From: Prairie Village, Kansas. LA Opera: Benvolio in Roméo et Juliette (2011, debut); appearances include Tamino in The Magic Flute (2016); soloist in St. Matthew Passion (2022); Stern Artist Award (2022). He was a member of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program from 2011 to 2013.
American tenor Ben Bliss, whom the New York Classical Review called “one of the leading Mozartian tenors,” has gained a reputation as one of the most valuable and versatile performers of his generation. He is a 2021 winner of the Metropolitan Opera's Beverly Sills Artist Award.
In the 2021/22 season, he will return to the Metropolitan Opera as Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress. Engagements for the 2022/23 season include Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites at San Francisco Opera and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Tamino in The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera.
In the 2020/21, he performed Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. He also sang Handel’s Messiah at the United States Naval Academy, as well as Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston. He had also been scheduled to return to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and to make his house debut at Opernhaus Zürich as Flamand in Capriccio.
In the 2019/20 season, Mr. Bliss returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Ferrando in Così fan tutte, conducted by Harry Bicket, and made his debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago as Don Ottavio. He also sang Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress at the Glyndebourne Festival and Belmonte in The Abduction from the Seraglio at his hometown Lyric Opera of Kansas City. In concert, he sang Handel’s Messiah in debuts with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He also sang Carmina Burana for his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Alain Altinoglu, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, featuring performances both in Atlanta and New York City at Carnegie Hall, Bernstein’s Songfest with the Seattle Symphony, and the Steersman in The Flying Dutchman, again with the San Francisco Symphony.
Highlights of recent seasons include performances at the Metropolitan Opera as Tamino in The Magic Flute, as well as Belmonte, conducted by James Levine, Steuermann, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Ferrando; role debuts at Santa Fe Opera as Flamand in a new production of Capriccio directed by Tim Albery and as Robert Wilson in Dr. Atomic in a production directed by Peter Sellars; and at Seattle Opera as Ferrando and as Peter Quint in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. He also made his house and role debuts at Houston Grand Opera as Don Ottavio, his house debut at Opera Philadephia as Tamino, his house debut at the Canadian Opera Company as Ferrando, his house and role debuts at the Gran Teatre del Liceu as Count de Rosillon in Léhar’s The Merry Widow, and his European debut on tour with the Glyndebourne Festival as Tamino.
On the concert stage, Mr. Bliss performed with the New York Philharmonic singing Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem under Manfred Honeck, Tony in Bernstein’s West Wide Story Concert Suite No. 1 under Alan Gilbert, and a crossover concert under Leonard Slatkin in Vail, Colorado. He also sang Cassio in Otello with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; the tenor solos in Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with Gustavo Dudamel, Peter Sellars, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Haydn’s Creation and Cassio with the Cincinnati May Festival under James Conlon; Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion with the La Jolla Symphony; Bach’s Magnificat with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; and as part of the Metropolitan Opera’s Summer Recital Series. Finally, he gave a recital tour with Lachlan Glen that included stops at Carnegie Hall, the Folly Theater in Kansas, the Theater of the Arts at the University of District of Columbia, Hahn Hall at Music Academy of the West, Matinée Musicale in Cincinnati, and Messiah College in Pennsylvania.
Ben Bliss was a 2016 recipient of the Martin E. Segal award at Lincoln Center, awarded by the Metropolitan Opera, and received the Mozart and Plácido Domingo awards at the 2015 Francisco Viñas International Competition in Barcelona, winning second place overall. In addition, he won first prize at the 2014 Gerda Lissner and Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation competitions, and received a Sara Tucker and Sullivan Foundation grant. Mr. Bliss is also the winner of the 2013 Operalia zarzuela prize.
For more information, please visit BenBlissTenor.com.
