Ben Kazez

Baritone 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. Read More…

Solo concerts include Bach and Handel under Václav Luks and Shunske Sato at Barcelona’s Petit Palau, Messiah at St John’s Smith Square in London, Handel Theodora at Snape Maltings with Dame Sarah Connolly and Christian Curnyn, Bach cantatas at Barcelona’s L’Auditori and with Mark Padmore at Snape Maltings, Dowland songs with Dame Emma Kirkby, Charpentier Reniement de St Pierre and Carissimi Jepthe at London’s Milton Court Concert Hall, Barber’s Dover Beach at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, Charpentier Messe à 9 with Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Festival, Brahms German Requiem with San Jose Symphonic Chorus, and Bach B Minor Mass, and Handel L’Allegro and Esther with American Bach Soloists Festival.

Ben 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 (Handel Almira), Dr Pangloss (Candide), and Sam (Trouble in Tahiti).

Ben’s 2019–20 season included Bach cantata solos in California, Messiah in Cincinnati, Pilate in Bach St John Passion at Amsterdam’s Westerkerk (cancelled due to the pandemic), and Petrus in Bach St Matthew Passion in Cleveland, Columbus, and Ann Arbor with Apollo’s Fire (cancelled due to the pandemic). In 2020–21 he was to sing Bach cantata solos with Cantata Collective and Fauré Requiem in San Luis Obispo, California (both cancelled due to the pandemic). Still on the schedule are a recording of Handel’s Israel in Egypt in the chorus of Apollo's Fire and Bach Cantata 147, Charpentier Messe de minuit, and Vivaldi Gloria as soloist with Bach Collegium San Diego.

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ben joined forces with flautist Anne Charrier to make baroque vocal repertoire searchable by instrumentation and text. They started with the 1,699 movements from JS Bach cantatas and have so far catalogued several thousand movements of JS Bach, CPE Bach, Handel, Rameau, and many others, so people can browse by instrumentation, text, key, meter, and more.

Ben 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, Ben spent five years designing language and travel apps that the New York Times called “brilliant.” He speaks French and Italian.