Biography

Benjamin Sloman, Australian tenor, has studied in Italy and the United States under the tutelage of Gioacchino Li Vigni, Nicola Martinucci, and Salvatore Fisichella, and in 2013 and 2016 was awarded fellowships from the Mediterranean Opera Studio (Italy) alongside opera luminaries Marcello Giordani, Pietro Ballo, Mariella Devia, Jennifer Larmore, and Giuseppe Filianoti. In 2012 and 2013 Benjamin participated in a series of acting master classes on building the dramatic character by renowned singer-actress Lauren Flanigan and continues to study privately with her in New York.

Early professional engagements included The Duke (Rigoletto) with the New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera under the auspices of Lucine Amara; Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Riccardo (Un Ballo in Maschera) and the title role in Roberto Devereux at the Lincoln Center in New York City; Alfredo (La Traviata) and Don Jose (Carmen) with Amore Opera in New York; and Avito (L’amore dei Tre Re) with Bleeker Street Opera for which Benjamin was hailed as “an absolutely splendid voice… so heroic and resonant” by ConcertoNet.

In 2012 Benjamin became the first Australian to sing in a fully staged operatic production in New York’s Central Park in a leading tenor role when he sang the role of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with the New York Grand Opera under the baton of Vincent La Selva. Reviews of that performance described Benjamin in “brilliant tenor voice with torrents of golden sound” (La Voce Italiana).

In recent seasons Benjamin has performed the roles of Siegmund (Die Walkure), Siegfried (Siegfried & Götterdämmerung), Pollione (Norma), Luigi (Il Tabarro), Alfredo (La Traviata), Ismaele (Nabucco), Turiddu (Cavalleria Rusticana), Rodolfo (La Bohème), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Riccardo (Un Ballo in Maschera), Cavaradossi (Tosca), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Canio (Pagliacci), Don Jose (Carmen), Des Grieux (Manon Lescaut), Radames (Aida), Andrea Chénier (Andrea Chénier), and Calaf (Turandot), in venues spanning the globe including Theater Erfurt (Germany), Oper Köln (Germany), Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Dusseldorf, Germany), Opera Vlaanderen (Antwerp, Belgium), Antipolis Théâtre d’Antibes (France), Teatro Dell’Orca Caltagirone (Italy), Teatro Eschilo Gela (Italy), Amphitheater di Palazzolo Acreide Siracusa (Italy), Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto (Italy), Sydney Lyric Opera (Australia); and performs extensively throughout North America on both the opera and concert stage with Teatro Lirico D’Europa (FL, SC, PA, NJ, NY, NH, MA), West Bay Opera (CA), Pacific Northwest Opera (WA), Opera New Hampshire (NH), Mid Atlantic Opera (NJ), Palmetto Opera (SC), Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (PA), Mechanics Hall (MA), Carnegie Hall (NY), Taconic Opera (NY), Opera Theatre of Montclair (NJ), New York Grand Opera (NY), New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera (NJ), Opera Theater Rutgers (Mason Gross School of the Arts, NJ), Regina Opera (NY), the Gateway Orchestra (CT), Opera Lancaster (PA), Opera Camerata of Washington (DC), New Rochelle Opera (NY), and Connecticut Concert Opera (CT).

For his performances as Cavaradossi in Tosca, Benjamin was celebrated as “a first rate tenor with a golden sound ... masterful ... his voice is exceptionally beautiful with superb breath control and a unique sense of phrasing” by the Brooklyn Eagle. In 2015, Washington DC, Benjamin created the title role in the world premiere of The Apotheosis of Aristides, an oratorio detailing the true story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a Portugeuse diplomat who saved the lives of tens of thousands fleeing the Nazis in World War II.

Repertoire

Beethoven: Fidelio - Florestan
Bellini: Norma - Pollione
Bizet: Carmen - Don Jose
Bruce: The Apotheosis of Aristides - Aristides
Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur - Maurizio
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor - Edgardo
Donizetti: Roberto Devereux - Roberto
Giordano: Andrea Chénier - Andrea Chénier
Leoncavallo: Pagliacci - Canio
Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana - Turiddu
Montemezzi: L'amore dei Tre Te - Avito
Puccini: Il Tabarro - Luigi
Puccini: La Boheme - Rodolfo
Puccini: Madama Butterfly - B.F. Pinkerton
Puccini: Manon Lescaut - Des Grieux
Puccini: Tosca - Mario Cavaradossi
Puccini: Turandot - Calaf
Rossini: Petite Messa Solennelle - Tenor Solo
Verdi: Aida - Radames
Verdi: Don Carlo - Don Carlo
Verdi: Il Trovatore - Manrico
Verdi: La Forza del Destino - Don Alvaro
Verdi: La Traviata - Alfredo
Verdi: Macbeth - Macduff
Verdi: Nabucco - Ismaele
Verdi: Otello - Otello
Verdi: Requiem - Tenor Solo
Verdi: Rigoletto - Duca
Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera - Riccardo
Wagner: Die Walküre - Siegmund
Wagner: Siegfried - Siegfried
Wagner: Götterdämmerung - Siegfried