Baritone

Benjamin Russell

L’Olimpiade

Biography

Benjamin Russell is currently a member of the ensemble of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, and studied at the International Opera Studio of Zurich Opera House after having received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Royal Irish Academy of Music. There he studied singing with coach Brenda Hurley and teacher Sylvia O'Regan. At Wiesbaden he has sung Yeletsky in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Wolfram in Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Figaro in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, the title role in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Sharpless in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. In June 2011 he sang Junius in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia at the Aldeburgh Festival, the recording of which was nominated for a Best Opera Recording Grammy Award. He performs regularly in concerts, at home and abroad, including Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Bach’s Cantata No. 82 with the Wiesbaden Symphony Orchestra, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and Fauré’s Requiem with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. Competition successes include Richard Tauber Prize at the Wigmore Hall Song Competition 2019, third Prize in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Singing Competition 2018, and finalist in the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition 2010.

May 2023