Doug Morris

With a song in his heart

For more than 30 years during his tenure at Ripon College, Doug Morris known to break out into impromptu, joyous song and sought to bring music into the lives of everyone around him in the greater Ripon community — as a professor and educator, as a church musician and as the founder and artistic director of the Green Lake Festival of Music.

He was born Douglas Luke Morris April 30, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina. “He was blessed to know at an early age that he wanted to devote his life to teaching, conducting and performing music,” his children wrote in a memorial tribute. “He spent his career and much of his life celebrating the beauty of the human voice and he believed deeply in the power and inspiration of making and immersing oneself in music of all centuries and across many genres.”

Morris received his bachelor of music in voice from the University of Tennessee, his master’s degree in voice and choral music at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, and his doctor of musical arts in voice performance and musicology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

As a baritone soloist, he was sought after to perform in concerts of Handel’s “Messiah,” Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the Brahms “Requiem” and other major works. He performed with the London Bach Choir at the Royal Festival Hall, with the Blossom Festival Chorus in Ohio and with the Robert Shaw Singers at Carnegie Hall in New York.

A music critic once wrote that he would “crawl on his hands and knees to hear Douglas Morris sing the phone book.”

Through many outlets, he was a lecturer, conductor, composer, adjudicator and clinician. At Ripon, he taught music history, theory and literature, coached voice students and conducted Chamber Singers and Choral Union.

On numerous choir tours to England, France, Germany, Wales, Poland and Canada, Morris and his choirs performed in some of the world’s most notable cathedrals and churches. He also was choral director at First Congregational Church and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Ripon.

In 1979, he founded and became the artistic director of the Green Lake Festival of Music which continues to offer classical music programming throughout the greater Ripon area.

Morris was an avid tennis player and won several state championships in singles tennis in his senior age group. In retirement, he also assisted seniors in enrolling in Medicare supplement plans.

“He touched people not just with his music, his intuitive understanding of music composition and the historical context of a wide variety of works, but also with his humanity, charm and charisma,” his tribute states.

He died Dec. 4, 2020, at age 79.