SCHEDUle
UPCOMING ENGAGEMENTS
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.
THE METROPOLITAN OPERA
DON GIOVANNI
DON OTTAVIO
September 24 - November 22
2025
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts his first Met performances of Mozart’s classic, with bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green in his Met role debut as the licentious Don. Ivo van Hove’s “magnificent” (Financial Times) production also features sopranos Federica Lombardi, Janai Brugger, and Hera Hyesang Park as Don Giovanni’s three conquests, with tenor Ben Bliss and bass-baritone Adam Plachetka as Don Ottavio and Leporello.
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MOZART REQUIEM
TENOR
November 20 - 23
2025
Mozart’s Requiem was his great send-off to the world — a work of plaintive, yet darkly radiant beauty, left unfinished on his deathbed in 1791. In Mozart’s hands, the ancient mass for the dead becomes an expression of hope and transcendence.
In this dramatic and immersive performance, Manfred Honeck leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the completed portions of Mozart’s Requiem, envisioned as it may have been heard at the composer’s own funeral. Interwoven with Gregorian chant and additional choral selections by Mozart, this Requiem captures “the awe, the majesty and the fright this mass is supposed to inspire” (Bachtrack). Works by Beethoven and Haydn open the program.
HANDEL + HAYDN SOCIETY
MESSIAH
TENOR
November 28 - 30
2025
It’s as Boston as Fenway Park. For the 172nd consecutive year, H+H presents Handel’s iconic Messiah, the greatest story ever told in song. This majestic music will rekindle joy and hope at Symphony Hall with the incomparable H+H Orchestra and Chorus under the “expert direction” (The Boston Globe) of Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen. Without a doubt, this is Boston’s must-see Messiah.
ARTIS-NAPLES
MESSIAH
TENOR
December 2
2025
Led by conductor Jonathan Cohen, the 211-year-old ensemble will be joined by its celebrated chorus and four distinguished vocalists in this timeless oratorio of hope and redemption. Completed in just 24 days in 1741, Messiah traces the life, death and resurrection of Christ through a series of evocative recitatives, arias and choral movements. Among its many highlights is the exalted “Hallelujah” chorus, which the Handel and Haydn Society first performed in 1815 and later introduced to American audiences in 1818. Steeped in tradition and musical excellence, this historically informed performance offers a stirring and spiritually rich experience that continues to resonate across generations.
LA OPERA
IN RECITAL
TENOR
June 30 - July 18
2025
Master Mozartean Ben Bliss has conquered stages from the Metropolitan Opera to Vienna and Paris—not to mention standout performances with LA Opera and the LA Philharmonic. Now, hear his “honeyed lyric tenor” (The New York Times) in an intimate recital in Beverly Hills, joined by pianist Christopher Allen.
CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY
RIGOLETTO
DUKE OF MANTUA
January 24 - February 14
2026
One of the most adored works in the operatic canon, Rigoletto features a high-stakes game of power and control and some of opera’s most recognizable melodies.
This riveting musical drama by master composer Giuseppe Verdi tells the tale of the tragic jester Rigoletto, who embarks on a fateful quest for revenge. Director Christopher Alden’s widely praised production evokes a Victorian men’s club in this masterpiece of Italian grand opera.
ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MOZART's MAGIC FLUTE
TAMINO
February 20
2026
“I’m always in awe of Mozart. There is no one like him,” said Music Director Stéphane Denève, whose earlier experiences conducting opera forever impacted his appreciation for Mozart’s brilliant musical mind. The Magic Flute introduces a cast of unforgettable characters, including the villainous Queen of the Night and the quirky, yet relatable Papageno, in a story that blends fairy tale and philosophy. One of Mozart’s most brilliant orchestral scores, this magnificent, extravagant opera-in-concert production combines the talents of the SLSO, a cast of acclaimed vocalists, and the “impeccable” (KDHX) St. Louis Symphony Chorus.
HOUSTON GRAND OPERA
MESSIAH
TENOR
April 17 - May 3
2026
HGO honors the legacy of late theatrical genius Robert Wilson with a presentation of his surreal, mesmerizing production of Handel’s Messiah, arranged by Mozart.
A bale of hay comes to life and plays with a little girl. A headless mannequin holds a lobster on a leash. A confused astronaut wanders amongst a group of choristers while a video of a collapsing glacier plays in the background. These are but a few of the arresting images from the revered director’s vision of this majestic oratorio.
The production will be staged in the United States for the first time at HGO, in the first performances of this choral masterpiece in company history. In Wilson’s interpretation, the Messiah—a narrative-free meditation on Jesus’s role as the Christian messiah, originally conceived for concert halls—transforms into a surreal and mesmerizing theatrical spectacle reminiscent of Disney’s Fantasia.
This anticipated production will showcase the renowned HGO Chorus alongside an exceptional cast: soprano Ying Fang, countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, tenor Benjamin Bliss, and bass-baritone Nicholas Newton, joined by the dancer Alexis Fousekis. Maestro Patrick Summers takes the podium for this can’t-miss HGO event.
WASHINGTON CONCERT OPERA
IDOMENEO
IDOMENEO
February 20
2026
The first of Mozart’s mature operatic masterpieces, Idomeneo premiered at the Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich in 1781 when the composer was only 25 years old. Mozart conveys human struggles against gods and fate in this opera seria, based on a Greek drama set on the island of Crete inthe aftermath of the Trojan war. Mozart poured everything he had learned to date into this opera, combining elements of Italian high drama with the impressive spectacle of French Baroque opera. Join us as we close WCO’s season with Mozart’s watershed operatic work, Idomeneo.
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WCO is thrilled to present tenor Ben Bliss, “an exemplar of the Mozartean tenor”, in his WCO debut as Idomeneo. American soprano Amanda Forsythe, warmly praised for her performances on both sides of the Atlantic, plays Ilia in her WCO debut. Amanda Woodbury returns this season in the role of Elettra.