda
O'Neal |
Morris was on the faculty of the International Institute of
Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy where he served as music director
and pianist for a production of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione
di Poppea with stage director Fabrizio Melano of the Metropolitan
Opera and New York City Opera. There he accompanied singers
in the studios of Mignon Dunn, Helen Hodam, Richard Best and
Cynthia Hoffman. From 1996 to 1999, Morris was the head coach
of Opera Maine where he advised, prepared and performed in
recitals and productions such as The Tender Land, The Telephone,
L'Heure Espagnole, Tartuffe, The Medium, Amelia Goes to the
Ball, The Impresario, Rita and The Rape of Lucretia. Morris
was faculty coach and accompanist of the Bayview Music Festival
in Michigan, accompanying rehearsals of Die Zauberflöte,
Le Nozze di Figaro, recitals and chamber music. He has coached
and accompanied student and faculty recitals at Boston University,
Boston College, Eastern Nazarene College, Brandeis University
and Hartt School of Music as well as toured throughout New
England, Midwest, and in England and Italy. In Michigan, Morris
accompanied Anthony Laciura of the Metropolitan Opera, and
concertized with tenor Thomas Gregg.
Among Morris’s musical theatre credits include music
director and pianist of Side by Side by Sondheim, The All
Night Strut and Bubbling Brown Sugar at the Red Barn Playhouse
in Saugatuck (MI), A . . . My Name is Alice at Kalamazoo
Civic Arena Theatre, Mother Courage at Kalamazoo College
Festival Playhouse as well as Wizard of Oz, Ruddigore and
The Sound of Music at Seaglass Performing Arts of Kennebunk
(ME).
Students of Mr. Morris have performed with New York City
Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Orlando Opera, Sarasota Opera,
Portland Opera Repertory Theater, Opera North, Ohio Light
Opera, Cape Cod Opera, as well as with regional orchestras
and choruses. His students have been competition prize-winners
from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions,
Concert Artists Guild, National Federation of Music Clubs,
The National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards
and Connecticut Opera Guild.
Morris has studied piano and accompanying with Martin Katz,
Irma Vallecillo and Phyllis Rappeport. He earned his bachelor
degree in piano performance from University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, a masters in piano performance from Western
Michigan University, and a master of music in accompaniment
from New England Conservatory. He participated in master
classes with coach/accompanists Warren Jones, Martin Isepp,
Dalton Baldwin and Thomas Grubb. Additional professional
preparation includes three full scholarship residencies:
study of Schubert lieder with Martin Isepp at the Britten-Pears
School for Advanced Musical Studies (England); study of
art song and opera interpretation with Martin Katz at the
Kent Blossom Music Festival; and while at the Cleveland
Art Song Festival, Morris played in master classes and studied
with David Wilkinson, Benjamin Luxon, and Arlene Auger and
Irwin Gage.
Recent Boston appearances include an operatic recital with
soprano Patrice Tiedemann and baritone Paul Soper, and accompanying
staging rehearsals of La Vie Parisienne by Offenbach for
Opera Boston conducted by Gil Rose. In September 2004 Morris
coached and accompanied “A Night at the Opera”
presented by Boston Vocal Artists and the Bell Center in
Dover (NH). Along with his work with Boston Vocal Artists,
his engagements in 2005 will include coaching singers at
La Musica Lirica, a summer institute at Centro Studi Italiani
in Urbino, Italy.
|
|
