BIOGRAPHY

Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg is a conductor, composer, countertenor, and pianist, based between Amsterdam and New York City. He is an Artistic Partner and Creative Associate of the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, with whom he conducted (including continuo) Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro in Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam and across the Netherlands this Fall, and additionally jumped in to sing Cherubino from the podium as a countertenor for the final performances. Previous/upcoming guest conducting includes with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (including the world premiere of his newest composition, commissioned by the orchestra and mezzo-soprano Maria Warenberg), Orchestre National du Capitole Toulouse, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood (Boston University Tanglewood Institute), Dutch National Opera Studio, Nederlandse Reisopera, Het Muziek (formerly Asko|Schönberg Ensemble — Dutch premiere of Gordon/Lang/Wolfe’s Shelter), Noord Nederlands Orkest, Tonkünstler Orchester, and the Boston Pops. Wenzelberg was a Conducting Fellow with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester (Hamburg) in 2024/2025, and previously graduated the Dutch National Master in Orchestral Conducting, Harvard College magna cum laude with Highest Honors, and Juilliard Pre-College. He also sang as a child soloist and chorister at the Metropolitan Opera for eight seasons.

Wenzelberg’s opera, NIGHTTOWN, received its European premiere in February 2026 by the Dutch National Opera Academy. The piece won The American Prize in Composition and an ASCAP Morton Gould Award in 2023, and was originally commissioned/world premiered by Lowell House Opera in Boston; it received critical acclaim from the Boston Globe and Schmopera, who wrote, “It is almost infuriating that something could be so good.” He received an ASCAP Award for his first opera, The Sleeping Beauty, a new opera for family audiences, whose world premiere featured Metropolitan Opera singers. In December 2024, the studio recording of Wenzelberg’s wintertime cantata, Any of Those Decembers, was released on PARMA records (available on all major streaming platforms and in physical copies). The piece was commissioned and world premiered/recorded by Lyric Fest (Philadelphia) with Wenzelberg conducting, and sets the poetry of Jeanne Minahan, who also reads on the record. Also a two-time BMI Composer Award Winner, he has had further commissions and composition performances include by/at the Tonkünstler-Orchester, Musikverein Wien, Carnegie Hall, Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (live on NPR’s From the Top), Noord Nederlands Orkest, and the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra. At age 16, Wenzelberg won 1st prize as conductor/composer at Grafenegg’s “Ink Still Wet” programme, where he first conducted the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich in the premiere of his orchestral composition. He also won the Leonard Bernstein Memorial Conducting Competition, leading to an engagement conducting the Boston Pops at age 18.

Photo: Andy Staples

As a countertenor, Wenzelberg was a 2021 Metropolitan Opera National Council District Winner, and he has performed as a vocal soloist with/at the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, New York City Opera, Atlanta Opera, American Bach Soloists, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Lyric Fest, Dawn Upshaw and Gil Kalish, the Columbus, Portland (ME), and Phoenix Symphonies, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall. He jointly served as Assistant Conductor and cover for the countertenor role of Orpheus’ Double in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice with Boston Lyric Opera in 2024. 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.

Piano credits include being a Senior Coach for the Aspen Music Festival and School's production of Matthew Aucoin and Peter Sellars' Music for New Bodies, and serving as collaborative pianist for Barbara Hannigan in a 2024 recital at Casa Menotti in Spoleto (Italy) — in which he also sang and played original works and songs by N. Boulanger and G. Mahler — while assisting Hannigan with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. The recital was featured and warmly reviewed by Quinte Parallele. He had previously accompanied Hannigan in concert for Marina Mahler’s 80th birthday, after being selected for the 2023 Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg and attracting the attention of the jury with his conducting of the Bamberger Symphoniker.

In previous seasons, Wenzelberg has assistant conducted with the Atlanta Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Juilliard Opera, Netherlands Philharmonic, and Residentie Orkest. He has participated in Masterclasses with the Tanglewood Music Center (Stefan Asbury), Britten-Pears Young Artist Program (Marin Alsop), Gstaad Festival Academy (Jaap van Zweden), and the Grafenegg Festival (Christian Jost and Martyn Brabbins), as well as several in the Netherlands with Lorenzo Viotti, Anja Bihlmaier, Antony Hermus, Jun Märkl, Clark Rundell, Jac van Steen, Ed Spanjaard, and the late Kenneth Montgomery.

Wenzelberg 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.