The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) presents Erin Morley, soprano; Lawrence Brownlee, tenor; and Malcolm Martineau, piano: Golden Age on Geffen Stage at Kaufmann Concert Hall, 92NY, 1395 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10128, on Wednesday, May 6, 2026 at 7:30 PM. Tickets start at $45 in-person and $25 to livestream and are available at https://www.92ny.org/event/erin-morley-and-lawrence-brownlee.

The high note(s) of the season! Two of the opera world’s brightest stars and premier bel canto singers of our time, soprano Erin Morley and tenor Lawrence Brownlee, join us with pianist Malcolm Martineau for an evening of vocal pyrotechnics and delights. Met Opera favorites, Morley has been hailed for her “stratospheric high notes and flawless musicality” (Financial Times), Brownlee for his “bel canto brilliance” and “tour de force of tenor genius” (The New Yorker). Morley, who makes her first 92NY appearance with this concert, is a fan favorite, her radiant coloratura bringing the house down with every performance. Brownlee returns to our stage following a rapturous 2021 concert of bel canto duets and Rossini barnburners with tenor Michael Spyres, hailed by The New York Times as “thrilling.”

Program

GIOACHINO ROSSINI “Ah, quel respect … Ce téméraire qui croit nous plaire” from Le Comte Ory

GIUSEPPE VERDI “Gualtier Maldè! … Caro nome” from Rigoletto

GEORGES BIZET “À cette voix quel trouble … Je crois entendre encore” from Les Pêcheurs de Perles

CLAUDE DEBUSSY “Clair de lune” from Suite Bergameasque

LÉO DELIBES “D’où viens-tu?…C’est le dieu de la jeunesse” from Lakmé

BIZET “Ils verront si je mens!” from La Jolie Fille de Perth

BIZET “Chanson Bohème” from Carmen

VERDI “Ella mi fu rapita…Possente amor” from Rigoletto

DELIBES “Où va la jeune Indoue” from Lakmé

GAETANO DONIZETTI “Quoi? Vous m’aimez? … De cet aveu si tendre” from

La Fille du Régiment

One of today’s most sought-after lyric coloratura sopranos, Erin Morley has been praised for the “silken clarity of her voice and the needlepoint precision of her coloratura” (New York Times). A recipient of the Beverly Sills Award and a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, her performances have garnered huge critical acclaim worldwide. She regularly appears on the world’s greatest opera stages, including Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Glyndebourne Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera, where she has now sung more than 100 performances and has been featured in five “Live in HD” broadcasts.

In the 2025–26 season, Erin Morley made her anticipated role debut as Marie in Laurent Pelly’s La fille du régimentand as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, both at the Metropolitan Opera. She also returned to the Wiener Staatsoper as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos and to Opernhaus Zürich as Zdenka in Arabella. On the concert platform, to mark the long-awaited release of Morley and Lawrence Brownlee’s new duo album Golden Era, they have embarked on a recital tour in celebration. They will present the in-demand recital at venues including DC Vocal Arts, the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin at the Konzerthaus, New York’s 92nd Street Y, Opera Carolina, and the Newport Classical Music Festival, among others. Also on the concert platform, she appears in a gala concert at Carnegie’s Weill Hall with the Metropolitan Opera Chamber Orchestra; gives a solo recital at Dallas Opera; performs Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in Boston; and joins the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as soprano soloist in Poulenc’s Gloria.

Last season saw Morley return to the Metropolitan Opera with a double appearance: as Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann and as Gilda in Rigoletto. Further highlights include her return to the Arena di Verona as the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana and as Cunegonde in concert performances of Candide at the Semperoper Dresden. Elsewhere on the concert platform, Morley joined Maestro Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Berlin for a tour to Berlin and Vienna as soloist in a program of Strauss orchestral songs, as well as appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Baroque, and Dallas Symphony Orchestra. In recital, she presented Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch with Huw Montague Rendall and Malcolm Martineau at London’s Wigmore Hall and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw; and performed her acclaimed “Rose in Bloom” program at Park Avenue Armory, Yale School of Music, Friends of Chamber Music, and the BRAVO! Series at Brigham Young University.

Recent operatic highlights include company debuts at The Royal Ballet and Opera as Gilda (Rigoletto) and at Teatro La Fenice in Venice as Zerbinetta in a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos; Pamina in a new production of Die Zauberflöte; the title role in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice; Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier; and Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, all at the Metropolitan Opera. She also made her Teatro alla Scala debut as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos; performed Gilda in a new production of Rigoletto; Tytania in a new production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Zerbinetta and Sophie at the Wiener Staatsoper; Norina in Don Pasquale and Zerbinetta at the Glyndebourne Festival; a critically acclaimed debut as Lakmé with Washington Concert Opera; Gilda at Staatsoper Berlin; Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Sophie at Opéra de Paris; Fiakermilli in Arabella and Gilda at Bayerische Staatsoper; Lucia di Lammermoor in Nancy; and Tytania, Roxana in Król Roger, Mme Silberklang in Der Schauspieldirektor, and the title role in Stravinsky’s The Nightingale, all at Santa Fe Opera. Cunegonde in Candide is another signature role, performed with LA Opera under James Conlon alongside Kelsey Grammer and Christine Ebersole; with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra with Alek Shrader, Bradley Cooper, and Carey Mulligan; and at the Carnegie Hall Centenary with John Lithgow.

Equally at home on the concert platform, recent successes include her debut at the Arena di Verona in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Morgana in Alcina with Les Musiciens du Louvre under Marc Minkowski at Teatro alla Scala, marking the release of a new recording on Pentatone; soprano soloist in Orff’s Carmina Buranawith the Orchestre de Paris under Andrés Orozco-Estrada; a gala concert with Washington Concert Opera; Poulenc’s Gloria with the Houston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Juraj Valčuha; Brahms’s Requiem with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall conducted by Xian Zhang; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Riccardo Muti; Carmina Burana with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Festival conducted by Andris Nelsons; Mozart’s Mass in C Minor for the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center with Louis Langrée; a tour with Harry Bicket and The English Concert; performances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Met Chamber Ensemble in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall; and Poulenc’s Gloria with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lorenzo Viotti at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Vienna’s Musikverein. Recitals in Berkeley and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, marked the release of her solo recital album Rose in Bloom. Morley also appeared in the famed televised New Year’s Eve concerts with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Christian Thielemann, performing Princess Mi in Lehár’s Das Land des Lächelns. She regularly performs with leading orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. A dedicated recitalist, Morley’s appearances include collaborations with pianists Vlad Iftinca, Ken Noda, Gerald Martin Moore, and Malcolm Martineau.

Morley’s debut recital disc with Gerald Martin Moore, Rose in Bloom, released in 2024, has received critical acclaim worldwide, praised as the “crystalline debut of a new high coloratura star.” Her many recordings include Morgana in a complete recording of Handel’s Alcina for the Pentatone label; Eurydice in the Met’s GRAMMY-nominated recording of Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice; Princesse Isabelle in Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable with Opéra National de Bordeaux for Palazzetto Bru Zane; Sister Constance in the Met’s GRAMMY-nominated Les Dialogues des Carmélites; Sophie in the Met’s GRAMMY-nominated Der Rosenkavalier on DVD/Blu-ray for Decca; Mater Gloriosa in the LA Phil’s GRAMMY-winning Mahler Symphony No. 8 with Gustavo Dudamel for Deutsche Grammophon; Princess Mi in the Staatskapelle Dresden’s Das Land des Lächelns with Christian Thielemann for Unitel; Sandrina in La finta giardiniera with Emmanuelle Haïm in Opéra de Lille’s production for Erato; Woglinde in Götterdämmerung in the Metropolitan Opera’s GRAMMY-winning Lepage Ring Cycle for Deutsche Grammophon; Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots from Bard SummerScape with the American Symphony Orchestra; Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3 “Espansiva” with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic for Da Capo Records; and Sylvie in Gounod’s opéra-comique La Colombe with Sir Mark Elder and The Hallé Orchestra for the Opera Rara label.

Morley spent her early years studying violin and piano, frequently collaborating with her mother, violinist Elizabeth Palmer. An undergraduate of the Eastman School of Music, she went on to earn her Master of Music degree in voice from The Juilliard School and her Artist Diploma from the Juilliard Opera Center, where she received the Florence & Paul DeRosa Prize. Morley also trained at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist, the Ravinia Festival Steans Institute, and the Wolf Trap Opera Company as a Filene Young Artist. She won First Prize in the Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition in 2002 and First Place in the Licia Albanese–Puccini Foundation Competition in 2006. She also received the Richard Tucker Career Grant in 2013, the Beverly Sills Award in 2021, the Opera News Award in 2023, the Eastman School of Music Centennial Award in 2023, and was named Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2024. Erin Morley is represented by MWA worldwide.

Lawrence Brownlee is a leading figure in opera, both as a singer who has graced the world’s top stages, and as a voice for activism and diversity in the industry. Captivating audiences and critics around the globe, he has been hailed as “an international star in the bel canto operatic repertory” (The New York Times), “one of the world’s leading bel canto stars” (The Guardian), and “one of the most in-demand opera singers in the world today” (NPR).

Highlights for Brownlee’s 2025–2026 season include two Metropolitan Opera appearances in the roles of Tonio in La fille du régiment and Lord Arturo Talbot in I Puritani. Brownlee returns to the New National Theatre in Tokyo for his role debut as Il duca di Mantova in Rigoletto and Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at the Paris National Opera. Last fall, Brownlee and Erin Morley’s debut recording, Golden Age, was released on Pentatone. The pair have embarked on a Golden Age recital tour with dates in the US and Europe. Brownlee will also appear as a recitalist at Wigmore Hall and Parlance Chamber Concerts.

In spring 2021, Brownlee joined The Juilliard School as a Distinguished Visiting Faculty Member. He serves as artistic advisor for Opera Philadelphia, and is an Ambassador for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Lyric Unlimited as well as Opera for Peace. Highlights of Brownlee’s recent past seasons include role debuts as the title role in Mitridate, re di Ponto at the Boston Lyric Opera, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at New National Theatre Tokyo, and Fernand in a new production of Donizetti’s La Favorite with Houston Grand Opera, as well as role reprisals at the Metropolitan Opera, Opera Bastille in Paris, New National Theatre in Tokyo, and State Opera Munich.

Amidst the challenges of COVID-19, Brownlee emerged as a pivotal voice in classical music’s shift toward digital programming and the resurgence of conversations around racial justice. A passionate advocate for diversity initiatives, Mr. Brownlee works with companies and engages civic organizations in the cities he visits to create programs and experiences seeking to expand opera audiences. In May 2020, Brownlee launched “The Sitdown with LB,” a weekly Facebook Live series exploring the experience of being an African-American opera singer. In 2021, Brownlee expanded the series to include a segment titled “Inside the Industry” where he shifted the focus to a behind-the-scenes look at the opera industry. In 2023, Brownlee released his GRAMMY-nominated album Rising, a recording project that set poetry from the Harlem Renaissance to song in commissioned works from six of today’s leading African-American composers. The album, named one of The New York Times’ best classical music albums of 2023, was also supported by a North American tour with pianist and collaborator Kevin J. Miller.

Brownlee is a Grand Prize Winner of the 2001 Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions. He is a winner of numerous awards and distinctions including “Male Singer of the Year” (2017 International Opera Awards), the Kennedy Center’s Marian Anderson Award, and the Opera News Award (2021). In October 2019, he had the distinct honor of singing at Jessye Norman’s funeral in her hometown of Augusta, Georgia. In 2024, Brownlee was awarded the title Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of The Order of Arts and Letters) by the Cultural Counselor of France.

Recognized at the highest international level as one of the UK’s leading accompanists, Malcolm Martineau has performed worldwide alongside the world’s greatest singers, including Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Janet Baker, Florian Boesch, Elīna Garanča, Dame Sarah Connolly, Angela Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Fatma Said, Patricia Nolz, Erin Morley, Dame Felicity Lott, Anne Sofie von Otter, Günther Groissbock, and Sonya Yoncheva.

He has appeared at the world’s principal venues including Alice Tully Hall, Barbican Centre, Berlin State Opera, Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Gran Theatre del Liceu, Mariinsky Theatre, Metropolitan Opera, Munich Opera, Paris Opera and Salle Gaveau, Royal Opera House, La Scala, Sydney Opera House, Teatro Real, Salzburg Mozarteum, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Musikverein and State Opera, Walt Disney Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Zurich Opera, among others. Martineau has also appeared at the Aix-en-Provence, Vienna, and Salzburg Festivals. He has presented his own series at the Wigmore Hall and at the Edinburgh Festival.

As a prolific recording artist, Martineau’s discography of over 100 CDs includes the following award-winning recordings: The Vagabond with Sir Bryn Terfel (Gramophone Award), Songs of War with Sir Simon Keenlyside (Grammy and Gramophone Awards), Schumann and Mahler Lieder with Florian Boesch (BBC Music Magazine Award), Mahler Lieder with Christiane Karg (Diapason d’or), and El Nour with Fatma Said (Gramophone Award).

Martineau is a professor of piano accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music and an Honorary Doctor and International Fellow of Accompaniment at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He was made an OBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours for his services to music and young singers.

About The 92nd Street Y, New York: The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a world-class center for the arts and innovation, a convener of ideas, and an incubator for creativity. 92NY offers extensive classes, courses and events online including live concerts, talks and master classes; fitness classes for all ages; 250+ art classes, and parenting workshops for new moms and dads. The 92nd Street Y, New York is transforming the way people share ideas and translate them into action all over the world. All of 92NY’s programming is built on a foundation of Jewish values, including the capacity of civil dialogue to change minds; the potential of education and the arts to change lives; and a commitment to welcoming and serving people of all ages, races, religions, and ethnicities. For more information, visit www.92NY.org.