Photo by Dario Acosta
Ben Bliss (2015)
Tenor
American tenor Ben Bliss is a recent graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera. Mr. Bliss was the recipient of the Mozart and Plácido Domingo awards at the 2015 Francisco Viñas International Competition in Barcelona, and received 2nd place overall. He was also awarded first prize in the 2014 Gerda Lissner and Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation competitions, as well as a Sara Tucker and Sullivan Foundation grant. Mr. Bliss is also the 2013 Operalia Don Plácido Domingo Sr. Zarzuela prizewinner.
In the 2015-2016 season, Mr. Bliss will return to the Metropolitan Opera as Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, conducted by James Levine, and will make his European debut in the same role with Glyndebourne Festival on tour. He will also return as a principal artist to Los Angeles Opera, where he will appear as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte under the baton of James Conlon, as well as to Des Moines Metro Opera as Belmonte. On the concert stage, Mr. Bliss will debut with the New York Philharmonic singing Tony in Bernstein’s West Side Story Concert Suite No. 1 with Alan Gilbert, Haydn’s Creation and Cassio in Otello at the Cincinnati May Festival with James Conlon, and in holiday concerts with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Lexington Philharmonic. Mr. Bliss will also perform in Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Recital series with pianist Lachlan Glen, and with the New York Choral Society in Handel’s Israel in Egypt at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Bliss concludes the season with his company debut at Santa Fe Opera as Flamand in a new production of Capriccio directed by Tim Albery.
While in the Lindemann Program, Mr. Bliss made his Metropolitan Opera stage debut as Vogelgesang in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, conducted by James Levine. In May 2014, he was tapped to fill in as Ferrando in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s production of Cosi fan tutte under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.
As a member of LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, Mr. Bliss appeared as Benvolio in Roméo et Juliette, Barbarigo in I Due Foscari, and the Male Chorus in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia with the Colburn Orchestra under James Conlon. He has been the tenor soloist for Bach’s Magnificat with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the La Jolla Symphony and made his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut singing Bach under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.