Benjamin Butterfield tenor

Regarded as a "musically arresting presence" by the San Francisco Chronicle, Benjamin Butterfield is in demand for concert, opera and recital. His stage repertoire has encompassed roles in the Barber of Seville, Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte, Rake's Progress, Persephone, Cunning Little Vixen and Tamerlano with performances in Naples at Il Teatro di San Carlo, Theatre du Capitole in Toulouse, Welsh National Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, L'Opera Nationale de Montpellier, and Arizona Opera, as well as New York City Opera, L'Opera de Montreal, Vancouver Opera, Glimmerglass Opera Festival, and Canterbury Opera in New Zealand.

In concert he has appeared in Britten's War Requiem with the London Symphony Chorus and the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki, the St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under Nicholas McGegan and Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln at the Toronto International Choral Festival. He has toured throughout Europe with Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert, the RIAS Kammerchor of Berlin and with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre. Mr. Butterfield has also performed with the Symphony Orchestras of Detroit, San Francisco, New Jersey and Chicago. Other appearances have included the Saito Kinen Festival with Seiji Ozawa, Festival Vancouver performing the Mad Woman in Britten's Curlew River and in recital with Graham Johnson for VISI.

A busy season for Benjamin Butterfield in 2010/11 include a role debut as Grimoaldo in Handel's Rodelinda at Pacific Opera Victoria, Handel's Messiah for his debut with the San Francisco Symphony as well as at the Calgary Philharmonic. A frequent Bach interpreter, Mr. Butterfield will also join the Richard Eaton Singers in the St. Matthew Passion and make a return to the Bethlehem Bach Festival.

For the 2009/10 season, orchestral highlights from Benjamin Butterfield's busy schedule included Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Colorado Symphony under Music Director Jeffrey Kahane, Acis and Galatea with Chicago's Music of the Baroque under Jane Glover and with the Vancouver Symphony under Bramwell Tovey's baton performing Mozart's Requiem. Other engagements included appearances at the Harrisburg Symphony, Pacific Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Vancouver Bach Choir and Victoria Symphony. Operatic highlights include a return to Calgary Opera's stage as Ottavio in Don Giovanni.

Highlights from Mr. Butterfield's previous seasons have included appearances at the Carmel Bach Festival in California with conductor Bruno Weil as well as performances of the Messiah with the San Diego Symphony and the American Bach Soloists. Mr. Butterfield returned to Opera Ontario as Belmonte in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and also as Tamino at Calgary Opera in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Benjamin enjoys ongoing relationships with the Calgary Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony, Les Violons du Roi and Tafelmusik. In France he debuted with L'Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg singing L'enfance du Christ, sang in Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet with the Toronto Symphony under Sir Andrew Davis, and performed numerous Bach Cantatas at the BBC Proms with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem. Other orchestral engagements have included performances with the Oregon Symphony, the National Arts Center with Pinchas Zuckerman, the Montreal Symphony, the Residentie Orkest in the Netherlands and concert versions of Die Zauberflöte with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Semele with Opera Pacific, Victoria.

Of his many recordings, the Britten Serenade (CBC/Streatfeild) and Canticles (Marquis/ Aldeburgh Connection) have been recognized by the Canadian Juno Awards. He has also recorded Brahms and Schumann Liebeslieder (CBC/ Aldeburgh Connection), music of Bach, Schutz and Haydn (Koch International/ Thomas), Opera Encores (CBC/ Bradshaw), Psalm 80 of Roussel (Timpani/ Tovey) and Weinachts Oratorium (Dorion/ Funfgeld). Film and TV credits include Dido and Aeneas with the Mark Morris Dance Company and Tafelmusik, L'enfant et les sortileges with the Montreal Symphony under Charles Dutoit, Handel's Messiah for ZDF in Halle with the English Concert under Trevor Pinnock, and Bach's B minor Mass with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem for PBS. He is also heard regularly on CBC Radio.

June 2009

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