Debra studied at Cardiff University before being awarded numerous prizes to study at the Bonn Opera and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and was awarded the prestigious Madeline Finden Memorial Award. In 2008, she took part in the Jose Cura Opera Project and was selected by Jose Cura to sing Gilda in their production of Rigoletto.
She has appeared as a principal soprano with many opera companies, including London Opera Players, Opera Della Luna, New Devon Opera, Opera Interludes and Pavilion Opera with whom she toured the UK, Europe and Japan, and roles performed include Amina (La Sonnambula), Leila (Les Pêcheurs de Perles), Micaela (Carmen), Adina (L’Elisir d’amore), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Mme Herz and Mme Silberklang (Der Schauspieldirektor), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Die Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte), Fiordilligi (Cosi fan tutte), Konstanze and Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Olympia, Giulietta and Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Berta (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Tebaldo (Don Carlos ), Gilda (Rigoletto), Nanetta (Falstaff), Oscar (Un Ballo in Maschera), Violetta (La Traviata), Tatyana (Eugene Onegin) and Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring).
She has performed most of the soprano leads in the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, most recently for the Grim’s Dyke Opera Company (Mabel, Aline, Gianetta, Josephine, Yum Yum, Patience, Elsie Maynard, Rose Maybud) and also worked with The Savoyards, The D’Oyly Carte and various festival companies. She performs regularly as a soloist with the Scarborough Spa Orchestra.
Recordings include Kayser’s Christmas Cantata for Guild Music, original compositions for De Wolfe Music Ltd and with the Scarborough Spa Orchestra, she has made recordings for Brian Kay’s Light Programme on BBC Radio 3.
Debra also has a busy concert and oratorio career, and oratorio performances have included: Bach’s Magnificat, St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Britten’s War Requiem, Carissimi’s Jephte, Faure’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Samson, Judas Maccabaeus, and Solomon, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse, The Creation and The Seasons, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart Mass in C Minor, and Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Purcell’s Come Ye Sons of Art, Schutz’ The Christmas Story, Salieri’s Requiem, Thiman’s The Last Supper, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music, Verdi’s Requiem and Vivaldi’s Gloria.
Future performances include, Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and Orff’s Carmina Burana, as well as song recitals and concert appearances throughout the UK.
“Debra Morley sang a touching Gilda, the notes true and secure throughout the range, and in the closing ensemble from Falstaff she made an exquisite Nannetta, floating her top notes with ease and grace.”
