Performer: Jay Hunter Morris

Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking is credited as being the most performed 21st-century opera, and with good reason.

"She commands the stage, she commands the notes, she commands the tension": Christine Goerke's portrayal of Elektra haunts The Met. 

A performance of John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary good enough to convert even the most conservative listener to the Church of New Music.

As a tenor, Jay Hunter Morris is used to playing the love interest. In Jennifer Higdon’s new opera Cold Mountain, which receives its world première on 1 August at Santa Fe Opera, the tables are turned and he gets to portray a nasty, dark villain himself.