Royal Over-Seas League Competition

Monday 18 February 2013

RCM baritone Morgan Pearse has been awarded the £5,000 top prize in the Singers Section of the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition, one of the most prestigious UK singing competitions.

In the competition, Morgan wowed the judges and audience with a wide-ranging programme of Finzi, Vaughan Williams, Schumann, Mozart, Strauss and Korngold. He was joined in the final by no fewer than three other RCM singers: current student Louise Alder plus alumni Sarah-Jane Lewis and Nicholas Darmanin.

Originally hailing from Australia, Morgan is currently studying with Russell Smythe on the Masters programme at the RCM, and is the recipient of the inaugural Joan Sutherland Scholarship, named after one of the RCM’s most distinguished alumni.

He will be performing in the RCM’s forthcoming productions of Handel’s Imeneo and Offenbach’s La vie parisienne, before heading to Sydney to take the title role in the Australian premiere production of Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave. He will be returning to the RCM in September as a member of the RCM’s International Opera School.

For 50 years, the Royal Over-Seas League has been devoted to the career development of talented young professional artists and musicians from the UK and the Commonwealth. The organisation provides scholarships and performance opportunities for musicians at major venues such as the Wigmore Hall.