High-flying soprano Erin Morley has dazzled Metropolitan Opera audiences in Les Contes d鈥橦offmann, Der Rosenkavalier, Dialogues des Carm茅lites, and more, but her Met career reaches new heights in the current production of Matthew Aucoin鈥檚 new opera Eurydice, in which she sings the Underworld-bound heroine. Amid the bustle of rehearsals for this new take on the ancient Orpheus myth, which reimagines the familiar story from Eurydice鈥檚 point of view, Morley spoke with the Met鈥檚 Jay Goodwin about learning what she calls the most difficult role of her career, and why she thinks Aucoin and librettist Sarah Ruhl鈥檚 work exemplifies 鈥渨hat 21st-century opera should be.鈥�
How did you first get involved with Eurydice?
I got a call about the project from Peter Gelb about three years ago. I remember because I was very pregnant with my third child, and he just turned three. So I spent some time with the score, and I fell in love with it. When I got to the end, I remember writing Peter back to say that it was an absolute privilege to be one of the first people to look at this score because it felt very special to me, uniquely beautiful and smart and heartbreaking.
Could you immediately see yourself as Eurydice?
Actually, the role was a little too low for me. But I had a really nice conversation with Matt Aucoin, and we talked about the tessitura. I also asked him if he could add high notes here or there in moments where I felt like the drama called for it. So it was a process that evolved over the past three years, and then we really dove into the details this past summer. I think it takes a very mature composer to understand that if the singer sounds good, then his piece sounds good, and he鈥檚 been so game to talk through these things with me.
How does the process of learning a role change for you when you鈥檙e working on a completely new contemporary work?
It takes exponentially more time, and I have to be very patient. But also, this is just the hardest thing that I鈥檝e ever had to learn. I鈥檝e never done a Berg opera, but I have done a bunch of other music by Berg and Webern, and I still feel like this was the hardest challenge I鈥檝e ever faced.
Why is that?
Matt writes atmospheric music a lot of the time, and it鈥檚 difficult to understand until you hear the orchestra do it. And he uses unique instrumentation. For instance, he uses so much percussion in Eurydice that it was hard to fit into the Met pit. So, alone in a practice room with my piano, that鈥檚 really hard to grasp. He also writes very mathematical rhythms to mimic natural speech patterns. Once you鈥檝e learned it, it becomes very organic and natural, quite lyrical actually, but it鈥檚 hyper-complicated on the page.
Do you have any favorite moments?
In Act II, when Eurydice first enters the Underworld, she sings an aria called 鈥淭here was a roar,鈥� recounting what she can remember of her experience of dying. Both words and music are super-brilliant in this moment. Sarah Ruhl has a gift for expressing things in a way that is so unexpected but that makes perfect sense. The way Eurydice describes witnessing her body leave her is so vivid, and the music is just soaring鈥攕omewhat Wagnerian in its scope. There are these waves of sound, with an underlying heartbeat that feels like a sort of unsettling anxiety. She doesn鈥檛 know where she is, she鈥檚 lost her memory, and she鈥檚 trying to grasp onto anything she can. So I have this huge range within the aria: I鈥檓 singing in the rafters, and then all of a sudden I鈥檓 at the very bottom of my range. It鈥檚 all over the place, and it gives me so much to express.
What is Eurydice鈥檚 personality in this version of the myth?
She鈥檚 a deep thinker and a deep feeler. She鈥檚 always trying to engage Orpheus in conversation, and he鈥檚 always resistant. But I think what鈥檚 really interesting is how she鈥檚 caught between the relationship she has with her deceased father and the one she has with Orpheus. On her wedding day, she really can鈥檛 think of anything except the absence of her father. And when she reunites with her father in the Underworld, we see a little bit more of who she really is. Being with him allows her to be her best self, we might say. I think that鈥檚 why she ultimately maybe chooses her father over Orpheus. But it鈥檚 not totally clear, even to her, what she wants, and that鈥檚 what makes it interesting.
As you鈥檙e describing it, what strikes me is the detail that Sarah and Matt have put into the characterizations and relationships.
Exactly. All those beautiful little details are so delicious. And the opera is not trying to be grand. It鈥檚 not self-conscious, or worried about who鈥檚 watching it. It just gives us this great dose of honesty. When Orpheus comes to the Underworld to sing his way in, Hades responds with a great line. He says, 鈥淒on鈥檛 you think you鈥檙e enjoying your grief just a little bit too much?鈥� As a composer, you have to have a sense of humor about yourself to really embrace that line.
You already have many triumphs at the Met behind you, but this seems like a major milestone in your career with the company.
It鈥檚 not only a milestone in my Met career but also in my career, period. I鈥檝e not done many title roles, or a ton of new opera, and I鈥檝e certainly never been part of a premiere like this. Every day is a pinch-me moment, and I鈥檓 having the time of my life. It鈥檚 totally bizarre to see my face on these massive posters鈥擨 don鈥檛 think I will ever get used to that. My first time attending the Met was to see Ren茅e Fleming in Susannah, and I remember standing next to her poster out front and trying to mimic her pose. I still have those pictures from over 20 years ago. So it鈥檚 mind-boggling that I鈥檓 in this position now. It鈥檚 the dream, and I鈥檓 hugely honored.
