Dr. Bridget Moriarty

Biography

Dr. Bridget Moriarty, the Sharon Onevelo Watkinson Endowed Professor of Theatre and Vocal Performance, is the full-time music director at Niagara University and coordinator of the vocal curriculum.  She is an award-winning music director and has extensive credits as a singer on the music theatre, operatic, and symphonic stages.

Directing Credits Include

• La Cage aux Folles (Syracuse Area Live Theatre Award (SALT), Regional Music Director of the Year, 2018)
• The Wizard of Oz, The Little Mermaid, and From Foster Care to Fabulous with Redhouse Arts Center
• First Lady Suite at Syracuse University
• Spring Awakening (SALT Award, Community Music Director of the Year 2017)
• Cabaret with Syracuse Summer Theatre at The Oncenter
• Hair and Avenue Q (SALT Award, Community Music Director of the Year 2012) with Covey Theatre Co.
• Les Misérables with the Wit’s End Players

Dr. Bridget Moriarty won the SALT Award for Lead Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Lucille Frank in Appleseed Production’s Parade by Jason Robert Brown. She has also performed with Symphoria!, the Syracuse Symphony, Greensboro Opera, Syracuse Opera, Oswego Opera, and the Society for New Music for whom she created the title role in the new opera, Eleanor Roosevelt in 2011.

On the concert stage, she has appeared in performances of

• Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem
• Mozart’s Mass in C Minor
• Handel’s Messiah
• Bernstein to Broadway
• Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater
• Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music
• Christopher Theofanidis’ The Here and Now
• A featured soloist in the 2013 & 2014 Greensboro Opera Galas.

In 2015 Bridget won the Mid-Atlantic Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Award competition, and went on to receive the Mary Wolfman Award at the national level in 2016.

Focus of Teaching

Niagara University music directing credits include Songs for a New World, Freaky Friday, Legally Blonde, Little Shop of Horrors, Chicago, and She Loves Me, along with Click Clack Moo Cows that Type, and Go Dog Go! with Niagara University Repertory Theatre.

Current Research

Dr. Bridget Moriarty has received research grants from NU pursuing research in the field of vocal pedagogy specifically looking into the impact of BFA training programs on the voice use of the student. Bridget has also done extensive research into the technology required to allow for synchronous music making in a virtual setting allowing NU to be outfitted with the tech to sing “live” while remote.

Upcoming projects at Niagara University include Songs for a New World this May.

Current Involvement

• National Association of Teachers of Singing

Educational Background

• Doctor of Musical Arts, Vocal Performance – University of North Carolina Greensboro
• Master of Music, Vocal Performance – Syracuse University
• Bachelor of Music, Music Education – The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam