Roderick Morris

Roderick started singing at the age of seven when he joined New College Choir in Oxford, in which he went on to be head chorister in his final year. He made numerous recordings and toured the world with the choir, including performances around Europe and at the Sydney Opera House. He went on to gain a music scholarship to Abingdon School, and later a choral scholarship to the University of Cambridge. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Music honours degree in 2005, he has pursued professional singing.

He has performed in recitals and concerts in the UK and abroad, including South Korea, Japan, Denmark and North America. Recent solo performances have included Vivaldi’s Gloria, Bach’s B Minor Mass and St John Passion, Chichester Psalms, Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Messiah, Carmina Burana, The Britten Canticles (nos. 2 and 4), and the UK première of Arvo Pärt’s Misere. He has worked as a soloist with groups including Manchester Baroque, The Manchester Consort, The Armonico Consort, The Chester Bach Singers, The Nottingham Bach Choir, The Oriana Ensemble and the Choir of Roskilde Cathedral, Denmark. He recently took part in the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, studying and performing Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Michael Chance and Masaaki Suzuki.

He has a great interest in opera and has studied many roles. His operatic credits include the title role in Handel’s Xerxes, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for Royal Academy Opera scenes, Satirino in Cavalli’s La Calisto with Royal Academy Opera, and Athamas in Handel’s Semele for the Amersham Music Festival under Iain Leddingham. He has had the pleasure of taking part in masterclasses with Barbara Bonney and Diane Forlano. He currently studies at the Royal Academy of Music on the vocal studies course and will begin studies on the Royal Academy Opera course in September with Nicholas Clapton and Audrey Hyland. He is generously supported by the Josephine Baker Trust and the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund in the form of an Ian Fleming Award.