Rachel Ann Morgan

Rachel Ann Morgan OBE

Photo: Rachel Ann MorganThe mezzo-soprano and harpist, Rachel Ann Morgan, was born and brought up in a Welsh-speaking family in Cardiff, Wales. She began to play the harp at the age of nine and won several harp competitions in Wales. She read Music at the University of Bristol, then studied harp and singing at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague. For five years she was harpist of the Netherlands Ballet Orchestra before embarking on a singing career which started at the Opera Studio of the Netherlands Opera Company.

She has performed many opera roles, including the title roles in Rossini's La Cenerentola and Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and the role of Minerva in Monteverdi's opera Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria with the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam and in New York.

As well as singing opera and oratorio she has given many song recitals, accompanied by Tan Crone, Rudolf Jansen, Edward Witsenburg, David Selig and Marjès Benoist, in repertoire ranging from Purcell to twentieth century composers, and was awarded the Silver Wreath by the Friends of the Concertgebouw for performance of lieder. She has become well known for her concerts in which she accompanies herself on the concert harp and the Celtic harp.

She has made many recordings, including three solo CDs accompanying herself on a Celtic harp and a concert harp . In 1989 the first complete recording of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with its Prologue, was released on CD by Globe featuring Rachel Ann Morgan as Dido. In 1994 she recorded a world premiere disc of songs by the rediscovered Dutch composer, Anna Cramer. With harpist Edward Witsenburg she has made 4 CDs of songs, arias and harp duos. "Orpheus with his Lute", "King David and his Harp" "Sacred arias and harp duos by Handel".The most recent, released by Globe in 2012, is devoted to the songs and harp duos of the 19th century Welsh composer and harpist, John Thomas. She has performed in Japan, America, Canada and Russia as well as in many Western and Eastern European countries.

In 1994 she awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for her services to British cultural interests in The Netherlands.

 
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E-mail:   Please use form on Rachel's web site
Web site:   www.rachelannmorgan.com

Recordings