On Opening Night of the 1988/89 Metropolitan Opera season, American bass-baritone Jeffrey Wells made his debut as Ferrando in Il Trovatore as part of a star-studded cast: Eva Marton, Fiorenza Cossotto, Luciano Pavarotti and Sherill Milnes with James Levine conducting. Since this auspicious debut, he has sung over 400 performances at the Met in roles such as Colline in La Boheme, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Timur in Turandot, Escamillo in Carmen, The King in Aida, and Capulet in Roméo et Juliette. In The Met's first-ever production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, he created the part of Theseus, an assignment he repeated at The Met in the 2001/2002 season.

Jeffrey Wells has appeared with every major opera company in the United States. He is a particular favorite at San Francisco Opera and at Washington Opera. In his debut season with The New York City Opera, he appeared as Oroveso in Norma and as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. After initial appearances as Colline in La Boheme he returned to Houston Grand Opera in one of his most admired roles, Claggart in Billy Budd.

Mr. Wells first attracted international attention during the 1986/87 season with a great success as Assur in Rossini's Semiramide at Opéra de Nice. He has since sung throughout Europe and Canada as well as in Mexico and Japan. His first appearance in Paris was as Baldasare in La Favorite for the opening of the 1992 season at Opéra Comique. His second was his debut at Opéra de Paris Bastille as Capellio in I Capuleti e i Montecchi. He enjoyed particular success in his British debut at the prestigious Glyndebourne Festival in a favorite role, Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress. In Mexico City he was Henry VIII in Donizetti's Anna Bolena. Mr. Wells' other successful projects include his first performances of Méphistophélés in a staged Berlioz La Damnation de Faust at Brooklyn Academy of Music and at Avery Fisher Hall and his initial performances of Wotan in Das Rheingold at San Francisco Opera. His repertoire now includes 80 roles in six languages.

Mr. Wells has recorded Baldasare in La Favorite on the French Elf label in the original French version, Mendelssohn's Die Erste Walpurgisnacht on the Telarc label with Christoph von Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra as well as the title role in Barber's Antony and Cleopatra for New World Records. He can be seen in four "Live from the Met" telecasts, available on DVD, Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in Maschera and I Lombardi, all three in the company of Luciano Pavarotti and Carmen with Placido Domingo.

Jeffrey Wells made his Carnegie Hall debut with The Collegiate Chorale as bass soloist in Rossini's Petite Messe Solenelle. He has appeared on the concert stage in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the Verdi Requiem, Haydn's Creation, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and, with Christoph von Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra, he performed Mendelssohn's Die Erste Walpurgisnacht.

In the recent past, Mr. Wells performed one of his favorite roles to rave reviews, Olin Blitch in Carlisle Floyd's Susannah at Washington Opera; he has played the part in eleven different productions. He sang Escamillo for Opera Pacific and appeared as Claggart with Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera and New Israeli Opera. He made his Santa Fe Opera debut as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. Mr. Wells also had a successful engagement with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, in the opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi as well as the opera Rigoletto with the San Diego Opera. Most recently, he sang the role of Gessler in Guillaume Tell with Paris Opera Bastille and the role of Daniel Webster in Mother Of Us All with the San Francisco Opera. In his sixteenth season (2003-2004) with the Metropolitan Opera, Mr. Wells performed in the Russian opera Boris Godunov. Recent engagements included singing the title role of Don Giovanni with the Cleveland Opera, the role of Mephistopheles in Faust with the Michigan Opera Theater, as well as one of the leading bass roles in Verdi's Luisa Miller with the Dallas Opera. He most recently sang the roles Sparafucile in Rigoletto with the Pittsburgh Opera, bass soloist in the Verdi Requiem with Southwest Florida Symphony, Fafner in Das Rheingold with the Washington National Opera, as well as Frank Murrant in Street Scene with Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

Mr. Wells performed in Tosca at the Met in the fall of 2006. In April-May, 2007, he performed in Jenufa with the Washington National Opera. Mr. Wells just completed his 19th season at the Metropolitan Opera singing several roles in War and Peace, Carmen, and Un Ballo In Maschera. In the spring and summer of 2008 he was at the prestigious Spoleto Festival, performing in the opera Amistad, as well as Romeo and Juliet for the PORTopera of Portland, Maine. In November 2008 he will be singing the role of Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Louisiane. He will be performing once again, one of his favorite roles, Reverend Olin Blitch, in Susannah with Mobile Opera in March, 2009. He will be returning for his 20th season at the Metropolitan Opera, performing in Tosca, Der Rosenkavalier, From the House of the Dead, Hamlet, and The Nose, and ,HAMLET.