He is best known internationally for the role of Siegfried in the Metropolitan Opera's 2011–12 series of Wagner's Ring Cycle, performances of which were cinecast and radio broadcast live worldwide, aired on U.S. television, and released on DVD.
Both of his parents were professional musicians: His father, Jack Hunter Morris, who died when Jay was 13,[3] was a Southern Baptist music minister,[4][5] and his mother, Carolyn, was a church organist.
In November 1995, Morris performed the role of Anthony Candolino in the original production of Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning Master Class.
He made his San Francisco Opera debut in the role of Mitch, alternating with originator Anthony Dean Griffey, in the world premiere season of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire (1998).
In August 2011, Morris sang the role of Captain Ahab in Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick in its Australian premiere at State Opera of South Australia.
Gary Lehman had been slated to perform instead but withdrew only eight days before opening night, citing illness, and Morris, as understudy, was called in as emergency replacement.
[23][24] Morris also sang Siegfried in the Met's new Götterdämmerung beginning January 27, 2012, and that production was also cinecast and radio broadcast live around the world on February 11, 2012.
[27][28] On May 7, 2012 a documentary film, Wagner's Dream, which documents the making of the 2011–12 Met Ring cycle, including Morris's precipitous casting and rise to prominence, was cinecast worldwide in select cinemas.