Gareth Morrell

Gareth Morrell joined the conducting staff at the Metropolitan Opera in 1995. In the 2023-24 season he will conduct The Magic Flute, and in previous seasons conducted performances of Die Zauberflöte, Le nozze di Figaro, Der Rosenkavalier, Tosca, Semiramide, Fidelio, Don Giovanni, Lucia di Lammermoor, Aida, and La bohème.

From 1981 to 1989 he was a répétiteur at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and from 1984 to 1988 was director of the BBC Symphony Chorus. From 1989 to1998 he was on the conducting staff of the Cleveland Orchestra as Director of Choruses, conducting the orchestra in over ninety performances. In 1999 he was nominated for a Grammy as choral director in Simon Rattle's EMI recording of Walton's Belshazzar's Feast.

After winning a Choral Scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge, he began his professional career as a vocalist, making his London recital début in the Purcell Room in 1979. He appeared in recitals with the Songmakers' Almanac, and in concert with the English Chamber Orchestra and the City of London Sinfonia. On the operatic stage he appeared in Boris Godunov, Così Fan Tutte and King Arthur.

In the United States Mr Morrell was a regular soloist with Apollo's Fire, Cleveland's baroque orchestra, notably in the title role of Monteverdi's Orfeo, and as the Evangelist in Bach's St John Passion. Commercial recordings of these two projects have been released, together with Monteverdi’s Vespers. More recently he has been a soloist with the Collegium of New York and the Taverner Consort, including a critically acclaimed recording of Monteverdi’s Orfeo.