Photo: Andy Staples
BIOGRAPHY
Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg (b. 1999) is a conductor, composer, countertenor, and pianist, originally from New York City and currently in his final year of the National Master in Orchestral Conducting in Amsterdam/The Hague. He graduated Harvard College magna cum laude with Highest Honors, where he studied English and Music, and previously attended Juilliard Pre-College and sang as a child soloist and chorister at the Metropolitan Opera for eight seasons.
In 2023/24, Benjamin conducts concerts with Noord Nederlands Orkest and Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro at the Bredeweg Festival in Amsterdam, and the world premiere of his own cantata newly commissioned by Lyric Fest in Philadelphia (USA). He serves as assistant conductor to Matt Aucoin at Boston Lyric Opera (USA) on Aucoin’s Eurydice — where he also covers the countertenor role of Orpheus’ Double — plays a recital with Barbara Hannigan in Spoleto (Italy) while assisting her with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and assists with the Atlanta Symphony (USA) and several Dutch orchestras, notably the Rotterdam Philharmonic. Benjamin was selected for the 2023 Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg, attracting attention as a burgeoning conductor and subsequently accompanying Barbara Hannigan as part of a concert for Marina Mahler’s 80th birthday.
Last season, via the National Master course, Benjamin conducted members of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and a Haydn program with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, conducted Cosi fan tutte at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and Janacek’s Wandering of a Little Soul at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and assisted with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Choir, Netherlands Philharmonic, Residentie Orchestra, Phion, North Netherlands Orchestra, Belgian National, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the Dutch National Opera Academy. He additionally was both assistant conductor and countertenor soloist with the Phoenix Symphony (USA) in May 2023. He is mentored in the National Master by Jac van Steen, Ed Spanjaard, Antony Hermus, and the late Kenneth Montgomery, and has participated in masterclasses at Tanglewood Music Center, Snape Maltings’ Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme with Marin Alsop, the Gstaad Festival Academy with Jaap van Zweden and Johannes Schlaefli, and the Grafenegg Festival with Martyn Brabbins and Christian Jost, as well as in the Netherlands with Lorenzo Viotti, Anja Bihlmaier, Jun Märkl, and Clark Rundell.
Benjamin conducted the world premiere of his opera NIGHTTOWN (based on James Joyce’s Ulysses) at Lowell House Opera, who commissioned the score and libretto. The piece won the 2023 American Prize in Composition, and was critically acclaimed by the Boston Globe and Schmopera, who wrote, “It is almost infuriating that something could be so good.” He won a 2023 ASCAP Morton Gould Composer Award for NIGHTTOWN, and previously in 2014 for his first opera, The Sleeping Beauty, a new opera for family audiences, which premiered to sold-out audiences in NY and NJ with a cast that featured several Metropolitan Opera singers. Also a two-time BMI Composer Award Winner, he has had compositions performed at the Vienna Musikverein and Carnegie Hall, and by the Rochester Philharmonic and Hyogo (Japan) Performing Arts Center Orchestra.
At age 16, Benjamin joined the conductor-composer Ink Still Wet programme at Grafenegg, winning 1st prize and going on to conduct the Tonkünstler-Orchester Wien. He subsequently won the Leonard Bernstein Memorial Conducting Competition, leading to an engagement with the Boston Pops at age 18. He was also chosen to perform as a collaborative pianist for German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the 2019 Harvard Honorary Degrees Dinner.
Photo: Andy Staples
Photo: Andy Staples
A 2021 Metropolitan Opera National Council District Winner, he has also performed as a vocal soloist with/at the New York Philharmonic, New York City Opera, Atlanta Opera, American Bach Soloists, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Dawn Upshaw and Gil Kalish, the Columbus, Portland (ME), and Phoenix Symphonies, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall. Recordings include performing the role of Charlie Bucket in Peter Ash’s The Golden Ticket (based on Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), commercially recorded during live performances with Atlanta Opera; singing with tenor group Forte on their debut record; being the singing voice of the lead character in the film (including soundtrack) Hear My Song (formerly Boychoir); and appearing numerous times as a singer and actor on Sesame Street.
Benjamin is fluent in Spanish and proficient in German, with knowledge of French, Italian, and Dutch, and is a proud AGMA, SAG/AFTRA, and ASCAP member.
