Side portrait of Morag Boyle looking up

Morag Boyle

Contralto

Morag Boyle studied at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and subsequently was a Cripplegate Scholar studying Postgraduate Early Music at the GSMD. She has been a member of the ENO Chorus since 1999, while continuing her freelance choral work with the BBC Singers, King’s Consort and London Handel Festival, and performing music for RNT and West End productions.

Previously for ENO: Quartet of the Defeated Paul Bunyan, Juno Semele, Pasqualita Doctor Atomic, Cleaning Woman Makropulos Case, Wagnerian Soprano On the Town, Cousin Butterfly, German Mother Death in Venice, Neighbour Jenůfa, Marriage Arranger Kismet, Orange-Seller Carmen, and many roles understudied. Solo engagements outside ENO include Beethoven Symphony No. 9 and Missa solemnis, Tippett A Child of Our Time, Bach Matthew Passion, Duruflé Requiem (Exaudi/Orchestra of ON, also with EC4, Barbican), Elijah (Rodolphus/Orchestra of ON), Janáček Diary of One Who Disappeared (Bostridge/Adès, Wigmore Hall), Rossini Petite messe solennelle and Zia Principessa Suor Angelica (Midsummer Opera), Russian Nanny/Beggar Woman Death in Venice (Philharmonia/Hickox), Elgar Music Makers, Mahler Symphony No. 2, Mozart’s arrangement of Messiah (Elysian Singers, St John’s, Smith Square), Third Secretary Nixon in China, Kabanicha, Marylin Klinghoffer/Austrian Woman The Death of Klinghoffer and Larina Onegin.

Career Highlights

Work with the BBC Singers includes: Fidelio (West-Eastern Divan Orchestra/Barenboim), Nixon in China (Proms/Adams and in Berlin), Messiah (Temple Winter Festival), Elektra and Midsummer Marriage (both BBC Proms/Sir Andrew Davis.

Solo recordings: Dvořák Mass in D, Rossini Petite messe solennelle, Duruflé Requiem, Suor Angelica and Rachmaninov Vespers. Recently on sabbatical she sang Schwertleite Die Walküre in the inaugural season of the new Grange Park Opera and contracts with the BBC Singers including standby Pasqualita in concert and recording of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic conducted by the composer.

Last updated: 6th December 2023