Gayla D. Morgan

Singer

Sacred/Gospel Solo

  • SPHERES AND ATTRACTION (Petr Kotik), Ostrava, Czech Republic, and various NYC venues.
  • FIVE HAIKU FROM BUSON (in Japanese) and MUTTERINGS (Joji Yuasa), NYC premiere, Merkin Hall, NYC.
  • RED BERRIES (Mark Grant), NYC premiere.
  • KNIGHTS OF THE BURNING PESTLE (Peter Schickele), Woodstock, NY.
  • IN FLANDERS FIELDS (Timothy Brown), NYC premiere.​
  • REVIEWS of FIVE HAIKU
    • "lushly evocative....[and] involved..."--New York Times
    • "Gayla Morgan...sang in Japanese with great attention to detail...express[ing] the work's breadth and limitlessness"--Nikon Keizai Shinbun
    • "Her performance showed a deep reflection of the meaning of each word"--Tokyo Shinbun
    • "expressive...lyric"--QonStage.com

Pop/Jazz Solo

Ensemble Highlights

(scroll down for  Sacred/Gospel Solo and ​Ensemble Highlights)

  • HAVE A FUNKY HOLIDAY, concert with The Mercury Ensemble, Denver, CO.
  • ​COSME VALENTE BIG BAND, Marlborough, MA - 25-piece big band performing across Massachusetts.
  • DISCOGRAPHY
    • ​HAVE A FUNKY HOLIDAY, with The Mercury Ensemble
    • PICTURES (music of Gayla Morgan)
    • PERCHANCE TO DREAM (music of Joseph Marcello)
  • CANTOR
    • Basilica of St Mary Star of the Sea, Key West, FL.
    • St. Jean-Baptiste Catholic Church, NYC, NY.
  • CHOICE, Denver, CO - 5-piece band performing Gayla's original songs.
  • DISCOGRAPHY
    • ​​AT  PRAYER WITH SAINT ANNE (Kyler Brown, organ)

Classical  Solo

Upon moving to NYC in the late 90s, Gayla began singing professionally in elite choral groups, including Musica Sacra (Richard Westenberg, dir.) and the New York Virtuoso Singers (Harold Rosenbaum, dir.). With these groups and other freelance professional choirs, she has performed on multiple occasions at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, with the New York Philharmonic, the American Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. She also sings regularly in professional church and synagogue choirs.

She toured nationally for 5 years with the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble, a Grammy-nominated 6-voice a cappella group. With them, she recorded several CDs; HOLIDAY LIGHT includes three of her own arrangements and is narrated by Roma Downey. With the Western Wind, she also performed in concerts with Leonard Nimoy and Tovah Feldshuh.

Before moving to New York, Gayla lived in Colorado, where she performed from the age of 18 with western-folk concert ensemble, The Trailriders. 

DISCOGRAPHY

  • ​WESTERN WIND VOCAL ENSEMBLE
    • ​MAN IN THE MOON (Works of Robert Dennis)
    • ​TASTE OF ETERNITY PART II
    • HOLIDAY LIGHT: SINGING ANGELS, SILVER BELLS (including 3 of Gayla's arrangements for the ensemble)
  • VOCABULARIES (Bobby McFerrin) - Grammy winner.
  • ​THEA MUSGRAVE: CHORAL WORKS (NY Virtuoso Singers)
  • ​A SEASON'S PROMISE (NY Choral Singers)
  • HOBOSAPIENS (John Cale)