PJC music alumnus performing “Siegfried” at the Met

Published or Revised November 02, 2011

Paris native Jay Hunter Morris, tenor and former Paris Junior College music student, is performing the title role of the opera "Siegfried" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York this week. This Saturday's performance will be broadcast live at 11 a.m. central time at Cinemark theaters in Sherman, Texarkana and Dallas suburbs such as Rockwall, Allen, Plano and Frisco. The Nov. 5 matinee performance will be transmitted to movie theaters worldwide as part of the Met's Live in HD series. Morris made his Met debut in 2007 as Števa in Janáček's "Jenůfa" and sang the role of Siegfried this past summer in San Francisco Opera's Ring cycles. His repertory also includes the roles of Walther in "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg," Erik in "Der Fliegende Holländer" and Tristan in "Tristan und Isolde," which he will sing for the first time next year at the Welsh National Opera. In addition, he has performed in a number of contemporary works, including Howard Shore's "The Fly," Elliott Goldenthal's "Grendel," André Previn's "A Streetcar Named Desire" and Jake Heggie's "Dead Man Walking" and "Moby Dick." Morris attended PJC in 1981-82, then went on to Baylor University, Southern Methodist University and the Julliard School of Music in New York. He has sung with major opera companies worldwide, and returned to PJC several times to perform for students, as well as being inducted into PJC's Academic Hall of Honor. Morris is the son of former PJC employee Carolyn Beckett.