Tenor
Regarded as a "musically arresting presence" by the San Francisco Chronicle, Benjamin Butterfield is in demand for concert, opera and recital. His stage repertoire has encompassed roles in the Barber of Seville, Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte, Rake’s Progress, Persephone, Cunning Little Vixen and Tamerlano with performances in Naples at Il Teatro di San Carlo, Theatre du Capitole in Toulouse, Welsh National Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, L’Opera Nationale de Montpellier, and Arizona Opera, as well as New York City Opera, L’Opera de Montreal, Vancouver Opera, Glimmerglass Opera Festival, and Canterbury Opera in New Zealand.
In concert he has appeared in Britten’s War Requiem with the London Symphony Chorus and the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki, the St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under Nicholas McGegan and Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln at the Toronto International Choral Festival. He has toured throughout Europe with Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert, the RIAS Kammerchor of Berlin and with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre. Mr. Butterfield has also performed with the Symphony Orchestras of Detroit, San Francisco, New Jersey and Chicago. Other appearances have included the Saito Kinen Festival with Seiji Ozawa, Festival Vancouver performing the Mad Woman in Britten’s CurlewRiver and in recital with Graham Johnson for VISI.
Mr. Butterfield’s wide range of engagements for the 2007-2008 season include the Mozart Requiem with the Pacific Symphony and Handel’s Messiah with the San Antonio, North Carolina and National Symphony . He will also appear with the Vancouver Symphony, Bethlehem Bach Festival and the Residentie Orkest in the Netherlands as well as in recitals for the Wyatt Artist in Residence at Mount Royal College, Calgary and in the Gulf Islands of B.C. featuring the music of Schumann, Ireland and Randy Newman.
The 2006-07 season highlights included a return engagement to the Houston Symphony singing Beethoven 9, and debuts with the Milwaukee Symphony and Colorado Symphony in Messiah. Ben reprised the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Pacific Opera Victoria with performances in Victoria, as well as London, Ontario and also sang Britten’s Serenade with I Musici of Montreal.
Highlights from Mr. Butterfield’s previous seasons have included regular appearances at the Carmel Bach Festival in California with conductor Bruno Weil as well as performances of Messiah with the San Diego Symphony and the American Bach Soloists. Mr. Butterfield returned to Opera Ontario as Belmonte in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and he also performed the role of Tamino at the Calgary Opera in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Ben enjoys ongoing relationships with the Calgary Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony, Les Violons du Roi and Tafelmusik. In France he debuted with L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg singing L’enfance du Christ, sang in Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet with the Toronto Symphony under Sir Andrew Davis, and performed Bach Cantatas at the BBC Proms with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem. Other orchestral engagements have included performances with the Oregon Symphony and the National Arts Center with Pinchas Zuckerman.
Of his many recordings, the Britten Serenade (CBC/Streatfeild) and Canticles (Marquis/ Aldeburgh Connection) have been recognized by the Canadian Juno Awards. He has also recorded Brahms and Schumann Liebeslieder (CBC/ Aldeburgh Connection), music of Bach, Schutz and Haydn (Koch International/ Thomas), Opera Encores (CBC/ Bradshaw), Psalm 80 of Roussel (Timpani/ Tovey) and Weinachts Oratorium (Dorion/ Funfgeld). Film and TV credits include Dido and Aeneas with the Mark Morris Dance Company and Tafelmusik, L’enfant et les sortileges with the Montreal Symphony and Charles Dutoit, Messiah for ZDF in Halle with the English Concert and Trevor Pinnock, and Bach’s B minor Mass with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem for PBS. He is also heard regularly on CBC Radio.
