About

B

BEN BLISS

Mr. Bliss was most recently praised as "a peer of the best Toms in the opera’s seven-decade history" (Voix des Arts) in The Rake's Progress at the The Metropolitan Opera, where he returns for the 2025-2026 season in Don GIovanni. He will make two anticipated role debuts: Duke in Rigoletto with the Canadian Opera Company, and the title role in Idomeneo with Washington Concert Opera, as well as appearances with Houston Grand Opera, Chicago Symphony, LA Opera, and more.

BIOGRAPHY

Hailed as a “truly exceptional tenor” by the National Review, Ben Bliss is quickly establishing himself as one of the most exciting performers on today’s operatic stage, both in his native America and internationally. Ben has been cited as “an exemplar of the Mozartean tenor” for his “purity of tone, vocal control and artistic sensitivity” (Opera Warhorses).
Ben was a 2021 recipient of the Metropolitan Opera’s prestigious Beverly Sills Award. His numerous other accolades include the 2016 Martin E. Segal award at the Lincoln Center, the Mozart and Plácido Domingo awards at the 2015 Francisco Viñas International Competition, first prize at the 2014 Gerda Lissner and Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation competitions, and the 2013 Operalia Don Plácido Domingo Sr. Zarzuela prize.

Biography

In 25/26, Ben makes his anticipated role debut as the Duke in Rigoletto with the Canadian Opera Company, as well as another role debut as the title role in Idomeneo with Washington Concert Opera. He also returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni conducted by Yannick Nézet Séguin, performs in Houston Grand Opera's staged Messiah, and sings Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with the St. Louis Symphony. Other concert highlights include a return with the Chicago Symphony for a Mozart Requiem, a solo recital at LA Opera, as well as a Messiah concert tour with the Handel and Haydn Society.

Last season's highlights include two roles at the Metropolitan Opera - a debut as Eric in Jeanine Tesori's new opera Grounded, and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. Ben also returned to the Opéra national de Paris as Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress and performed the role of Jupiter in Semele for his house debuts at both the Royal Opera House and the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. Concert engagements included performances with the Metropolitan Opera and Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Carnegie Hall, as well as with the Chamber Music Society Lincoln Center.

Ben's 23/24 season highlights include house debuts at the Opéra national de Paris as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and at the Wiener Staatsoper as Ferrando in Così fan tutte. Ben also had a role debut as Roméo in Roméo et Juliette with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, performed as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte and Pélléas in Pélléas et Mélisande with the Bayerische Staatsoper, and returned to the Canadian Opera Company as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Outside of the opera house, Ben performed Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson-Thomas, and a recital with Soprano Louise Adler at Wigmore Hall.

While in the Lindemann Program Ben made his Metropolitan Opera stage debut as Vogelgesang in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under James Levine, and has since returned as Steuermann Der Fliegende Höllander under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Tamino Die Zauberflöte and Belmonte Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Ben made his European debut in this role with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera on tour in 2015.

Other operatic highlights have included Tamino at the Los Angeles and Philadelphia Operas, Ferrando at the Seattle and Canadian Operas and Oper Frankfurt, Tom Rakewell The Rake’s Progress for the Boston Lyric Opera, and Flamand Capriccio and Robert Wilson in Peter Sellars’ new production of Dr. Atomic in Santa Fe.

Ben’s concert highlights include his debuts with the LA Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel and the NY Philharmonic as Tony in Bernstein’s West Side Story Concert Suite No. 1 with Alan Gilbert, Haydn’s Creation and Cassio Otello at the Cincinnati May Festival under James Conlon, a house and role debut as Count de Rosillon Die lustige Witwe in concert at the Liceu Barcelona, and a US recital tour including Carnegie Hall with pianist Lachlan Glen. Ben also appeared alongside Isabel Leonard for Ferdinand and Miranda’s love duet from Ades’ The Tempest at the Metropolitan Opera’s 50th Anniversary gala concert in 2017.