Darren Jeffery

Bass-baritone

Management

Helen Hogh
[email protected]

Fiona Wells
[email protected]

Groves Artists represents Darren Jeffery worldwide

Biography

Darren Jeffery is as much in demand on the operatic stage as he is on the concert platform.  His versatility enables him to sing roles from Handel to Wagner as well as the more contemporary works of Britten, Stravinsky, Weill and Birtwistle.

Darren studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with Patrick McGuigan.  He received the RNCM’s highest accolade, the Curtis Gold Medal and performed the title role in its award winning production of Verdi’s Falstaff.  From 2001-2003 he was an inaugural member of the Royal Opera Young Artists Programme, where he made his professional debut as Sciarrone, Tosca. Since then he has worked regularly with the Royal Opera House and has sung over fifteen roles including most recently Sprecher / Die Zauberflöte, Monterone / Rigoletto and Bill / Mahagonny.

He has also appeared regularly at English National Opera with roles such as Leporello/Don Giovanni, Donner/The Rheingold, Speaker/ The Magic Flute, Mr. Flint/Billy Budd, Hobson/Peter Grimes, Dr Roman in Nico Muhly’s new opera, Marnie and he returns in 2024 for the Mill Foreman / Jenufa.   Other recent and future opera engagements include Lt. Ratcliffe /Billy Budd and Kothner/Die Meistersinger (and covering Hans Sachs) as well as Alcindoro / La bohème at Glyndebourne Festival Opera,  Theseus and Bottom / A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opera North,  Pizarro / Fidelio, the title role in Rossini’s Maometto II and Simon / Silver Birch for Garsington Opera,  Sacristan/Tosca and Father Trulove / The Rake’s Progress for The Grange Festival,  Mr Flint / Billy Budd for the Bolshoi,  Capulet / Romeo et Juliet at the Salzburg Festival, Sergeant Meryll / Yeomen of the Guard for Opera Holland Park, Publio for the Aix en Provence Festival,  the title role in Der Fliegende Holländer as well as Der Herrscher / Das Wunder der Heliane for Nationale Reisopera,  Hobson / Opera Köln, the Music Master / Ariadne auf Naxos for Longborough Festival.   In 2019 he sang his  first Wotan / Das Rheingold for Longborough Festival Opera and covered Wotan / The Wanderer in Melbourne Opera’s 2023 Ring Cycle.

A firm favourite as a soloist in Oratorio and Concert he has collaborated with several of the world’s leading conductors and orchestras.  Darren has sung Christus in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra, appeared regularly at the BBC Proms (Elijah, Le Rossignol, Les Troyens, Serenade to Music, Peter Grimes, Haydn’s Seven Last Words from the Cross) and has regularly performed Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s B Minor Mass, St. John and St. Matthew Passions, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and the Requiem Masses of Verdi, Brahms and Mozart.  Recent engagements and future plans include Créon/Oedipus Rex with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Manchester and Vienna, performances of the Messiah with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra under Douglas Boyd, concert performances of La Clemenza di Tito with Classical Opera Company as well as Mozart arias in Vienna, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the RTE Symphony, Bach St John Passion with Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, Missa Solemnis with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Mozart Requiem and Messiah with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.  He has appeared on several occasions with the acclaimed Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Recordings include Fidelio, Benvenuto Cellini, Mozart Requiem and the Grammy winning Falstaff / Sir Colin Davis and Billy Budd / Daniel Harding all with the London Symphony Orchestra.  He has also recorded  the title role in Garsington Opera’s production of Maometto II.  Darren has featured in a number of DVD performances including A Rake’s Progress, Don Carlo and Billy Budd.

This biography is for website use only. For a full and updated biography, please email [email protected]

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Credits
Classical Opera

Reviews

  • Das Rheingold - Melbourne Opera

    Darren Jeffrey was a revelation – tall, imposing, and with a soothing richness and beauty to his voice that made him perfect for the role.

    Heather Leviston Classic Melbourne, 2023
  • The Flying Dutchman - Melbourne Opera

    Englishman Darren Jeffery is an exceptional Dutchman. The strength and dark timbre of his bass-baritone is perfectly suited to the role, and he succeeds in seeming otherworldly without over-acting.

    Bridget Davies The Sydney Morning Herald, 2019
  • Brahms Requiem - Dartington Great Hall

    The rich and rounded tone of bass-baritone Darren Jeffery was ideal for the role. He was comfortable at both ends of the register, especially the top, and his articulation and diction in the vernacular was especially impressive.

    Philip R. Buttall Seen and heard international
  • Maometto secondo – Garsington Opera

    In the title role Darren Jeffery makes a likeable, stage-filling barbarian, using his warm bass to winning effect.

    Andrew Clark The Financial Times
  • Das Wunder Der Heliane, Reisopera

    “Darren Jeffery, who plays the ruler, has a generous, full bass-baritone and is also an excellent actor…”

    Neil van der Linden Theaterkrant, October 2023
  • Das Wunder der Heliane, Reisopera

    …[the] staging also succeeded in giving the drama more depth by giving the main characters around Heliane a character. The latter was especially true of the bass-baritone Darren Jeffery’s ‘the ruler’, who, thanks to his personality and vocals that avoided any authoritarian bluster, suggested feelings and doubts that do not always seem to be present in the libretto.

    Paul Korenhof Opus Klassiek, November 2023

News

  • Billy Budd in New York to Feature Ingpen Artists
    27.01.14

    Billy Budd in New York to Feature Ingpen Artists

  • Sky Ingram to make debut at Opera North
    23.09.13

    Sky Ingram to make debut at Opera North

  • Ingpen and Williams singers to feature strongly in Opera North’s Britten Season
    19.08.13

    Ingpen and Williams singers to feature strongly in Opera North’s Britten Season

  • BBC Proms 2013
    29.07.13

    BBC Proms 2013

  • Darren Jeffery to make US opera debut in Chicago
    06.02.13

    Darren Jeffery to make US opera debut in Chicago