Dylan Anthony Morrongiello is known for his “over-the-top committed” portrayals and “stentorian” tenor (Words and Music, Boston Classical Review). Recent season engagements include a return to the Metropolitan Opera as the Second Priest in The Magic Flute, and in the coming season he will cover Don Pizarro in Chicago Opera Theatre’s Leonora, and will appear as Goro in Madama Butterfly with Amelia Island Opera and as Syvert Tonseten in Giants in the Earth with South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.

 

Mr. Morrongiello made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Dean in Cinderella, and has since appeared as the Second Priest in the holiday production of The Magic Flute and as Player 2 in Brett Dean’s Hamlet, in addition to covering the roles of Don Curzio and Don Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro and Sellem in The Rake’s Progress. A recent company debut was with Arizona Opera as Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte, a role he has covered at both the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Other role highlights include Beppe in Pagliacci, St. Brioche in The Merry Widow and Borsa in Rigoletto (St. Petersburg Opera), singing Goro in Madama Butterfly and covering Red Whiskers in Billy Budd (Central City Opera), and singing Don Basilio/Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro (Metropolitan Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Saratoga). 

 

A skilled musician and sought after for new works, Mr. Morrongiello premiered the role of Monk in Monkey: A Kung Fu Puppet Parable with the White Snake Projects. Reviews described his performance as “aptly stentorian” with “gravitas and charisma” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). With Opera Las Vegas, he made his company debut as Miles Zegner in Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Proving Up and returned as Doyle in A Capacity for Evil.  He also sang the role of Mr. Ford in Frida with Florida Grand Opera, and created the role of The Voice He in Franklin Piland’s Rose Made Man, an opera focusing on transgender issues, in collaboration with the Cohen New Works Festival at the University of Texas at Austin School of Theatre and Dance.  Also while at the University of Texas at Austin, Dylan appeared in the orchestral premiere of David Hanlon’s Past the Checkpoints, a piece telling the stories of undocumented immigrants in the Rio Grande Valley.

 

In concert this past season, Mr. Morrongiello sang with the Cantata Singers and New England Philharmonic as the tenor soloist in Sandström’s setting of Messiah. Past concert engagements include the tenor soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion and Magnificat with the Bach Society Houston, Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Rice University Chorale under the direction of Thomas I. Jaber, and a coproduction with Da Camera of Houston and the Moody Center for the Arts of Sarah Rothenberg’s multimedia production “A Proust Sonata.”

 

Mr. Morrongiello has leant his renderings of a varied body of song repertoire throughout his career. In his upcoming recital with Brooklyn Art Song Society, he will perform selected Franz Schubert songs with texts by Goethe, and selected songs of Hugo Wolf’s Goethe-Lieder. Past recitals with Brooklyn Art Song Society have included selections from Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch, and works by Iain Bell and Ian Venables. This past season, he returned to Cincinnati Song Initiative for a residency at the Hartt School featuring the music of Lori Laitman including “Becoming a Redwood”.  He first appeared with the company performing songs of John Musto at Ithaca College.  Mr. Morrongiello also performed a program celebrating the songs and poetry of California, featuring poet laureate and former NEA chairman Dana Gioia, at the SongFest Institute.

 

He appeared with The Glimmerglass Festival as a young artist for two seasons, singing the Schoolmaster/the Mosquito in The Cunning Little Vixen, covering Kronprinz in Kevin Puts’ Silent Night, and covering Edmondo in Donizetti’s L’assedio di Calais. During his time there, he made his Glimmerglass debut as Ali Hakim in Oklahoma! and sang in numerous concert and ancillary events, including a special appearance with Stephen Schwartz. Other credits include Il Podestà in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera and the Jazz Trio in Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti with the Shepherd School Opera.

 

Mr. Morrongiello is a past winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Houston district, and an Encouragement Award winner in the Gulf Coast Region.  He holds a Master of Voice from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he was a recipient of the Elva Kalb Dumas Prize in Music, and holds a Bachelors from the University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music.