Morris was on the faculty of the International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy where he served as music director and pianist for a production of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea with stage director Fabrizio Melano of the Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera. There he accompanied singers in the studios of Mignon Dunn, Helen Hodam, Richard Best and Cynthia Hoffman. From 1996 to 1999, Morris was the head coach of Opera Maine where he advised, prepared and performed in recitals and productions such as The Tender Land, The Telephone, L'Heure Espagnole, Tartuffe, The Medium, Amelia Goes to the Ball, The Impresario, Rita and The Rape of Lucretia. Morris was faculty coach and accompanist of the Bayview Music Festival in Michigan, accompanying rehearsals of Die Zauberflöte, Le Nozze di Figaro, recitals and chamber music. He has coached and accompanied student and faculty recitals at Boston University, Boston College, Eastern Nazarene College, Brandeis University and Hartt School of Music as well as toured throughout New England, Midwest, and in England and Italy. In Michigan, Morris accompanied Anthony Laciura of the Metropolitan Opera, and concertized with tenor Thomas Gregg.
Among Morris’s musical theatre credits include music director and pianist of Side by Side by Sondheim, The All Night Strut and Bubbling Brown Sugar at the Red Barn Playhouse in Saugatuck (MI), A . . . My Name is Alice at Kalamazoo Civic Arena Theatre, Mother Courage at Kalamazoo College Festival Playhouse as well as Wizard of Oz, Ruddigore and The Sound of Music at Seaglass Performing Arts of Kennebunk (ME).
Students of Mr. Morris have performed with New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Orlando Opera, Sarasota Opera, Portland Opera Repertory Theater, Opera North, Ohio Light Opera, Cape Cod Opera, as well as with regional orchestras and choruses. His students have been competition prize-winners from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Concert Artists Guild, National Federation of Music Clubs, The National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards and Connecticut Opera Guild.
Morris has studied piano and accompanying with Martin Katz, Irma Vallecillo and Phyllis Rappeport. He earned his bachelor degree in piano performance from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a masters in piano performance from Western Michigan University, and a master of music in accompaniment from New England Conservatory. He participated in master classes with coach/accompanists Warren Jones, Martin Isepp, Dalton Baldwin and Thomas Grubb. Additional professional preparation includes three full scholarship residencies: study of Schubert lieder with Martin Isepp at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies (England); study of art song and opera interpretation with Martin Katz at the Kent Blossom Music Festival; and while at the Cleveland Art Song Festival, Morris played in master classes and studied with David Wilkinson, Benjamin Luxon, and Arlene Auger and Irwin Gage.
Recent Boston appearances include an operatic recital with soprano Patrice Tiedemann and baritone Paul Soper, and accompanying staging rehearsals of La Vie Parisienne by Offenbach for Opera Boston conducted by Gil Rose. In September 2004 Morris coached and accompanied “A Night at the Opera” presented by Boston Vocal Artists and the Bell Center in Dover (NH). Along with his work with Boston Vocal Artists, his engagements in 2005 will include coaching singers at La Musica Lirica, a summer institute in Nova Feltria, Italy.