To open its 35th season, Vocal Arts DC made an exception to its customary focus on art song to present a program of opera excerpts. Soprano Erin Morley and tenor Lawrence Brownlee, who have both given remarkable solo recitals for Vocal Arts in recent years, teamed up for this concert Sunday afternoon in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. The duo has recorded a version of this program, to be released next month, performed in this case with pianist Gerald Martin Moore.

A nearly full house hopefully bodes well for the series, which has remained at the Kennedy Center in the face of potential boycotts of the city’s leading arts center.

Comedy began the program, with the duet “Ah, quel respect” from Rossini’s Le Comte Ory, in which the tenor, disguised as a nun, tries to seduce the soprano. Both singers displayed clean staccato figuration as they traded winks and melodic lines, with Brownlee easily hitting his high B and Morley touching on high D. The pair’s well-matched voices blended easily, the clarity of tone allowing each to be heard when they sang together.

Solo outings proved no less impressive, beginning with Morley’s immaculate rendition of “Caro nome” from Verdi’s Rigoletto. The high notes, loud or soft, sustained or detached, all shimmered, and Moore’s finesse at the keyboard allowed the soprano the chance to place each phrase and breath with care.

Brownlee’s selection, “Je crois entendre encore” from Bizet’s Les pêcheurs des perles, showcased the tenor’s velvety legato tone and dulcet top range. This is a voice that had the ample power needed throughout the program but was equally capable of this kind of intense, moody French aria redolent of sentiment and nostalgia.

Both singers showed how vocal characterization can aid operatic drama in the duet “C’est le dieu de la jeunesse” from Léo Delibes’ Lakmé. In the first verse, Brownlee’s Gérald sang the tune with virile confidence. Morley’s Lakmé, at first insulted by the tenor’s temerity in daring to approach her, sang the second verse with exquisite phrasing hesitations, as if the music opened something within her. When the two came together on the last verse, the combined unison sound made a good climax to end the first half.

At the start of the second half was the duet “Ils verront si je mens!” from Bizet’s La jolie fille de Perth, a rarely heard opera that some enterprising company should perform soon. Again the two singers plied rich legato tone to this sentimental scene, from the opera’s final act, weaving their voices together as the music reached its apogee.

Moore provided an interlude with an arrangement of the Overture from Ambroise Thomas’s Mignon, another once-popular opera that could use a revival. This Overture is actually a little jewel, showing off some of the opera’s lovely melodies, including the famous polonaise “Je suis Titania,” which Moore said he regretted having to omit from the program. Moore’s light touch gave transparency to the many woodwind and harp parts heard in the orchestrated version.

Morley reprised her superlative version of “Où va la jeune Indoue” from Lakmé, first heard when she sang the title role with Washington Concert Opera in 2022. She began the piece, which opens with a mysterious vocalise, off-stage through the open door leading to the backstage area. She strode slowly onstage in time for the surprise high E, followed by a perfectly judged descending chromatic scale.

The piece’s coloratura escapades all landed impeccably, flights of staccato notes in tandem with a glockenspiel solo, which gave the aria the nickname of “The Bell Song,” rendered by Moore’s dancing right hand at the keyboard. At one point, as she did with WCO, Morley extended the piece’s range briefly up to a high G#, a truly stratospheric note, before concluding on an endless high E.

Not to be outdone, Brownlee countered with “Nel furor delle tempeste,” an aria from Bellini’s Il Pirata, a piece not included on the duo’s recording. The role was a major success for celebrated tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini, and Brownlee rendered the aria’s high Ds with confidence, as well as showing off again his satiny melodic phrasing.

The program came full circle with another comic duet, “Quoi! Vous m’aimez?” from Donizetti’s La fille du régiment, in which these two singers will co-star at the Metropolitan Opera next month. Their playful stage interactions, as Tonio and Marie try to out-assure one another of their love, made for a sweetly daffy conclusion.

A single encore sufficed to round out the evening, “Tornami a dir che m’ami,” the duet of Ernesto and Norina from Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, a more serious continuation in a way of the comic duet that preceded it.

Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and pianist Myra Huang present a program of songs by American composers 7:30 p.m. November 4. vocalartsdc.org

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