Morley Meredith

Meredith, Morley

Morley Meredith (b Margolis). Baritone, b Winnipeg 8 Feb 1922, d Palm Beach, Florida, 3 Feb 2000. He studied singing with W.H. Anderson and medicine at the University of Manitoba. He was winner, as Morley Margolis, in the CBC's 1948-9 'Singing Stars of Tomorrow', and went on to study with Boris Goldovsky at Tanglewood, Mass, with Alfredo Martino at Mannes College of Music in New York, and later (1959-60) with the Metropolitan Opera bass Melchiore Luise.

Operatic Roles

Meredith's New York City Opera debut in 1957 as Escamillo in Carmen was followed in 1958 by an appearance with the Canadian Opera Company in the role of the four villains in Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann. He enjoyed success in the same role in his Metropolitan Opera debut (1962). He returned often to the Met, singing such roles as Scarpia in Tosca, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Jochanaan in Salome, Pizarro in Fidelio, and Klingsor in Parsifal.

In 1970 Meredith made his European debut with the Grand Théâtre de Genève, singing Scarpia. He returned the following year to sing Pizarro with that company and repeated the role with the Scottish National Opera. In 1976 he sang Telramund in the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Lohengrin. With the Metropolitan Opera he also performed Le Rossignol (Emperor, 1982), Les Troyens (1983), and Parsifal (Klingsor, 1985).

Meredith performed with major companies in Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Fort Worth, and Washington and with orchestras in Toronto, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. His roles included Prince Andrei in Prokofiev's War and Peace, Amonasro in Aida, Iago in Otello, Germont in La Traviata, and the title roles in Eugene Onegin, The Flying Dutchman, and Wozzeck.

Other Performances

In concert Meredith has made a specialty of the solo roles in dramatic choral-orchestral works such as Penderecki's Dies irae (North American premiere 10 Mar 1978 with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra) and Orff's Carmina burana, which he also recorded (1957, Vanguard VRS-2066). After his performance in that work with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Winters wrote in the Winnipeg Free Press (31 Jan 1964) that he 'sang with superb assurance, applying the required variety of voices with skill and point, spinning out a cavernous falsetto here, a sweet lyric baritone there, and a commanding basso when the score called for it.' Also appearing in musicals, he was part of the original cast recording of Christine (1960, Col OS-2026).