Ben Johnson Tenor
Recipient of INDEPENDENT OPERA Vocal Scholarship at the National Opera Studio
Ben Johnson studied at the Royal College of Music with Neil Mackie, and at the Benjamin Britten International Opera School under Tim Evans-Jones. He joins the National Opera Studio in September 2008.
In April 2008 he won First Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier awards, the first male winner for 13 years. Other awards include the Lieder Prize at the RCM, the English Song Prize, the Singer’s Prize at the Gerald Moore Awards and third prize at the Wigmore Hall / Kohn Foundation International Song Competition 2007.
Ben is increasingly in demand as an oratorio soloist around the UK and Europe. Recital highlights include Schubert programmes with Graham Johnson and Iain Burnside. He has worked with such conductors as Sir Charles Mackerras, Peter Schreier, Andrew Parrott and Neil Thompson. He works regularly with the London Mozart Players, most recently taking part in the world premiere of Lynn Plowmann's Cries Like Silence. He also gave three performances of her cycle for tenor and strings The Star Gazer. Last season Ben performed in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, with the National Philharmonic of Lithuania. A committed recitalist, he enjoys a partnership with pianist James Southall.
On the operatic stage, Ben has performed Tonik (The Two Widows) with Scottish Opera and the world premiere of Das Babylonexperiment by Matthew King at the Internationales Kammermusikfestival Nürnberg, Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) for Opera de Baugé, France, the title role in British Youth Opera's production of Albert Herring and, most recently, Tom Rakewell (The Rakes Progress) for BBIOS.
In September 2008, he became an associate artist of Classical Opera Company.
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