Hailed as a “gifted young tenor” by the New York Times, 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. The site Opera Warhorses lauded him as “an exemplar of the Mozartean tenor” for his “purity of tone, vocal control and artistic sensitivity.”
Bliss was a 2021 recipient of the Metropolitan Opera’s prestigious Beverly Sills Award. His 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 in Barcelona, first prize at the 2014 Gerda Lissner and Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation competitions and the 2013 Operalia Don Plácido Domingo Sr. Zarzuela Prize. He is also the co-founder of the classical arts production company Mise-en-Scène Studios (MESS NYC).
Recent highlights include Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the Lyric Opera Chicago and Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, and Ferrando in Così fan tutte at the Metropolitan Opera. Bliss will begin the 2021-22 season at the Metropolitan Opera as Pylade in Iphigénie en Tauride (a role he will reprise later in the season at the Opéra de Rouen Normandie) and will make his house debut at the San Francisco Opera as Ferrando.
While in the Lindemann Young Artists Program, Bliss made his Metropolitan Opera stage debut as Vogelgesang in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under James Levine and has since returned as Steuermann in Der fliegende Höllander under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte and Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. He 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 in The Rake’s Progress for Boston Lyric Opera and Flamand in Capriccio and Robert Wilson in Peter Sellars’ new production of John Adams’ Doctor Atomic in Santa Fe.
His concert highlights include his debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel and the New York Philharmonic as 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 under James Conlon; a house and role debut as Count de Rosillon in The Merry Widow in concert at the Liceu Barcelona, and a U.S. recital tour including Carnegie Hall with pianist Lachlan Glen.
Bliss 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.
June 2021
