Morag McLaren

McLaren was born in Edinburgh and attended The Mary Erskine School.^[1] She graduated with a Bachelor of Education in Music^[1] at Lancaster University and trained as an opera singer at the Royal Northern College of Music,^[1][2] where she studied singing with Frederic Cox. She completed an MA degree with distinction in Performance Health and Personal Development at London College of Music.^{[citation needed]}

McLaren played principal roles in the West End (Carlotta in Phantom of the Opera, in 1988–1989,^[1] and Mrs Segstrom in A Little Night Music with The Royal National Theatre in 1995–96).^[1][3] She also had principal roles with Scottish Opera (Lucy in Threepenny Opera in 1990)^[4] and Welsh National Opera (The Mother, the Dew Fairy and the Witch in Hansel and Gretel in 1990–1991).^[5]

She has also performed in cabaret acts alone and as part of Any Tessitura, a group comprising McLaren, David Bexon and Marion McCullogh and accompanist Tony Stenson,^[6][7][8] Iwan Llewelyn-Jones^[9][10] or Kelvin Thompson.^[11] McLaren has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a tribute to American librettist and lyricist Dorothy Fields titled Hey Big Spender,^[12] which she later performed in London.^[13][14] She was a founding member of Impropera, an opera improv group.^[15][16]