Profile
Ben is currently a Scholar at the Royal College of Music, supported by a Glady Hay Award and the Josephine Baker Trust. He was formerly a Choral Scholar at Kingʼs College, Cambridge, where he read Philosophy.
Ben recently covered the role of Alessandro in Handelʼs Tolomeo with English Touring Opera, and participated in their HandelFest concerts and masterclasses. This year, Ben performed in Orpheus Britannicus – The Dance of the Hearts with the Mercurius Company in the Cadogan Hall; and played Hamor in a staged production of Handelʼs Jephtha in the Grimeborn Festival, with the International Baroque Players. In April, he played Tassile in Handel’s Alessandro in the London Handel Festival in collaboration with of the Royal College of Music International Opera School, conducted by Laurence Cummings. In 2008, he took the title role in Kaspar Hauser (a new opera by Alexis Pope) in the Tête à Tête and Grimeborn Opera Festivals in London; and played Arsamenes in Handelʼs Xerxes with Fitzwilliam Chamber Opera in the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds. Ben has staged scenes from Cavalliʼs La Calisto (Endimione), Gluckʼs Orfeo ed Euridice (Orfeo), and Handelʼs Tamerlano (Andronicus) at the RCM; and scenes from Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Nerone), Handel’s Rinaldo (Rinaldo), and Giulio Cesare (Cesare) with Hand Made Opera in Italy. Future engagements include the role of Mirtillo (lead) in Handelʼs Il Pastor Fido (1734) in collaboration with the Royal College of Music International Opera School, Tragedy in Stephen Oliver’s Euridice (based on the opera by Jacopo Peri) with British Youth Opera, and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen with Retrospect Ensemble at the Wigmore Hall.
Recent solo performances include a live radio broadcast of Purcellʼs Ode to St. Cecilia with Josef Wallnig in the Armorial Hall, State Hermitage, St. Petersburg; Bachʼs Magnificat with Robin Kimber in St. Michael’s Church, Millhill; Handelʼs Dixit Dominus with Justin Doyle in Ampleforth Abbey; Handel’s Messiah with Håkan Olsson in Holy Trinity, Sloane Square; and Bachʼs Mass in G & Handelʼs Foundling Hospital Anthem with Murray Stewart in St. John’s, Waterloo. Ben has also sung Bachʼs St. John Passion and Handelʼs Messiah in Rome with Hand Made Opera, and performed a solo song by Weelkes with Fretwork at St. Johnʼs Smith Square.
Ben is a committed recitalist, performing a broad range of repertoire including Lieder and Mélodie. Winner of the 2009 English Song Competition at the RCM, Ben works with pianist and composer, Peter Foggitt, whose song cycle Amoretti (Second Set) he premiered last year. Upcoming recitals include a performance of Schumannʼs Dichterliebe at Holy Trinity, Sloane Square, a recital of Baroque Duets with soprano Philippa Murray at the same venue, and a recital of Purcell/Britten realizations of Purcell with tenor Stuart Jackson at St. Margaretʼs, Westminster.