"The first thing I ever did was Sciarrone in Tosca with Pavarotti. To start off with that kind of company was amazing, and I'm still only seven years into my career. I've been very lucky."

Bass-baritone Darren Jeffery is only a few years into his career but can already boast an impressive selection of major operatic engagements.

A former member of the Royal Opera Vilar Young Artists Programme, Darren Jeffery made his Royal Opera Covent Garden debut as Sciarrone in Verdi's Tosca. His subsequent roles there include Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, the Speaker in Mozart's Zauberflöte, Monterone in Verdi's Rigoletto, Baron Douphol in Verdi's Traviata, Johann in Massenet's Werther, the Bonze in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, the Mandarin in Puccini's Turandot, and the Bartender in the world premiere of Nicholas Maw's Sophie's Choice. Jeffery has sung Figaro in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro at Savoy Opera, the Speaker and Donner in Wagner's Rheingold at English National Opera, and Haly in Rossini's Italiana in Algeri at Opéra National de Montpellier. In concert, he has appeared at BBC Proms, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Lufthansa Festival with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Royal Albert Hall, York Minster, and London Barbican, among others. Jeffery has performed on BBC Radio 3's "In Tune" and "Voices" and recently recorded the roles of The Judge in Rossini's Thieving Magpie for Chandos and Pistola in Verdi's Falstaff for the LSO Live. As a Young Artist at the Royal Opera House, he sang fourteen roles including Bottom, Masetto, Monterone and Sprecher; he has since gone on to sing roles at ENO, Opera de Montpellier, the Teatro Real in Madrid, Lyon, Garsington, Lyon, Bologna and La Monnaie, Brussels.