Morag McLaren

Morag McLaren is a singer, director and coach who is now very much focussed on helping young singers at the early stages in their professional careers.

Background She was born and educated in Edinburgh, graduated in Music Education at Lancaster University and trained as an opera singer at the Royal Northern College of Music, where she studied singing with Frederick Cox. As a mature student she completed an MA with distinction in Performance Health and Personal Development at London College of Music. She has a specific interest and continued academic study on Performance Psychology and the power of emotional expression in singing. Morag is Patron of Frome Festival, and as the founder and principal Trustee of The Cooper Hall Foundation charity (www.cooperhall.org), promotes music performances, education and the development of creative projects at Cooper Hall, a performance space, venue on the outskirts Frome, Somerset.

Performing and Recording Career Morag has performed in a wide variety of opera, musicals, concerts and music theatre productions during her career, including principal roles with Welsh National Opera (The Mother and Witch in Hansel and Gretel), Scottish Opera (Lucy in Threepenny Opera), The Royal National Theatre (Mrs Segstrom in A Little Night Music) and in the West End (Carlotta in Phantom of the Opera). She toured internationally with Opera Circus (The Good Wife in Shameless an Immoral Tale), presented on BBC Radio 3, released three solo CD’s (I Never Do Anything Twice; Nobody Does It Like Me – A Tribute To Dorothy Fields; Tonight: Lola Blau and featured on RNT cast recording (A Little Night Music) and other compilations (e.g. Dangerous Cabaret – The Music & Lyrics of Brett Kahr). Morag presented her acclaimed One Woman Shows worldwide, including Dorothy Fields: Rhythm of Life and Georg Kreisler’s Tonight Lola Blau and is a founder member of the opera improvisation group, “Impropera”.

Coaching Morag also works as a vocal coach/consultant for emerging artists privately and has led performance workshops and master classes at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London College of Music, Ardingly International Music School, Guildford School of Acting, and The Cooper Hall Emerging Artists Workshop. Her teaching collaboration with Theresa Goble (“Vox Integra”) involves her in a range of vocal workshops, with an emphasis on the integration of vocal skills with acting for singers. The nature of her workshops, as facilitation process work, and her breadth of professional performance experience, particularly in physical theatre and devising, has more recently and inevitably led Morag to directing.

Directing Morag directed the operas The Turn of the Screw, Hansel and Gretel, and Cosi Fan Tutte for Frome Festival in collaboration with Bath Philharmonia, as well as directing Dido and Aeneas at London College of Music.

Workshops and Masterclasses Morag’s Cooper Hall Emerging Artists Workshop provides welcome and valuable opportunities for young professional singers to discover, learn about and experience the process of role development, rehearsal, working with an orchestra and performance. These productions create direct and meaningful links with the profession the young singers have chosen to pursue, in a nurturing as opposed to judgmental environment. Morag has also collaborated with Iford Young Generation Artists in providing bespoke workshops and performance opportunities for young singers. Morag has recently been taking on the role as mentor for young singers to develop their own one-woman shows.

Family

She is married and has two adult children, her son Gregor Riddell (www.gregorriddell.co.uk)is a professional cellist and composer and her daughter Kirsty Riddell (www.kirstyriddell.com) is an artist .^[1]

References

External links

• {{|http://www.cooperhall.org}}