Ben Wallace
baritone, conductor, pianist
Ben Wallace is a “versatile and vocally powerful” (Opera Canada) baritone, conductor, pianist, and teacher.
He joins the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio this season, where he’ll be featured as Figaro in an Ensemble Studio performance of The Barber of Seville. Also at the COC, Ben will be playing Paris and role studying Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette, covering Marullo and the Usher in Rigoletto, and playing Brühlmann in a new production of Werther.
Other highlights of the upcoming year include solo appearances in Messiah with the Guelph Chamber Choir, Spiritus Ensemble, Grand River Chorus, and Choral Connection, Mozart’s Requiem with Grand River Chorus, and Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël with Arcady Ensemble.
FEATURED
PERFORMANCES
Paris, Canadian Opera Company
Guglielmo, UofT Opera
Top, Toronto City Opera
Pandolfe, UofT Opera
Figaro, Highlands Opera Studio
Ben on the Podium
Ben is committed to creating spaces of welcome that both honour the past and amplify the voices of today. He formed his own chamber choir and orchestra in 2022 and has since premiered four choral works by Canadian composer Justin Lapierre, each paired with masterworks from the choral canon including Fauré’s Requiem, Zelenka’s Miserere in C minor, and Vivaldi’s Gloria. Their most recent and ambitious project to date was the premiere of a new 70-minute oratorio, The Gatherers, which explores the intrinsic connection of humans and communities to the environment.
Equally at home in the world of musical theatre, Ben has served as the music director for productions of Company, The Last Five Years, In View: The Lyrics of Gord Downie (Downtown Theatre Project), Cabaret, Matilda, Legally Blonde (Royal City Musical Productions), and 13 the Musical (Guelph Little Theatre).