Matthew Rose
tenor
bass
Ben Johnson studied with Neil Mackie and Tim Evans-Jones at the Royal College of Music Benjamin Britten International Opera School. A winner at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards in 2008, he was also a prizewinner at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and the Gerald Moore Awards. Currently studying with Jeffrey Talbot, he was previously a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. Recent opera engagements include Nemorino in The Elixir of Love for English National Opera, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni for Opéra National de Bordeaux, Shepherd and Sailor in concert performances of Tristan und Isolde with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Novice in Billy Budd at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Copland’s The Tender Land at Opéra de Lyon and productions for Scottish Opera and the Classical Opera Company. On the concert platform Ben has sung Handel’s Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music and the English Chamber Orchestra, Handel’s Samson with the English Concert at the BBC Proms, Elgar’s Caractacus at the Three Choirs Festival, Mozart’s Requiem with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Mahler’s RückertLieder and Frank Bridge with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Britten’s Our Hunting Fathers and Strauss Lieder with the BBC Philharmonic, and Britten’s Les Illuminations with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera. He has worked with conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Andris Nelsons, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jiří Bělohlávek, François-Xavier Roth and Harry Bicket. He has also appeared at the City of London Festival, Rosenblatt Recitals, Kings Place, Lake District Summer Music and a Kathleen Ferrier celebration concert at Wigmore Hall. Highlights in the 2012/13 season include Don Ottavio and Alfredo at English National Opera, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Residentie Orkest, and Shepherd in Tristan und Isolde with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He will also represent England in the 2013 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
© Clive Barda
© Chris Gloag
Ben Johnson
One of the most exciting singers of his generation, British bass Matthew Rose studied at the Curtis Institute of Music before becoming a member of the Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Opera highlights include Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Covent Garden, La Scala, the Glyndebourne Festival, Houston Grand Opera and the Opéra National de Lyon; Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress at Glyndebourne and in Gothenburg; Sparafucile in Rigoletto at Covent Garden; Colline in La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera; Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Claggart in Billy Budd at English National Opera; and Leporello in Don Giovanni in Santa Fe and at the Glyndebourne Festival. Engagements this season include Talbot in a new production of Maria Stuarda at the Metropolitan Opera and his role debut as Sarastro in The Magic Flute at Covent Garden. Future engagements include Bottom at the Metropolitan Opera, Leporello at the Deutsche Oper, and returns to the Glyndebourne Festival and Covent Garden. Concert engagements include the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Charles Dutoit; the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Gustavo Dudamel; the London Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Harding and Michael Tilson Thomas; the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Sir Andrew Davis; the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique with Sir John Eliot Gardiner; and the Accademia Santa Cecilia with Sir Antonio Pappano. Recital appearances include the Brighton, Edinburgh, Chester and Cheltenham festivals; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; and Wigmore Hall. His recordings include a critically acclaimed Winterreise with Gary Matthewman; Walter in Guillaume Tell and Der Steuermann in Tristan und Isolde under Sir Antonio Pappano; Ratcliffe in Billy Budd with Daniel Harding; Bel Canto Arias with Natalie Dessay and Evelino Pido; Handel’s Messiah with Stephen Cleobury and the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge; and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time and Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ with Sir Colin Davis. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9