American baritone Ben Kazez recently performed Theodora at Snape Maltings (England) under Dame Sarah Connolly and Christian Curnyn, Bach’s Hercules at Petit Palau de la Música Catalana (Barcelona) under Václav Luks and Shunske Sato, Vivaldi’s Gloria with Bach Collegium San Diego, and Messiah at St John’s Smith Square (London). He has also sung major works of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, and Bach, including 35 Bach cantatas.
In the Monteverdi Choir under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Ben has sung at the Salzburg Festival, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, Chapelle Royale de Versailles, Teatro La Fenice, Westminster Cathedral, and Royal Albert Hall (BBC Proms). In Italy-based Ghislieri he has sung at Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and in 2021–22 he joins Apollo’s Fire.
Ben’s 2021–22 season includes Schumann’s Dichterliebe in San Francisco, French cantatas in Switzerland, Fauré Requiem in California, Messiah with Collegium Cincinnati, and Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit with Bach Collegium San Diego.
During the pandemic lockdowns, Ben created a vocal repertoire search tool that has been featured by music libraries at Juilliard, Royal Academy of Music, Stanford, and UC Berkeley.
Ben spent the first five years of his career creating mobile apps that the New York Times called “brilliant.” He became a Britten–Pears Young Artist in 2016 and earned a master’s degree from London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2018. He is fluent in French and Italian.