An internationally acclaimed singer and composer from Michigan, Blake Morgan is a multi-talented musician, playing several instruments, recording and composing in many different genres, and performing with a mastery of vocal flexibility.
A gifted classical tenor, Blake has sung professionally all over the world as an oratorio soloist and also with several Grammy®-award-winning ensembles. In the popular music realm, Blake works as a studio session singer, and records as a Decca Classics artist; his versatile voice can be heard on itunes, television commercials, and National Public Radio. He is also sought after as a jazz vocalist and has collaborated with many internationally recognized singers and instrumentalists, including the Grammy®-award-winning artist Jacob Collier. Blake was featured in Downbeat Magazine’s Student Music Awards as the Best Vocal Jazz Soloist of 2013.
As an accomplished ensemble singer, Blake is the only musician to have been a member of both full-time choral ensembles in the United States, Cantus and Chanticleer. He has also performed with several award-winning chamber groups in the United States including Conspirare, Audivi, Pomerium, and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street Church in NYC. Blake was a member of Conspirare when the ensemble won its Grammy® for “Best Choral Performance” in 2015.
Blake holds degrees in music performance and education from Western Michigan University and has experience as a teacher of choir, private voice, guitar, and percussion. Additionally, he has provided lectures on systems of temperament in choral music, popular vocal group history, and the classical music of Black choral composers at various academic institutions including Cambridge University, University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, Western Michigan University, and University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. Blake also helped to lead masterclasses during his time in Chanticleer and Cantus, and now coaches singers/choirs with VOCES8 during the ensemble’s workshops, summer school, and Digital Academy offerings.
Away from his professional engagements Blake enjoys exploring his love of folk music. Often writing under the moniker of Esto, he has released six CDs of original songs. The most recent release, Houghton-Hancock Hum-Alongs features tracks inspired by the beautiful Upper Peninsula of his native state of Michigan. Blake’s music has received airplay on NPR and he has toured internationally with Garrison Keillor of A Prairie Home Companion. His vocal arrangements and compositions have been performed by The King’s Singers, Cantus, VOCES8, The Manhattan Transfer, and the 23,000-member digital group The Stay at Home Choir.
Blake currently sings with the full-time professional British chamber group, VOCES8, and now resides in Edinburgh, Scotland. He records and tours with the ensemble internationally. For more info regarding VOCES8 and Blake’s tour schedule with the group, visit the VOCES8 website.
Blake Morgan Music 