Her voice is preserved on complete opera recordings made with the Met, including the roles of the Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute (1957) and Mussetta in Puccini's La bohème (1958).
[1] In 1947 she portrayed Margot Bonvalet opposite baritone Edward Roecker's Pierre Birabeau in Sigmund Romberg's The Desert Song at the Detroit Opera.
[10] She starred as Nina in the operetta A Night in Venice, which utilized the music of Johann Strauss II with an original story and lyrics by Ruth and Thomas Martin, at the Jones Beach Theater in the summer of 1952.
[22] Hurley performed in several rarely performed operas during her career, including the roles of Helen of Troy in the United States premiere of Christoph Willibald Gluck's Paride ed Elena with the American Chamber Opera Society at The Town Hall on January 15, 1954;[23] and Creuse in the United States premiere of Darius Milhaud's Médée at the Brandeis University Music Festival with Phyllis Curtin in the title role on June 11, 1955.
[24] She made her debut with the American Opera Society (AOS) in 1955 as Amina in Bellini's La Sonnambula with Cesare Siepi as Rodolfo; a work which was rarely staged at that time in history.
[28] Hurley made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera ("The Met") on February 8, 1955, as Oscar in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera with Zinka Milanov as Amelia, Richard Tucker as Riccardo, and Dimitri Mitropoulos conducting.
[29] She was a principal artist at the Met for the next 12 years where her repertoire included the roles of Adele in Die Fledermaus,[30] Adina in L'elisir d'amore,[31] Arsena in The Gypsy Baron,[32] Despina in Così fan tutte,[33] Fiakermilli in Arabella,[34] Flower Maiden in Parsifal,[30] the Forest Bird in Siegfried,[30] Gilda in Rigoletto,[35] the Happy Shade in Orfeo ed Euridice,[36] Jouvenot in Adriana Lecouvreur,[30] Kitty in The Last Savage,[37] Lady Harriet Durham in Martha,[30] Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi,[30] Marzelline in Fidelio,[30] Micaela in Carmen,[30] both Mimi and Musetta in La bohème,[30][38] Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos,[30] Nedda in Pagliacci,[30] Norina in Don Pasquale,[30] Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann,[39] Papagena and the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute,[30] Rosina in The Barber of Seville,[30] Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier,[40] Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro,[41] Violetta in La traviata,[30] Xenia in Boris Godunov,[30] Zerlina in Don Giovanni,[42] and the title role in La Périchole.
[46] In 1967 she performed a recital at The Town Hall with pianist Samuel Sanders in a program that included Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate, the world premieres of two art songs by Sergius Kagen, and works by Poulenc and Debussy.
[47] In his review in The New York Times, music critic Theodore Strongin stated, "Laurel Hurley was in fresh voice and sang with charm all over the place.
[50] In 1960, RCA Victor released a live 1957 recording of The Magic Flute from the Met starring Hurley as the Queen of the Night with Lucine Amara as Pamina and Brian Sullivan as Tamino.