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The American baritone, Ben Kazez (Benjamin H. Kazez), graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College in 2007. He became a Britten–Pears Young Artist in 2016 and earned a Master of Music at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama on a scholarship in 2018. Before beginning to sing full time, he spent five years designing language and travel apps that the New York Times called “brilliant.” He speaks French and Italian.
Ben Kazez has performed in the Monteverdi Choir under Sir John Eliot Gardiner and as soloist at Barcelona’s Petit Palau, Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, and London’s St John’s Smith Square and Milton Court. Solo concerts include J.S. Bach and George Frideric Handel under Václav Luks and Shunske Sato at Barcelona’s Petit Palau, G.F. Handel's Messiah at St John’s Smith Square in London, G.F. Handel's Theodora at Snape Maltings with Dame Sarah Connolly and Christian Curnyn, J.S. Bach cantatas at Barcelona’s L’Auditori and with Mark Padmore at Snape Maltings, Dowland songs with Dame Emma Kirkby, Charpentier's Reniement de St Pierre and Carissimi's Jepthe at London’s Milton Court Concert Hall, Samuel Barber’s Dover Beach at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, Charpentier's Messe à 9 with Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Festival, Johannes Brahms' German Requiem with San Jose Symphonic Chorus, and J.S. Bach B Minor Mass (BWV 232), and G.F. Handel L’Allegro and Esther with American Bach Soloists Festival.
Ben Kazez has sung in the Monteverdi Choir under Sir John Eliot Gardiner with English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique at the Salzburg Festival, BBC Proms Royal Albert Hall, Vienna Musikverein, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonie, Venice’s Teatro La Fenice, and Versailles. In Ghislieri Coro e Orchestra, he has performed at Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Festival d’Ambronay, and recorded Jommelli and Gregorian chant for release on Arcana in 2020. He has also sung with Chanticleer alumni in 10-voice ensemble Clerestory, including a benefit concert hosted by Deborah Voigt and Susan Graham.
Operatic roles include Re di Scozia (Ariodante), Zoroastro (Orlando), and Grand Priest (North American premiere of Marais Sémélé). While at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Ben performed in scenes as Pollux (Castor et Pollux), Consalvo (G.F. Handel's Almira), Dr Pangloss (Leonard Bernstein's Candide), and Sam (Trouble in Tahiti).
Ben’s 2019-2020 season included J.S. Bach cantata solos in California, Messiah in Cincinnati, Pilate in J.S. Bach's St John Passion (BWV 245) at Amsterdam’s Westerkerk (cancelled due to the pandemic), and Petrus in J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) in Cleveland, Columbus, and Ann Arbor with Apollo's Fire (Director: Jeannette Sorrell) (cancelled due to the pandemic). In 2020-2021 he was to sing J.S. Bach cantata solos with Cantata Collective and Gabriel Fauré's Requiem in San Luis Obispo, California (both cancelled due to the pandemic). Still on the schedule are a recording of G.F. Handel’s Israel in Egypt in the chorus of Apollo's Fire and J.S. Bach Cantata BWV 147, Charpentier's Messe de minuit, and Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria as soloist with Bach Collegium San Diego (Director: Ruben Valenzuela).
At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ben Kazez joined forces with flautist Anne Charrier to make Baroque vocal repertoire searchable by instrumentation and text. They started with the 1,699 movements from J.S. Bach cantatas and have so far catalogued several thousand movements of J.S. Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, G.F. Handel, Rameau, and many others, so people can browse by instrumentation, text, key, meter, and more. |
