Kara Morgan

to projects that broaden minds and inspire others. Her dedication to studying the art, languages, and characters of opera has been showcased on stages across the United States. Career highlights include apprenticeships with Sarasota Opera and Santa Fe Opera; mainstage credits with Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Pacific Opera Project, and An Opera Theatre; and recognition from the Schubert Club and Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competitions.

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Recently, Kara joined the Master of Musical Arts program at Yale University as a member of the opera studio. Performances in 2023-24 kicked off with Kara's appearance as the alto soloist in Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with the Yale Philharmonia, Elm City Girls Choir, and Yale Glee Club, under the baton of principal conductor Peter Oundjian. This fall, she will be heard again as Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro, Act 4) and as Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Act 1) as part of Yale Opera's annual scenes presentation. In spring, Kara sings Mother Goose in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress and portrays Anna I in Kurt Weill's rarely-programmed ballet chanté, Die sieben Todsünden. As a winner of the 2023 Woolsey Concerto Competition, she will enjoy the privilege of performing Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Philharmonia as part of the final concert in their 2023-24 season.

 

In her first year at Yale, Kara had the opportunity to study Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro, Act 1) and Charlotte (Werther, Act 3), both for the first time as part of Yale Opera's fall scenes. In the spring, she revisited Britten's tragic heroine in The Rape of Lucretia and debuted the role of Isolier in Rossini's medieval comedy, Le comte Ory.

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In Summer 2023, Kara joined Mixed Precipitation for the first time in their touring production of Romeo & Juliet, an adaptation blending Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi with the music of Fleetwood Mac. Kara debuted the role of Romeo in performances throughout the state of Minnesota, from Rochester to Grand Marais and everywhere in-between.

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Kara returned to Sarasota Opera as a Resident Artist in the 2021-22 season as pandemic restrictions began to ease. During this residency, she sang the role of Spirit in the Form of Mercury and sang one performance as the title role in Purcell's Dido & Æneas; she was also heard in one performance as Marianna in Rossini's one-act farce, Il signor Bruschino. In October 2021, Kara made her west coast and company debut with Pacific Opera Project as Hansel in Hansel & Gretel. The following April, she was home in Minneapolis debuting the title role in The Rape of Lucretia with An Opera Theatre.

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Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Kara was a Young Artist with Fargo-Moorhead Opera, singing the roles of Dorabella in Così fan tutte and Mercédès in Carmen with the company. In the summer of 2019, Kara covered Dorabella in Mill City Summer Opera's July production of Così staged in the Mill City Museum ruins. She also sang with Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd, MN covering the the title role of Offenbach's La belle Hélène, before returning to Fargo Moorhead Opera to make her mainstage and role debut as Hansel in October of that year. In early 2020, Kara joined Sarasota Opera for their Winter Festival, most notably as part of the ensemble in Catalani's La Wally; it was only the third production of the opera in the United States.

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Kara earned her Bachelor of Music Degree from Drake University and her Masters in Voice Performance at the New England Conservatory. As a student, she was heard as Mrs. Soames (Rorem's Our Town), Katisha (The Mikado), Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Madame de Croissy (Dialogues des Carmélites), Grimgerde (Die Walküre), and Ottone (Agrippina). Currently, Kara is a member of the opera studio at Yale University studying with Adriana Zabala.

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A lover of art song, Kara enjoys programming lesser-heard and contemporary works. Past recitals included performances of repertoire by Montsalvatge, Debussy, Mahler, Hahn, Bach, Heggie, Vivaldi, and Kurt Weill, among others. In Summer 2022, Kara partnered with longtime collaborator Carson Rose Schneider and Minnesota nonprofit organization, OOPS MN (Opera-Oriented Project Sponsorships), to create Ladies, Lyrics, & Lagers: a recital that was taken on tour to three popular Twin Cities breweries with the purpose of promoting song sets by two living women composers based in Minnesota, Linda Tutas Haugen and Edie Hill, and bringing well-sung art to a more relaxed, casual setting.

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An advocate for new music, Kara has participated in Really Spicy Opera's Aria Institute, a program pairing singers with a composer-librettist team to workshop brand-new ensembles and arias. In October 2023, Kara debuted several songs as part of Song Lab, which matched singers with current students or recent alumni of Yale's composition program in an effort to expose audiences to new, contemporary song written and performed by young professionals.

 

Most recently at Yale, Kara paired selections from Lili Boulanger's Clairières dans le ciel transposed for mezzo soprano with Edie Hill's The Giver of Stars: Six Poems of Amy Lowell, in its Connecticut debut. Kara is currently preparing another recital focusing on women composers, featuring music by Margaret Bonds, Mel Bonis, and Clara Schumann, bookended with songs by living composers Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Alaina Ferris.

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Kara also enjoys collaboration in choral and orchestral works, appearing as a soloist with the Oratorio Society of Minnesota, the Bach Roots Festival, the CBA Orchestra, the Minnesota Saints Chorale & Orchestra, the Drake Choir, and singing Alcibiades and Phaedrus in an unconducted performance of Erik Satie's Socrate with the New England Conservatory Chamber Orchestra in Boston's historic Jordan Hall.

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When not at school on the east coast, Kara is home in Minnesota with her partner and dogs. She enjoys gardening, crafting, and being in the company of her family.