Tenor Jay Hunter Morris, who made his LA Opera debut as Unferth in the 2006 world premiere of Grendel, returns as Marky in the U.S. premiere of Howard Shore's The Fly. Hailed for his rich tone and dramatic charisma across an extraordinary breadth of repertoire, he has established himself as one of today's most exceptional tenors. He has been a leading artist with companies including the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera and Seattle Opera, and maintains an international career throughout Europe as well as Asia and Australia.
Mr. Morris began the 2007/08 season with Nashville Opera, as Samson in Samson and Delilah. He performs Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Morris then travels to Birmingham to sing the role of Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca.
During the 2006/07 season, Mr. Morris made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera singing Steva in Janácek's Jenufa, a role he has also performed with Dallas Opera. He was heard as Canio in Pagliacci with Atlanta Opera, a role he also performed with Houston Grand Opera. He also appeared as Walther in Tannhäuser with Tokyo Opera Nomori, as Dimitri in Boris Godunov and as the Drum Major in Wozzeck with San Diego Opera. Mr. Morris finished the season with Seattle Opera singing Erik in Der fliegende Hollander, which he has also performed with Arizona Opera and Sydney Opera. Mr. Morris drew praise for his performance of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly in Australia with Opera Australia. He won equal acclaim for performances of Manon Lescaut with Seattle Opera in 2005.
Other engagements that have garnered recognition for Mr. Morris include his Don José in Carmen at Minnesota Opera, Walther in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with San Francisco Opera and Frankfurt Opera. He has been seen at L'Operá de Nice as the Drum Major in Wozzeck and as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, which he has also sung for Dallas Opera.
One of the hallmarks of Mr. Morris' career is his involvement with some of the most noted new work in contemporary opera. He began the 2005/06 season as Captain James Nolan in the world premiere of John Adams' Doctor Atomic with San Francisco Opera, a role he will reprise with the Netherlands Opera. Mr. Morris also created the role of Unferth in the world premiere of Elliott Goldenthal and Julie Taymor's Grendel, a performance he repeated in the 2006 Lincoln Center Festival. With the San Francisco Opera he sang Father Grenville in the world premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, as well as Mitch in André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire. He was also heard in the American premiere of Messiaen's St. François d'Assise at San Francisco.
Mr. Morris's repertoire also extends to roles such as Tichon in Kat'a Kabanova, which he sang with San Diego Opera, Sam Polk in Susannah by Carlisle Floyd and Narraboth in Salome, both with the Opera Company of Philadephia. With the Opera National du Rhin in Strasbourg, he sang the role of Jenik in Smetana's The Bartered Bride. He has distinguished himself as an interpreter of rarely performed repertoire, singing Lykov in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride, the Duke of Parma in Busoni's Doktor Faust at San Francisco Opera, and Anatol in Samuel Barber's Vanessa at Seattle Opera.
He is also active on the concert stage, where his accomplishments include Verdi's Requiem with the Cathedral Choral Society in Washington, D.C., excerpts from Lohengrin and Die Walküre in a gala concert for L'Opéra de Nice, and singing Janácek's The Diary of One Who Vanished in San Francisco and at the 2005 Gilmore International Keyboard Festival.
Mr. Morris was first drawn into the spotlight in 1995, when he created the role of Tony in Terrence McNally's play Master Class at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. He continued in the role at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, and finally on Broadway, where he was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Debut of an Actor.
Jay Hunter Morris
